The Rock released a tough-love motivational app - and using it to wake up earlier for a week made me acknowledge a difficult truth about goals

Friday I woke up with the first alarm and was so productive, not rushed, and on time that I honestly couldn't believe it. I washed the dishes, took out all of the garbage and recycling, got my lunch together, and walked to the cafe around the corner for a coffee — and walked back to my apartment again before getting on the train. I even had a minute to sit at the cafe and write out my to-do list for the day.

It was a great morning before I had even been awake for three hours. Mission accomplished!

My morning notes for this day were very brief: "Lazy morning but got up."

Clearly I was uninspired at the time. I think novelty of it was beginning to wear off, and it felt like just another alarm. I knew what to expect.

I woke up and got in the shower before 7 a.m. but when I got back to my room, I realized I hadn't turned off the second alarm — and I had a ton of notifications from the app. I'm not sure if it actually went off, or if it just sends those notifications when you close out of it — but either way, just reading them made me feel a little guilty.

I realized that, despite the lack of a snooze button, I could set two alarms within the app — so I did. One was set for 6:30 a.m., and the other for 6:40 a.m.

But I woke up before the alarm again, so clearly I anticipated hearing the Rock sing to me. I let the first alarm go and started to doze off, but I picked one of the other tones for the second alarm called "Iron" — yes, it's someone hammering metal repeatedly — which was so loud and unexpected I actually jumped out of bed when it went off.

So I guess job accomplished.

This morning I thought I heard the alarm go off at a really, really low volume. I was still half asleep, and pretty ticked, so turned the volume up and sat it back down on my side table, internally debating if I should get up for real.

It wasn't until I opened my eyes and looked at my phone, contemplating setting the iPhone alarm clock for a later time that I realized it was only 6:26 a.m.— meaning the Rock Clock hadn't gone off yet and I was purely imagining/dreaming in a slightly lucid state.

I guess I would consider that as the app having a lasting impact.

So, I got up, showered, and was dressed by the time I normally wake up. I even had time to make myself a solid breakfast quesadilla and coffee — and I couldn't resist feeling proud.

6:30 a.m. I opened my eyes up to The Rock singing to me:

"Good morning sunshine. Yeah, that's what the Rock just said. Open your eyes up! Get your candy a-- out of bed."

However, it was still dark — and cloudy — which meant that while I was was kind of already awake, being sung to did not help me resist the urge to lie in bed. And because there isn't a snooze button in the app, I cleverly set my regular alarm for 15 minutes later.

I got up around 6:45, and thought it might be fun to give one of the other alarm sounds the app offers a chance the next day — even though I do get a kick out of listening to Dwayne Johnson refer to me a "candy a--."

When you first open the app it asks you to type in your goal or project and select an end date — so I wrote "Wake Up Earlier," and set the deadline for the upcoming Friday. I set the alarm for 6:30 a.m.

In 2015, the Rock announced a new partnership with Under Armour called "Project Rock" — which officially launched in 2016 — intended to "bring you innovative and bad ass products that inspire men, women and kids to stay hungry, humble and always be the hardest workers in the room."

As part of this partnership, the brand aims to create inspiring products for audiences hoping to reach their goals — and these products are referred to as "projects."

The alarm is project number two of four to be released — the first was a backpack, and the last two have yet to be announced.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson made his professional TV wrestling debut back in 1996 on the Survivor Series. Since then, he's won the WWE heavyweight title six times, and has gone on to be one of the biggest action and comedy stars. As of this year he is the second highest-grossing actor in Hollywood — and according to Forbes, he's currently worth $65 million.

Over 95 million people follow his workouts, projects, and puppies on Instagram.