On Conducting: The Beginning of Beginnings

Conducting in the morning sucks.  No, it does.  Every early morning feels like Monday and the colder it gets the worse it gets.  If your rehearsal space has windows anybody near those windows is freezing and the pitch is all over the place.
 
Just imagine going to your favorite holiday sale and everyone is bundled up and when the employee opens the door they look not-so-enthused.  You know why?  They're hurting too.
 
Now change that story around.  You're the employee and the players are the shoppers.  They rush in (because they typically have more energy than you anyways) and you get trampled.
 
Think about it this way -- no two rehearsals are the same.  They're just like snowflakes.  Were I you I'd do the following things:
 
1.  Start your early rehearsals a little late.  Let everyone warm-up and practice on their own and warm-up the room.  Bodies make the room warmer and the use of air to play instruments produces latent heat which will warm-up the room.  Even if you've only got 45 minutes you'll spend the first ten minutes being cold.  Spend those ten minutes letting the people warm the room up.
 
2.  When you get on the podium fake it like there is no tomorrow.  You can acknowledge THEIR tired state, but not yours.  Act like you're hopped up on coffee and any other stimulant that doesn't seem completely illegal.  Trust me, it holds their attention.
 
3.  Kick them in the face.  Hard.  Work them harder than they've ever been worked.  If the room is warm and you're looking like a maniac you can usually get anybody to do anything early in the morning (even if it's four million below zero outside.)
 
That's the beginnings of beginnings.  No drudgery.  No yawning.  No complaining.  No wasted rehearsals.  
 
Just hard work and a little room to breathe before you start the day.