When I was a teenager, I loved sleeping in, taking naps and did my best to do average in everything. I’m not kidding. My mother used to say I was lazy, and to some extent, she was right. Laziness = putting pleasure first before pain:) Later on in life, I learnt that my lack of energy was (also) due to gluten intolerance, as I was fatigued and unmotivated most of the time. It’s not an excuse, however, because I was free to make a choice to do my best, even when I didn’t feel like it.
If you choose (want) to be successful in life, you can’t love sleep more than success! Have you noticed that successful people are disciplined people? One of my favourite leadership/motivational authors is Stephen Covey. His life and career was overwhelmingly full. His morning routine started early, alot earlier than anyone else, his idea was ‘if you win the fight with the pillow at the beginning of the day, you’ve won over the rest of the day’. This is so true.
Working from home is the best …sometimes.
Now, it’s easy to get up early when you have to get to work on time, every day, but when you determine your own schedule like me, it’s tough! Because I have to choose rather than be forced to get up early! So, it was a matter of making a habit out of rising early. Why do I do this, when I have a choice not to? I could say, well, I stay up late and work all kinds of hours, so my ‘sleep-in’ is justified? Life is full of choices, but our time is limited so yes, it’s best to make the most of it.
Sure, working from home has its benefits, but then you’re mostly by yourself. It’s all quiet. If you’re an extrovert, this could be very hard on you socially, where chatting and interacting with others gives you energy. I’d say I’m an ‘extroverted introvert’ where I’m social when I need to be but I enjoy working in a quiet environment, especially when I’m writing. This is where I need discipline and self motivation or I could end up wasting away my day.
Why your best creativity is in the mornings:
Do you want to release all that sharpness and creativity while you’re fresh and creatively maximised, first thing in the morning? To be more productive, absolutely, wouldn’t you agree?
“Bouts of creative writing might be easier to come by just after waking as this is the time of day when the prefrontal cortex is most active. A scientific study of brain circuits confirmed that this creative activity is highest during and immediately after sleep, while the analytical parts of the brain (the editing and proofreading parts) become more active as the day goes on. The study looked at morning and evening MRI scans and observed that mornings showed more connections in the brain — a key element to the creative process.” (https://www.lifehacker.com.au)
A few more benefits to getting up early:
- Start your day off being ahead. Personally I hate that feeling of stress or regret, that ‘I’m wasting my day getting up late’, ‘I’m behind schedule’. The negative feelings can throw me off track (it’s a consequence).
- Good discipline in the morning sets the tone and pace for the rest of my day.
- Sufficient sleep time helps us to get up earlier which means I need to sleep earlier – which is also good discipline. Sufficient sleep time gives us more energy and motivation in the mornings.
- The quietness and peace in the morning before the messages, phone calls, and kids activities start, is heavenly. It produces a calming affect on you to think and plan clearly.
- You have time to prioritise tasks or people in your day, and time to plan your content writing.
Getting up early, on time will set you up for success!
If your work and pace is flexible like mine, this habit will work really well for you as it does for me. Getting up on time, early means sleeping earlier though – those late nighters you’ve been pulling for years will catch up on you, if you aren’t getting enough sleep…and this certainly overflows into other areas of your life.
How do you start this routine? Set up a WAKE TIME alarm, get up immediately! Place your alarm meters away from your bed if you need to, so you have to get up to turn it off,
Schedule your morning routine and stick to it – discipline yourself!
My schedule looks abit like yours?
Here’s my daily morning schedule – apart from my day off and a Saturday every now and then:
- Get up early, on time, at the same time everyday, having slept on time, consistently.
- Make your bed.
- Exercise before breakfast – a good 30 minutes of cardio does your body and mind wonders
- Take a refreshing shower.
- Eat a healthy, sugar free, (gluten and dairy free in my case) breakfast & coffee of course!
- Prayer and meditation in the bible – a quiet time of reflection and recharge
- Depending on where you work, travel to work or start at your desk
- Check my diary for my schedule today, for this week, check my emails & messages
- Make appointments with people and plan out my day.
- Get to work on my laptop or phone
Do you think you’re being successful with your work and time right now? How are you handling the ‘free/flexible time?’ Are you a morning or a night person?