As I type my first words here, it’s 9:39am.
Considering I was out of bed at 7am this morning, this is pretty insane to me. 2 hours and 39 minutes later, and my work day finally begins.
This basically means that my morning routine took 2 hours and 39 minutes.
Sure, there were some atypical events this morning that are not part of my usual routine, but atypical events are pretty much exactly what life is.
The amount of things I want to do in a given day simply can’t be achieved from a late start.
Personally, I’m defining a late start as waking up after 8am.
When I wake up at 8am, my workday may not start until 10am (at the earliest). And by that point I really only have a 2-hour window before it’s time to eat again and start the latter half of the day.
I like to take my time in the morning.
A 2+ hour morning routine may sound absurd to many people, but what if it made us 2x, 5x, or 10x more productive and/or fulfilled for the rest of the day?
Would it be worth it at that point?
6am has been my on-and-off target for many years now, and if I could just get it to stick I’d be a pretty happy camper.
Resisting the urge to get back in bed or hit the snooze button is a battle every single day, so consider this post as a written plea to myself to get up early every day.
OK, maybe not a plea, but a positive reminder that waking up early is worth it to me.
It reminds me of exercising.
For whatever reason, at times it can be really difficult getting your workout clothes on or making the short commute to the gym. But once you start exercising, you start to feel a lot better.
And then when you’re finished exercising, you feel great about yourself. There are zero regrets.
To me, it’s the exact same thing with waking up early.
The moment your alarm goes off, you feel like death. But after splashing some water on your face, brushing your teeth, getting the coffee brewing…you feel better and better.
Yes, I realize many of us then have to commute to a job we might hate, but if we got up a little bit earlier to simply take the extra time for ourselves, wouldn’t the work day be easier?
The alternative of getting a little bit of extra sleep feels nice in the moment, but what does it really do for us in the long run?
Personally, I’d rather get a bit more out of my waking hours than my sleeping hours.
So let’s see how I do this week. 6am for Tuesday to Friday?
We’ll see how it goes…😳