I have this theory about my day.
From a productivity standpoint, I win or lose it in an instant. I wake up immediately, or I don’t.
It’s binary. There is no “hit snooze once and see what happens” option.
The earlier I get started, the better. In the morning there are no distractions and I get my best work done. Mark Twain says you should eat a frog first thing in the morning so that nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day. For me, that frog is waking up itself. Once that’s done, the magic starts to happen.
It’s all downhill from there. But I have to control my first decision of the day (wake up or sleep on) to get to that point. So it’s on me.
“Space I can recover. Time, never.”
-Napoleon Bonaparte
Mel Robbins’ The 5 Second Rule was a nice refresher for me on the subject of waking up. I’ve heard most of the ideas in the book before, but it was good to review. The main thing I took from it is you can’t control how you feel, but you can always control how you act. If I start moving the moment the clock rings in the morning I’ll find myself in good shape.
Here’s Robbins basic concept in another form:
“You are only entitled to the action, never to its fruits.”
-Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 47
So much of success for creatives can be attributed to waking up and sitting down at a desk. That’s an action we can all control.
Coffee helps.