3 Reasons to Wake Up Early

Many business moguls have made a habit of waking up early.

Adolescents may have a hard time doing so because biologically, their bodies are primed to wake up late (find out why here), but as you grow older you might find this habit more useful.

It takes some getting used to, I'll admit that. But when you have so many commitments to a number of people, it's best to start the day tuning in to yourself and planning your day out instead of just haphazardly reacting to situations.

Can you get me a cup of coffee?

Can you cook me breakfast?

Can you stop by the laundry station to pick up my suit?

Can you finish this brief because I have X to attend to?

Sound familiar? You're working for people, without any compensation for your time.

I'm not saying that you can't name your price, or that you can't make a living out of it. However, if you want to get something done, and you have set boxes to tick off within the day, it's best to stick to those before taking on other people's responsibilities.

So, why should you wake up early?

1. Tune in to Yourself

At this point in time, you should get used to having yourself for company. All those voices in your head, whether they're a united front or a group of clucking hens, might teach you a thing or two about yourself. If you can't find anything you can work on from the input that they are giving you, then learn to let these thoughts pass.

When you meditate, you're teaching the body to stay still, while leaning into the unpleasant feelings and thoughts that cloud the mind. 

You will notice that over time, how you deal with this will also predict how well you deal with situations where staying nonreactive is the best choice. That toxic co-worker, your dramatic family members, and your narcissistic ex - you can be present with them, without feeding them your energy. 

It all starts with you learning how to stay present with yourself.

Undo the years of self-abandonment.

2. Get Things Done Like A Champ

You can actually start to tick those mini-goals off your list.

There's no reason for you to leave yesterday's work undone when you have time allotted for the task within the day. And when you can't blame anyone else, you will only have yourself to hold accountable.

Think about it. Maybe part of the reason why we choose to wake up late, is so that we have a host of people or a list of situations to blame for unfinished tasks.

When you wake up early, you realize that you have two choices that should empower you - the choice to haul your a** out of bed, and the choice to progress.

3. You'd be Celebrating By the Time People Are Just Getting Started

I had always been a focused kid. But as an adult, that focus swayed to other people. Benchmarking- I like to call it. I ask myself what is one thing (or a couple of things) this person is good at, how is she/he good at it, and how can I incorporate what she/he is doing in my own routine?

But do too much of it, and you might end up unhappy with the ceaseless list of comparisons why this person is better than you. So be careful. 

Successful people start early.

They might have had loads of work experience and earned years of competency because of it. Or they might have had grown their customer base. They were willing to prospect to 10 people each day in the past ten years. 

By now, those baby steps have earned them compound results.

It's okay to be where you're at right now. 

But if you're working towards something, then you have got to put in the focus to decisively act now.

Not later, not tomorrow, and not next week. Stop putting things off.

Because if you do fail, which you will, you can always recalibrate. But you can't make up for lost time procrastinating.

By the time other people realize what you're up to, you will have had been miles ahead from the baby steps your present self will thank you for. 

That early progression will still put you ahead of people who have the talent to bridge the gap. And this daily practice of waking up early, will eventually spill out in other aspects of your life.