Friday, September 29. 2006

An hour before the first morning coffee

An hour? Before the first coffee?

Sure. Why not? But let's take it easy. And step by step.

First of all: This is about finding the time to do what we want to do. To do what we really want to do. And we are probably not talking about our daily chores here. But more about things like producing art, learning to paint, writing a book, running a marathon, finding the meaning of life.

Secondly: an hour. An hour is about pretty much half of what I promised to give you every day. We'll be talking about the other half next time, don't worry.

At third: before the first coffee. Right. Let's do our thing before starting with our daily routine that may likely involve some coffee.

All this we'll do in a mere five steps. Like these:

1. Ask yourself if you really want to go for that hour. Can you imagine there being some value to getting an extra hour every morning to go for that personal achievement you are currently dreaming of? For most of us there is not much intrinsic value in raising early. So make sure that you really have and know your inner urge to drive you out of bed in the morning.

2. Take Matthew Stibbe's ten steps of how he trained himself to get up earlier in the morning as an inspirational starter. If you said yes in point one, that is. Use (a variation of) those steps to get up exactly one hour earlier every single day. If you used to get up at noon, get up at eleven. If we are talking about a habit of six in the morning, make it a five.

3. Don't make yourself a coffee, yet. But maybe set your clock to fire of an alarm after one hour has passed.

4. Use that one hour on exactly the one thing you really dream of doing but just didn't find the time to go for. Nothing else. Paint that painting. Write that book. Jog your lake. Meditate until inspiration hits you. No chores.

5. After one hour, make your coffee. Make a good one. Reward yourself for what you just did.

That one hour we just nudged off our highly loved sleeping time may just be the first half of our two most valuable hours every day. Those two hours where we do what we really want to do. Those two hours where we are who we want to be.

We'll be talking about the other half next time. Right here in Gasbottle County. So don't leave. But stay tuned and don't forget to set your alarm clock. An hour early.

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Posted by Señor Rolando | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

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Comments
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And I expected help... Ridiculous. So I'll have to deny that first half of the two hours. Not that I wouldn't like to get up earlier in the morning. But as someone does not sleep following a fix schedule it is hard to define, when that one hour earlier would be. On the other hand, I might get up at 4:30, then I could have even one and a half hour somedays.

Waiting for the second hour, will be probably the one before go to bed, which is usually that one where I hang in front of the computer or TV, already in pieces.
#1 msia.de (Reply)
Hey, I always thought that those with little kids in the house don't have any problem at all with getting up early. That's one of the reasons I always had so much respect for them. Now you tell me that I err on that?

But seriously: I've been practicing some early rising as of lately. For different reasons, but still. And I must say that I learned to value those early hours. It really is impressive what you can get achieved before most everybody else even starts fighting their alarm clocks.

If anybody would have told me that only a couple of years ago, I would have suggested to go and see their psychoanalyst. But somehow it seems that time is not only flying by but changing as well.

The second hour is way easier, of course. Even easier than you are speculating here. But as we'll see soon you aren't completely off track anyways.
#1.1 Roland (Link) (Reply)

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