Getting up early in the morning is a practice most highly successful people share.
The late, great (fictional) sports agent Dicky Fox, Tom Cruise’s mentor in Jerry Maguire (1996), had some simple advice in one of his flashback scenes:
“I love getting up in the morning. I clap my hands together and say “this is going to be a great day!”
Dicky’s enthusiasm for the morning, it turns out, is actually a valuable trait and predictor of achievement. Author Laura Vanderkam has researched and written extensively on the subject of being a “morning lark vs. a night owl” and has found that using the early morning hours wisely can be a big advantage.
Vanderkam has even published a short ebook “What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast.” She wrote an article recently for Fast Company where she shares some of her findings:
“Mornings are a great time for getting things done. You’re less likely to be interrupted than you are later in the day. Your supply of willpower is fresh after a good night’s sleep. That makes it possible to turn personal priorities like exercise or strategic thinking into reality.”
From her study of people’s morning habits she has learned a few ways that anyone, even a night owl, can embrace their mornings:
- Picture your perfect morning. What would you do with an extra hour or two at the start of a day? A run? Quiet reading or meditation? Take an online class? Imagining something you’d like to do will get you moving towards that early bell.
- Plan for it. Watch how you spend your time, plan for getting in bed earlier, and then set the alarm, the radio, or the light so you can get up in the most comfortable way.
- Build the habit. Ease into it and get used to doing it. Little by little it will become routine.
Vanderkam goes on about the merits of mornings:
“That is ultimately the amazing thing about mornings–they always feel like a new chance to do things right. A win scored then creates a cascade of success. The hopeful hours before most people eat breakfast are too precious to be blown on semiconscious activities. You can do a lot with those hours. Whenever I’m tempted to say I don’t have time for something, I remind myself that if I wanted to get up early, I could.
These hours are available to all of us if we choose to use them.
…small rituals can accomplish great things. When you make over your mornings, you can make over your life. That is what the most successful people know.”
The early mornings can be magical times. And they are yours for the taking and using. So get up — to get ahead.
Best wishes for a successful week.
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