Be An Early Riser #JustStart

Hashim Raza
Nov 1 · 4 min read

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” — Mark Twain

Procrastination, laziness, fear of failure and waiting for the right moment are the things which stops us.

“I’m not ready!”
“I don’t know what I’m doing…”
“I suck at this!”

I have a feeling you know what I’m talking about. That project, that business, that skill, that habit, that thing.

If you’re waiting for the “right time”, you’ll be waiting forever. Progress begins at the end of your comfort zone. That’s when it gets meaningful. That’s when things get interesting.

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” — Karen Lamb

My #JustStart Project is to “wake up early in the morning”.

WHY

I am about to graduate from university and I am about to enter arguably the most important years of my life — years where I’ll have both money and freedom. If I ever want a chance at escaping the 9–5 rut, I have to do something now. So I need to set up my habits now to be living that life later and get a head start.

Challenges

I have tried to become an early riser many times in my life but failed. When I told myself I was going to wake up at 5 AM or 6 AM no matter what, I failed. I would do it if I slept too late. I don’t know what I was doing by trying to cheat the system, thinking my willpower was enough. I didn’t consider what I have to give up. I failed because I wasn’t willing to give up the things I enjoyed, like my weekday social life, late night talks with friends etc.

So this time around, I read the the book by Robin Sharma: The 5 AM Club, after which I decided to analyze what are the things that I am doing wrong and come up with a solution.

Clarifying The Purpose for Waking Up Early

We need a purpose that extends past a basic task. The more emotion we add to our goal, the bigger the leverage will be. Not only for waking up but for everything else in our life.

Starting with a smaller problem and going deep to find the root cause helps us gain a better understanding of what we really want.

Understand What to Gain and Lose

Focus on Sleep Quality and Time

Sleeping Without Phone

Never forget that everyone you’ve ever met has worried about failing at something. The difference is that some people — the people whose stories you have heard and applauded — chose to start anyway. We’re all scared and we’re all making it up as we go along. So start and start now.

“Just start and let the work teach you.” — Jacqueline Novogratz

The Next Step

The next step is to try it out for a longer time. And remember, this is a long game, so start small.

Just 1% better every day, and soon you will see how it will drastically influence every area of your life.

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” — Zig Ziglar

Some notes from Robin Sharma’s book: The 5 AM Club

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