Be an Early Bird if you want to Eat More Worms
Wake up! If you are not up before sunrise, you are doing it wrong.
When I was in my younger twenties sleeping in was a breeze. I remember when having a deep, calm, relaxing sleep as being easy. That is no longer the case.
As I grew older (I am 31 now), having this kind of sedative sleep becomes more challenging; and now, there are some mornings when I wake up and feel like I haven’t slept at all.
As to why this is, I can’t quite put my finger on the exact reason, but I can make some guesses. My first guess is that life becomes more challenging as you get older. When you age you take on more responsibilities, so it takes more effort to deal with them all. You would think that this would make you more tired, but it has a boomerang effect: because so much is thrown in your direction, it keeps your senses awake.
My next guess has to do with the aging of the world itself. The world we live in is a fast paced and highly connected place. While you are sleeping, a lot is happening. And thanks to the internet, we are able to wake up and get back up to date on it all. Because we are better connected, we are processing more and more information; we are plugged into the world at night just like our phones are plugging into the wall.
You have two choices when you are faced with a challenge: you take it head on or you run. This is a post about taking things head on — it’s about waking up early to be in a position to get those juicy worms. If you want to run from your challenges, go back to sleep.
Waking up early is not an option — it’s a MUST
I’m not sure what age is the cutoff point, but the sooner you are able to wake up early, the better. Waking up early gives you a jump on your day; you are two steps ahead of people around you. And more importantly, you are two steps ahead of yourself.
You want to be two steps ahead because during your day you’re going to be thrown some curveballs, and you need to be in a position to see them coming. When you are at the plate, being two steps ahead means not only will you hit the ball, you will be quick to start running towards first base.
Waking up early means you are that spark that lighting up the environment. You are that powerful ball of energy that brings life around you. When you wake up – and stay up – you are putting yourself in a position that people will respect, admire, and turn to.
Waking up early is about being first
Waking up early is about being innovative. When you wake up early, you are in a place to create paths that no one else has created. People who wake up late copy, clone, and even steal other people’s ideas. A good example of this is what recently happened with Zynga.
If you don’t know about Zynga, I’ll briefly explain. Zynga recently fired over 500 of its workers due to their dwindling business model. It turns out copying others isn’t a good strategy. Zynga gave up on trying to be first; they copied and cloned what current popular games were doing. As former Zynga employee explains on Reddit:
Too many major decisions are quick reactions to sudden changes in the market. If some games jumps to the top of the Top Grossing charts then everyone need to drop everything and change to follow it. Which wastes time, makes for bad design and ultimately puts projects behind schedule. It just means they’re always late to the party, and whatever game they’re trying to compete with has already faded away by the time their own version hits the market.
They rely too much on reacting to what is making money now, and too much on their own data. They don’t strive to make anything new or innovative and that’s no way to excel in the games market. You need to lead the pack, not try emulate the best practices of top games with the hopes that you can out perform and already established IP.
The fact is that everyone copy, steals, and clones; this is how we learn. But the people who wake up early are in a position to create, influence, and inspire better. People who are up early approach each day like it should be approached: as an empty canvas awaiting your powerful brushstrokes.
It’s not too late to start waking up early
If this post resonated with you, then it’s time to start waking up early if you don’t already do so. To do this requires you to jump start yourself. We are like cars: sometimes we leave the lights on overnight and we can’t get turned on in the morning. We require jump starts to get going. Here are some things I came up with to help you jumpstart yourself when your batteries are dead.
Be approachable.
Being approachable means you are open to receiving the things around you required for growth. For something to be jump started, it has to be open. You can’t start a battery when the hood of the vehicle is closed.
When I was in fourth grade my neighbor asked me if I knew why her sunflower was growing crooked. I said it was because it is pulling itself in the direction of the sun. I was right. Plants need sun and water to grow; plants will will bend, twist, and turn to the sources it needs.
People need to be like that too. We have to be open to the things that make us grow if we want to wake up.
Balancing your surroundings.
Balancing your surroundings means you are able to observe what is around you and then fill in the gaps. If you see someone that needs help, help them. If you notice something interesting, go check it out. If you notice someone that looks like they need someone to talk to, go talk to them.
Waking up means you are being active. If you are not actively involved in your surroundings, you are sleeping.
Be opinionated.
Being opinionated means you are vocal about your set of beliefs. In business, there is a fine line between being opinionated and telling people what they want to hear. Keeping that in mind, if you don’t have an opinion about something then people will not find you interesting.
Waking up is leaving your footprint on the world. If you are not speaking up about your thoughts, you might as well keep dreaming.
These are just a few examples of how you can jump start yourself. I’m sure there are many more. Do you know of any? How do you go about jumpstarting yourself when you feel like you are not fully woken up? Let me know in the comments.
- Picture credit: nathaninsandiego on flickr.
- This post originally appeared as a conversation starter on my website.
