The Strength of A True Good Morning

Regarding the absent strength in your days,

Crashes occur but are never as frequently drastic as yours. Your mind shuts down too early. Your drive seldom carries you through the early afternoon. And by evening, you’ve become a poorly portrayed zombie.

The catalyst for these burnouts is clear: your mornings are far too fragile.

You’ve spoken to me before concerning your wanting to wake up earlier and eat a good breakfast, watch a good show, and commence in good work. You have fantasized on many occasions about the superb benefits that can be attained by simply developing a solid morning structure.

And yet, you continue to persist with your sorry state into the late nights, mindlessly engaging in one distraction followed by the next, before your body finally concludes its burnout with a much-needed shutdown.

The mission of cultivating a good morning is preceded by one of having a good night. One hardly exists without the other, thus you must develop two routines: one for rising, and another for sleeping.

It is often those who blunder their nights that attempt to force early mornings, and those who force early mornings are often the ones to capitulate prematurely.

It’s for the above reason that you must resolve to construct a proper shutdown routine. You can never hope to make early mornings a habit if you sour your sleeping process. The whole idea of sleep is to recharge and propel you further the following day, thus we must cultivate a night routine that eases our minds away from the battles of the day.

The Shutdown

Amias, your work travels deeply into the night. The pressures you inflict upon yourself are compromising any opportunity to achieve a rested state. And so, worried about obligations swallowing you whole, you proceed to produce haphazard efforts that contribute to mediocre work and abysmal rest.

Close the tabs earlier, my friend. Wrap up the research at a set time, and seldom wander past it.

No amount of ambition and discipline can take away from the benefits of leisure. And no satisfying work can be accomplished without having space to review it. The shutdown provides an extra few hours of space in which you may engage in less straining activities. Do you have that comic that gives you no trouble? Work on that. You’ve got a new copy of Dostoyevsky? Let us read it.

Instead of mindlessly bogging yourself down into a vegetative state by midday, implement a deliberate window for doing less work. Conserve your energy, my friend.

The Review

Working too late into the night should be well regarded as a short-term fix to a long-term problem.

If your work is that urgent, then you ought to plan your days a lot better.

‘But I must get it done!’. You must, but not before fixing your damages; you can’t fly a plane with broken wings.

If you must be late on a submission you’d rather it be that way for one than be on time for everything by half a hair. Let yourself take accountability: you’ve either given yourself too much or carried yourself too loose. The result is a frantic scramble for tangible results.

Regardless of your position, you should always review the systems you have in place. If there’s any reasonable method for alleviating the pressures of your work, you should implement them. On top of that, you should keep good track of your headspace. If you feel dissatisfied, discover why. If you feel accomplished, praise your efforts.

You can then carry yourself to bed, and put your obligations to rest.

I’ll give you credit for one thing: your task list is a wonderful idea. You set it up the night before and heed it in the morning, erasing the most resisting barrier to action: planning.

So, assuming you’ve woken up on time, you already have an understanding of what needs to be done. However, diving directly into work can prove to be taxing. It helps to have some type of ritual in the morning, something that can provide the drive necessary for engaging in hard work.

A Clean Space

What greater way is there to warm up organization than by fixing your bed?

A mind may be strong, but the environment will always carry some influence. It’d be difficult to carry on any meaningful work in a cluttered, let alone dirty space.

I know you fix your bed, Amias, but ensure that it’s the first thing you do.

A Good Journal

Half-waken thoughts hold some value, contrary to popular belief.

The immediate introspection already sets a strong precedent for the day. You know how you feel, you understand how you want this day to go, and you’re aware of the possible impediments along the way. Already you have put yourself at a great advantage because you’ve preplanned the storm. You’ve developed a versatile failsafe that can cushion any inconvenience or irrational disposition.

The expectations have been set, and now it’s time to execute.

An Energizing Meal

If you decide to fast, so be it. I doubt skipping this step will greatly damage you, assuming you’ve planned the fast accordingly.

Food and drink do more than satiate the cravings, they also provide the proper energy and nutrients to carry you into the day (unless you eat and drink poorly).

I’ve emphasized to you in the past about no immediate caffeine, that still stands. If you prefer the bundle, I’d save the meal for about 1.5 hours into the day.

A Strong Book

Don’t fancy yourself with easy reading in the early mornings. Wake up your senses; dive into philosophy, psychology, or any of the humanities for that matter.

The point of doing this is to condition your mind for dealing with complexities early on. Engage in the work of the greats. Soak in their information. With their assistance, you can apply greater thought to your endeavors.

I emphasize the matter of doing your work in structured blocks. I take it you favor longer intervals, that’s no problem. Ensure that your breaks are refreshing ones, and make good time for leisure during the day and night.

You require no further perspective. I trust that you can take enough away from this to develop a great routine.

Best Wishes,

Corpus