Time To Wake Up

"As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death." ~ Leonardo da Vinci

A friend of mine wrote this article about sleep habits and productivity recently and I found it very relevant to me. I'd say it would be relevant to most actually, as we do spend (hopefully) a third of our lives asleep.

It's generally promoted that happiness comes from not working, but I believe happiness comes from productivity, simply because productivity is required to achieve whatever personal success we desire from life, but also because it's what drives our feeling of purpose in life. So being productive from day to day is not only crucial for success, but also for daily happiness, which is the basic subdivision of a happy life.

"The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work." ~ Mark Twain

I want to break this down further. I feel the most satisfaction when I have a productive morning as I feel less stress and pressure on the latter part of the day to get a pile of things done. When my alarm goes off though, this is the last thing on my mind. All I'm thinking is "I need more sleep".

Productivity and prioritization are my biggest focuses, and bad sleep patterns are making this more difficult for me at the moment. One thing that will help pull all this in line is always getting up at the same time, which right now needs to be 6am unfortunatey. Not my preference at all (although normal and preferred for many I realise.) I want to always be up early and then get things done early in the day and then allow my brain to slow and settle so I can get to sleep earlier, and repeat this cycle. This habit will fuel health and happiness ~ and all of the above fuels productivity, which fuels happiness...and so the cycle goes.

The article I mentioned earlier encourages not using an alarm but for some of us that simply isn't an option in my opinion. So here's what I've done before to help me get straight out of bed. And I'm going to try it again.

Mobile phones can now use any recording as a ringtone or alarm sound. To help me remember how good it feels to have been productive I record a "Wake Up Statement" and make it my alarm sound. How to do this varies from phone to phone so I won't go into it.

Here is my latest "Wake Up Statement";

"Get up now and get productive. If you want more sleep then get to bed earlier tonight. Right now you have to commit to getting the things done that really matter, so you'll finish the day with the happiness and satisfaction of having been productive. It's time to wake up!"

This is my old one, which I used in London, 2009;

"Wake up Josh, and make a positive step towards your dreams. Yesterday is history and now you have to do the very best you can with today so that tomorrow’s history is something to be positive about. Follow your plan for the day and make it happen. Remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson and think positive, as you will then act positive, become a more positive person and ultimately reach a positive destiny. Every hour counts so get up right now and make the most of your day.

The old one isn't concise enough, which is something I'm always working on. And with that in mind...thanks for reading...

Wait ~ one last concise quote. This outlines the real power I'm trying to tap into with this post ~ attitude!

"For success, attitude is equally as important as ability. ~ Harry F. Banks