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Photo Of Flinders Rangers in morning By David Salomon
I am a morning person. I love mornings. It is my most creative time of the day, it makes me happy to hear birds sing in the morning and seeing the sun rise sets me up for a creative rewarding and productive day.
I wake naturally somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30.THere are times when I am more tired than usual and will go to bed earlier. Since I seem to need around 7 hours sleep it means occasionally that I will wake around 4am when the day before was particularly tiring. I make it a point to get u when I wake up. So on those mornings I wake at 4 I will get up and write or read for a while. Usually I will feel tired after a bit and will go back to be for some top up and then get up around the usual time. This way I can go to bed when I am tired, wake when I am fully rested and maintain a schedule. Please note: I abhor alarm clocks. Even the name puts me off. Why wake to an alarm, why not wake to peace and tranquility. I really question snooze buttons as to my mind it means people wake in alarm then drift back to sleep in that state and even go through a number of cycles in the morning. For me that would disturb my whole day. If there are schedules that I cannot miss I will set an alarm and invariably find that I wake 5 or 10 minutes before it.
I have used this for as long as I have been in business for myself and a bit longer. I used to have trouble waking in the morning, particularly when I was working in jobs I didn't like. I simply wasn't looking forward to the day. I found taking three deep breaths as soon as I woke really helped since raising the oxygen level in the blood switches off the sleep mechanism, so I had energy to get up even if I wasn't looking forward to the day.
No I always look forward to the day. i find that the time just before being fully awake I have a lot of imaginative and creative thought happening. Usually things I am working on and it is one of my big problem solving time of the day. In Myers Briggs I am an INTP, so if you are familiar with that system you will know that problem solving is a big thing for me. It is one of the things I like doing most. But that is a whole other topic for another time.
So the first thing I like to do is to make some notes about those pre waking thoughts. If I don't make notes straight away I forget them. By the time I have finished that the new day will be dawning and the birds will be starting their morning chorus, including our backyard chickens. So I go out and let them out of their coup. We shut them them in every night to keep them safe from foxes. Yes we have foxes here in our neighbourhood, 5 km from the city centre. Adelaide has a population just under 1.2 million and our neighbours have had chickens taken by foxes.
At around about sunrise I go for a bike ride heading down to the Torrens River, it has a park and cycle track that goes all the way to West Beach. I ride along the river through Elder park and then loop back thorough North Adelaide and home. It takes about an hour. Along the way I listen to a podcast, currently it's The Mind Your Business with James Wedmore. CAtching up to past episodes will keep me going for about two months. I like this one because it is about the inner landscape, personal development that is critical for being successful in business. Cycling suites me. It gets my energy going, I would like to be fitter and shed some kgs, and organised sports don't do much for me.
By the time I return home I am ready for a warm down, check the veggies in the garden and potted plants especially if a hot day is forecast, 38 deg Celsius today, and I usually make a hot lemon drink for myself and Carol, she's a night owl and get up later than me, Squeeze a lemon wedge into a cup, drop in the wedge pour on hot water, drink when cool enough. Shower, make the bed, breakfast.
By way of interest making the bed is a new thing. I have started it after hearing it suggested on the podcast mentioned earlier. The reason being that I had decided to be more intentional in my approach to each day. One of the things I want to do more of is to carry things through to completion. One of the things that INTP ie problem solver types do is get energised by understanding and solving problems. Often when we have understood a problem and have visualised a solution we move on to the next problem to be solved. Sometimes it is just move on. So make the bed is a reminder to see things to completion and to get the satisfaction of seeing something complete and in its place. We will see how it goes..
By this time I will know the basic shape of my work for the day, with some new ideas about things I am working on around other things that are already in my calendar. It is a solid start to a satisfying productive day. I know many people include meditation, yoga, going for a run, surfing and so on. The big thing I think is to set up your day on the inside in the way you would like to have it reflected on the outside.
This is part 3 in Growing your Business Creatively. Join the comments on how you set up your day for success and leave a comment if you have a question about any of the things mentioned in the post. If appropriate I will make a special post as a reply. Blessings to you.
