The million-dollar question is: Why not giving your first hours of the day to the most important person in your life?
It might sound poetic, but there's a challenge focused on directing our attention towards our goals and the things that make us feel alive.
There's a time of day when your phone doesn't ring, your boss isn't after you to deliver pending tasks, your pet isn't begging to take a walk, car horns aren't blaring outside, and your attention is 100% yours and no one else's.
The key is to wake up an hour earlier
Many studies suggest that the ideal time to wake up is at 5 AM from Monday to Friday, but this challenge involves getting up an hour earlier, that’s right! at 4 AM.
The challenge demands doing this for 21 consecutive days (excluding weekends).
And yes, we know you're probably thinking, "No thanks” or “Are you crazy?", but before you put up a barrier, we want to tell you that the main goal of this challenge is not for you to suffer and regret waking up early.
Envato/vinnikava
The idea is to live by the legendary financial motto:
"Pay yourself first with your most valuable non-renewable resource, namely, your time."
After 21 days, then 60, then 90, and 5 years later, I continue doing the challenge, which has become the most effective habit of my life.
What happens when we want to save?
Everyone tells us to save before doing anything else, a certain percentage of our salary (in most cases, 10-20% is recommended).
If we do this with our finances, why not do it with ourselves? Why not pay ourselves with the first hours of the day?
Why not use those hours to focus on our goals or the things that make us feel alive?
The first days you'll be tired
Very tired, and you'll probably hate the challenge because waking up early is one of the most difficult things for humanity (it's not me saying this, it's science) but once you master it, you'll conquer your world.
Envato/YuriArcusPeopleimages
The first things you have to do when you wake up are:
- Don't ignore your alarm.
- Stretch as much as you can, drink tea, coffee, or whatever you crave. The point is to have something warm in your stomach.
- Dedicate these early morning hours to what's truly important to you in life.
- If you don't know what that is, this time will be a good moment to reflect on what you would like to do and haven't done due to time constraints or a thousand other activities.
- You can use these hours to read, write, study, work, dance, do yoga, go to the gym.
The hours are yours, make the most of them.
And all this for what?
This challenge is about having more focus on what you really want for your life (both personal and professional).
Envato/westend61
We've been taught to pay attention to work pending, car maintenance, bank accounts, text messages, but never to what we need. Have you ever realized this?
Your productivity levels will improve because something happens at the brain level when we wake up early to do things we like, generating dopamine, and consequently, you'll feel much more motivated and happy.
Give it a try, take it one day at a time, don't punish yourself thinking it will be too hard to wake up early for the rest of your life.
Again, take it one day at a time and become friends with your alarm.
By 8 PM, it's all over
The fact that we've normalized being available 24 hours doesn't mean it's normal or healthy.
When you enter the office or really want to enjoy your free time, we advise you to put aside the constant impulse to check your social media accounts for new notifications.
Envato/svittlana
Forget about that pressure you’ve put on yourself of being available to others all of the time. Teach yourself this and make sure those around you know this.
When it's 8 PM, turn everything off and rest from electronic devices.
Does it seem impossible? Maybe at the beginning, it does because you're used to a different pace of life, but start setting limits little by little and get used to your new habits.
The reason you're waking up early is precisely to disconnect much earlier from everything.
Dedicate time to your family, stop checking pending work, go for a walk, read, exercise, and sleep early.
The key is to master the first week, and then your body will automatically ask you to go to sleep and wake up early the following days.
Envato/leungchopan
