RazorCut
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I used to be a night owl in the days of my Counterstrike addiction. I’d say to myself ‘hey what’s that noise’ and realise it was the dawn chorus outside and think hell its 4:30am, time for bed.
Now whether you believe it or not you are not born a morning person or night owl. It’s all habit. I owned a pizzeria at the time so wouldn't come home till late and was so wired I'd stay up late and that had become my ingrained habit long since I moved on from B&M to online businesses.
However, in the last 7 months I have been studying hard particularly around habit formation and self-improvement as I identified these as my main weaknesses. I made a vow to improve my productivity by switching my routine. Now I make a conscious effort to go to bed at 10pm and get up at 5am. This was a killer for me to start with. I mean a real killer. At 5am I didn't even know what planet I was on. However I have persevered. I have learned that if you can do something every day for 3 weeks you should have retrained your neural pathways into creating a new habit. I always air on the side of caution and will not break the cycle for at least 30 days. This means still getting up at 5am on weekends when I could easily lie in. That is another tough barrier to break through.
Anyway this has had a huge impact on my productivity. I get up, hit the shower, dress and have breakfast and am at the PC with a coffee and a pint of water just after 5:30. (Another habit I've cultivated is to have good hydration so I make sure I have at least 2 pints before 10am).
That early start gives me well over 2 hours to work in the solitude of a quiet house until I head for the office at around 7:45.
Now I have just started adding 15 minutes of quiet meditation time first thing in the morning so the alarm has been brought forward to 4:45.
By getting up early I guarantee to move forward towards my goals every single day regardless of how the rest of the day pans out, (you know those days that just goes south really quickly and nothing gets achieved? I get far too many of them lately).
So anyway that is my #1 tip. What about you? What have you found to make the most difference in your entrepreneurial life?
Now whether you believe it or not you are not born a morning person or night owl. It’s all habit. I owned a pizzeria at the time so wouldn't come home till late and was so wired I'd stay up late and that had become my ingrained habit long since I moved on from B&M to online businesses.
However, in the last 7 months I have been studying hard particularly around habit formation and self-improvement as I identified these as my main weaknesses. I made a vow to improve my productivity by switching my routine. Now I make a conscious effort to go to bed at 10pm and get up at 5am. This was a killer for me to start with. I mean a real killer. At 5am I didn't even know what planet I was on. However I have persevered. I have learned that if you can do something every day for 3 weeks you should have retrained your neural pathways into creating a new habit. I always air on the side of caution and will not break the cycle for at least 30 days. This means still getting up at 5am on weekends when I could easily lie in. That is another tough barrier to break through.
Anyway this has had a huge impact on my productivity. I get up, hit the shower, dress and have breakfast and am at the PC with a coffee and a pint of water just after 5:30. (Another habit I've cultivated is to have good hydration so I make sure I have at least 2 pints before 10am).
That early start gives me well over 2 hours to work in the solitude of a quiet house until I head for the office at around 7:45.
Now I have just started adding 15 minutes of quiet meditation time first thing in the morning so the alarm has been brought forward to 4:45.
By getting up early I guarantee to move forward towards my goals every single day regardless of how the rest of the day pans out, (you know those days that just goes south really quickly and nothing gets achieved? I get far too many of them lately).
So anyway that is my #1 tip. What about you? What have you found to make the most difference in your entrepreneurial life?
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