
Have you read articles and books about the habits of successful people and read that one of the things they have in common is rising early? They get up before the rest of the household (Or maybe even before the sun. Gasp!) and……
- Meditate
- Do Bible study
- Plan their day
- Start writing/working
- Exercise
- Get housework out of the way
- Blah, blah, blah
Sickening, right? The only things on that list that appeal to me even a tiny bit are the first three and that’s because I can do them without getting out of bed. Then when I do get up, I’ve forgotten what I thought about/read/planned. Because…….
I am not a morning person!
At all. There. I said it. But, according to all the articles, it looks like I’m doomed to failure because I’m not a morning person. They make it sound so easy. Like, “Get up at 4 a.m. and get the hard tasks out of the way!” What?? There’s a 4 a.m.??
Do these articles make you feel inferior? Like you’re doing something wrong? Have you tried to do that only to find it doesn’t work for you?
I’m so not a morning person that no matter what time I go to sleep, I do. Not. Want. To. Get. Up. Early. I might wake up, but can usually drift back off. I’m so bad that I couldn’t wait until my kids were old enough to fix their own breakfast and drive themselves to school so I didn’t have to get up.
Things don’t usually go well when I try to work early in the morning. Unfortunately, my business requires me to be out at the crack o’ dawn on weekends making smart buying decisions. Yard sales and estate sales aren’t going to wait til I’m fully awake and functioning to happen. All the early bird, morning people are out there snapping up that juicy worm of a bargain, leaving me the dried up, dead-on-the-sidewalk, worms. So I drag myself out before my eyes are even focusing well. And what happens?
I leave great deals on the table and I buy stoopid stuff that I regret before even getting it in the car. Not always of course, but if I were more alert in the mornings, I’m sure I’d do a much better job.
If only I were a morning person!!! But it’s just not the way I was created.
Don’t get me wrong. I love mornings. I love the new sun. I love the birds chirping. I love to be on the road right after dawn with the farmers and their tractors. I love to hear roosters crowing. (I’m a small town girl.) I just don’t like to get out of bed to do or see these things.
I’ve tried to change with pitiful results. You probably have, too. I have to get up on sale days, but on non sale days, I’ve lain in bed and planned my day, my week, my success strategy, my life even. I’ve come up with some great ideas and some crazy ideas. I’ve been convinced creating another web site would be the ticket to riches. More than once. And jumped up, acted on the “great idea”, spent a little money, spent a little time creating it and quickly lost interest. I’ve been convinced I could walk 3 miles every morning and did it! For a day or two. I’ve had more dumb impulse ideas in the morning than I can count. Thankfully, most of them are forgotten by the time my feet hit the floor.
Does this sound familiar? Maybe you don’t create web sites, but you might exercise or clean house or something else for a day or perhaps even a week, only to get discouraged and go back to staring at the wall until you get your day bearings about you.
So what are we to do?
Huh. I dunno.
Nah. I do know. We have to find our best working hours. We have to figure out what we do best in the morning. Maybe it is staring at the wall. Or maybe it is Bible study, reading the news or reading something inspirational. Something that will inspire us to reach for whatever our vision of success is. Maybe there’s a small task you can do. I actually started writing this article at 7 am. I know, I know. Depending on the side of the fence you’re on, that’s either really early or getting late. It’s way early for me. Being the stare-at-the-wall type an’ all, like that. Maybe a cup or ten of coffee will get you going. I don’t like coffee, but will take an Energize pill if I feel the need. I took half of one this morning. (The link to the Energize pill is an affiliate link. I like them that much!)
We should prioritize our tasks. Our need-to-dos, our want-to-dos. I’m not talking about labeling tasks in order of priority, either. That can be impossible when they are all of equal importance. I’m talking about knowing when you’re at your best with a certain task. I prefer to check emails and look at social media before or right after I get up and over breakfast. I find I like to start writing early. If I wait, I won’t get around to it. I like to pack and ship about mid morning. The longer I wait on that, the harder it is to do. I generally prefer to take pictures and write product descriptions after lunch. That’s when I’m ready to knuckle down to business. I enjoy thinking before I get up. I’m pretty creative during that time. As soon as I hit the floor those creative juices stop flowing as freely. This article was an idea that came to me lying in bed, thinking how I was dreading getting up and how that last article I read told me I should have already been up and cranking out the work and what was wrong with me that I just want to stay in bed? Sometimes, often actually, pre-arising ideas are good ones. Don’t know if this was a good one or not, but I kinda liked it, it was something to talk about on the blog and I acted on it.
So, of course we’re not doomed to failure if we’re not morning people. We have to stop comparing ourselves to others. Their path is not our path. Their best way of doing things is not our best way of doing things. We have to figure out our own best way. Mornings might not enter into the equation at all for us. We will probably start later and work later than our morning friends. My husband jumps out of bed and has a day’s work done before lunch, but he’s kaput by 2 or 3:00. I’m just getting going by that time. As long as we work with our natural rhythm, I believe we can achieve anything we want or need to achieve without the frustration of trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Especially with the help of a little caffeine.
What about you? How have you worked around not being a morning person? If you live with a morning person how have you convinced them to not berate you for being different from them and to let you do your own thing? Leave us a comment. Your ideas might help someone else struggling with the same thing!
If you have an outside job where you have to be at a certain time in the early mornings, my condolences. I’ve been there. Never did well. That’s why I found work I can do from home on my own time.
I can totally relate to this because I’m not a morning person either. Have to force myself to get up for early or any yard sales. Lately I’ve been kinda lazy. Lazy does not get the worm. Gary bounces out of bed at 5am, but me, I’m dragging out by 7am. Then it takes me another 1-2 hrs to wake up. Ha! How did I ever work?
I am right there with your husband. I LOVE early morning and am usually up by at least 4 a.m. But, I’m totally useless by 4 p.m. Sometimes I wish that I could be more of a night owl.
I can’t imagine! But I wish I was more like that. We always want what we don’t have, don’t we? I was awake this morning by 6, up at 6:30, out at the sales by 7, back home at 8:30 and in dire need of a nap. I won’t be worth a flip today.
Okay, this is me too. 🙂 Happy to know I’m not alone! I’m a night person, like a vampire.