On Waking Up

There are two options to choose from when you open your eyes in the morning.

Option one is give the rock the initial push it needs to roll down the hill. Lift up your covers and get your first task done for the day. Stand on the top of the hill and watch the rock gain more speed as you cross off task after task.

The second option is to hit snooze and let the boulder remain stagnant at the top of the hill. Every time human b delays waking up is another task that human a is completing.

The end result is human a’s rock is already at the bottom of the hill hours before human b’s rock and human a has the rest of the day to themselves.

This is the power of starting your day off strong and knocking out a productive task immediately. For many humans, this can be as simple as making your bed, meditating or brushing your teeth.

Another example would be to think of productivity as compounding in interest like an investment. The earlier you invest, the more those completed tasks build up throughout the day and bring you joy/fulfillment.

If you’re having trouble waking up, think about future you at 12:00 PM that day. You’re struggling to get your first task done instead of already being done with the deep work and off to the fun work.

Wake up.