Why You Need to Start Doing This One Thing

When a trusted mentor tells you not to do something, in most cases, they are right. But when your gut tells you differently, and no matter how hard you try to suppress your instinct, sometimes it's best for you to disobey your teacher - damn the consequences. Sometimes. Today's one of those days.

Craig Ballantyne

"You must be disciplined. Go to bed early and get up early." - Frank McKinney

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By Craig Ballantyne

It was a dark and stormy morning. Yes, morning. An irregular warm, spring morning blessed with a magnificent thunderstorm. I sat at the kitchen table at 6am, writing, faithful dog by my side, and watched nature light up the sky.

The rain kept us inside, but provided a relaxing backdrop as I continued to work on my daily ETR essays. Like each morning, no matter where my travels had taken me throughout the world, I had risen at 4am to protect my magic writing time - a period in which I am most creative and productive.

The scene of me sitting at laptop, water and notepad by my side, word document opened on screen, had been replicated this year in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Vilnius, Bergen, Stockholm, Las Vegas, New York, Denver, Austin, San Diego, and of course, Toronto. That's my modus operandi. Early to rise, early to write.

By 6am I have more quality work done than I could accomplish had I tried to do the same job at any other time of day. And by 9am I often have more done than 95% of the working population will accomplish all day.

And so let me tell you what I believe is the answer to making everything better in your life. And yes, I do mean everything.

It's something that Michael Masterson said not to do. He said it was fine to encourage you to work in your magic time, but not to insist that ETR readers get up early.

Well, there's a reason our website is not called GetUpAt2pm.com. Both Michael and I know that deep down that part of the solution to almost all of life's problems is to get up earlier.

Of course, I hear your protests. "I'm a night owl," you say. "I just can't get up early," another replies. "My brain doesn't function in the morning," says another. The rest of you chant in unison, "You're just a weirdo!"

Well, thank you, I take that as a compliment. Knowing what we know about the average person, it's better to be as far from normal as possible. But I also understand that one strange Canadian's experiences with early mornings is not enough evidence to convince a jury of my peers that getting up earlier is a) the solution for everything, and b) at all possible.

For that, we need to look at other examples. Here's one that all of our night owls will have to appreciate. It's the story of what happens when a man - one that has lived on a tour bus with Motley Crue, infiltrated the pick-up artist (PUA) sub-culture to become one of the most legendary PUAs of all time, and that has written a book on surviving the apocalypse - changes his long-time night owl schedule and gets up early.
I recently tried an experiment. I decided to see if I was a morning person. Instead of staying up all night writing, I decided to do one of my thirty-day experiments: I spent a month going to bed at 9:30 p.m. every night and waking up at 5:30 a.m. Though it meant dashing out of dinners early, turning down all nighttime plans, and going to sleep with work still unfinished, I discovered that I was much more productive this way. By the time most of my friends were waking up, I'd already finished much of my work for the day."

A recent study from the University of Toronto surveyed over 731 adults. Regardless of their age, waking up early was associated with a better mood. "Earlier risers reported feeling more positive emotions compared to night owls," explained one of the researchers. The authors suspected that the positive mood was related to the increased amount of sunlight exposure experienced by those who woke up earlier.

I hope that Neil and the research - and perhaps even lil' ol' me - have given you enough reasons to try making an earlier start to your day. First, you'll be amazed at what you can get done with a little extra alone time either at home or in the office. When it's just you and no distractions, you'll be shocked at the clear thinking you can get done.

To maximize your morning, start the night before. It all begins with clearing your schedule, setting expectations, getting your subconscious brain to begin working on the tasks overnight, and then limiting distractions during actual work time.

As Neil Strauss added in his article, "Have a plan and a direction. Know what you want to accomplish: not just for the day, but in the big picture."

With a clear schedule and mind, and a focused to-do list that has been properly seeded with preparation from the night before, you'll be able to wake up as productive as possible. The early morning is magic time. For everyone.

If you want to get ahead in life, get up early. I know it's not politically correct, and it's probably not the advice that you wanted to hear, but it's the truth. Stay in bed and you'll regret it, get up earlier and you'll have more success in life.

Your challenge: Get up and start working at least fifteen minutes earlier next week. Don't let anything or anyone pollute your mind. Attack your work first thing in the morning. I guarantee you'll get more done and get ahead. You might even be happier.