I just deleted a very long blog post. It was about having productive mornings, telling you not to be a night owl.
I started writing this blog post three months ago, the story about how waking up earlier in the morning has made me happier/better/smarter/whatever. It was gonna talk about my morning rituals like writing/meditating/lifting/whatever. Then I put some crazy hour like 4 am to show off some more, throw in a catchy title, and was about to hit submit to feed my superiority complex.
Then I saw this video:
(for those without sound, this is the worst TED talk ever recorded. We’re talking train-wreck status.)
I am Joe’s moment of self awareness.
What bothers me most about that video is how much it reflects who I am. He’s a more honest version of most self help guru’s.
You ever notice how much of the self help industry feeds on guilt? The people that they are purporting to help often walk away feeling inadequate and worse about themselves?
There’s nothing wrong with you if you read The Secret and didn’t have a breakthrough.
Like bodybuilders pretending not to do steroids, even the guru’s can’t follow their own advice. There’s a lot more to their story’s than they share.
7 ways to waste your time with click-bait, #4 will shock you
The truth is, waking up earlier will work for some people. It did for me, but the full story is that I was an insomniac already, so it wasn’t much of a sacrifice. It’s not for everyone, and a bunch of research I’ll pretend to have read says that many people are not genetically programmed to wake up early. Then why force them?
I’ll get off the hate train for a second. The deeper principle isn’t about what time you wake up, or how organized your rituals are. It’s about having a little self respect, and putting as much work into you as you do into everything else. Or, it’s about focusing on yourself a little less, and helping others.
There is no magic pill. What works for one person, won’t work for another. If you try different things, and reflect honestly, you might find that thing that works for you. And if you don’t, that’s okay too.
So don’t wake up extra early if it makes you miserable. Don’t divide your day into ritualistic 6 minute increments. Don’t 10x yourself. And as Mark Twain said,
Be careful about reading health books, you may die of a misprint.
