I’ve been waking up crazy early lately. A lot on my mind. Despite a little fatigue at the edges, I love having the extra hours. I was browsing Reddit last night and there was a cool Ask Reddit question: If you could add a 0 to any number in your life, what would you add it to? The answer that was upvoted surprised me, but was awesome. I had expected people to add the zero to their salary. While that was there, number one was to add it to the number of hours they could go without needing sleep. While I’m not convinced that that’s the absolute highest use of that 0, it’s pretty damn awesome. Here’s why I think this is so cool:
- I loooooooove learning, but there’s never enough time to dabble in all the things I’m excited about, let alone gain mastery. This is the single biggest frustration in my life.
- I enjoy working hard, but I also love just chilling and drinking in the moment. The friction between the two is caused by a shortage of time.
- I haaaaaaaate sleeping. I legitimately resent it. I prioritize it because it’s so important, but I absolutely hate it.
Now here’s what I really want to know… If you had 180 hour cycles between your required 6 hours of sleep, what would you do with the extra time? Hit me up on social. I want to be inspired by your answers.
Earn Your Credibility
As mentioned above, I’ve been waking up hellafied gangster early, often as early as 4am. I’m excited to get the day started. Why? Because when I greet the day with force and enthusiasm even when I have plenty of time to just lie there and zone the F out I earn credibility with myself. The credibility comes from making a promise to yourself and keeping it. Never underestimate the value of impressing yourself or the cost of disappointing yourself — both things you completely control. It’s not about succeeding or failing. It’s about doing what you say you’re going to do.
At the end of the day, whether the world thinks we’re cool or a dumbass is pretty irrelevant compared to what we think of ourselves. That’s been an obsessive theme in my life since I read the poem about Richard Cory in grade school. (If you haven’t already, you must read it. Amazing.) One of the easiest ways to get wins with yourself is to set micro goals — things that you can accomplish very rapidly. Here are three examples of incredibly potent micro goals that will feed into your sense of self. They are all things that can be done daily without requiring you to totally restructure your life. Each of them carries intrinsic value so that if you do it, not only will you prove something to yourself about yourself, you’ll get the added benefit of the thing itself.
- Showing up to the gym every day. Even just showing up is powerful.
- Making time for daily meditation.
- Journaling for 15 min. a day.
If you’re already doing stuff like this, ping me on Twitter. I want to hear about it. And if you’re not already, join me on Facebook Live. Hit me up with your questions and let’s discuss things further on social media.
