debbiebradleyAt least the mornings …
I know there are hundreds of articles and studies and people out there telling you that the WORST thing you can do in a morning is hit the snooze button and go back to sleep.
It makes sense, doing that puts your body into a new sleep pattern, you go through the sleep stages just the same as you do through the night, then you have to force your way out of it at the wrong time, your circadian rhythm is fucked, and you feel like crap for the rest of the day, or at least until you’ve downed a few coffees to block the adenosine receptors and helps you “wake the fuck up” (its a whole science thing)
They’re right, hitting snooze and heading back off to the land of nod for 10 minutes or so is a REALLY BAD way to start your day. But hitting snooze doesn’t have to be…
I often look back at my college years as the best years of my life, not because of the partying or any of that shit, but because of how switched on and focused I was, and this was years before I started drinking coffee like it was the only drink available on the planet (whole other story).
Why were they the best years of my life?
Well… I snoozed my way through my mornings.
I was guaranteed to wake up at 6am, have plenty of time to do what I needed to do and head out for the bus by 7:20, even on Fridays when I didn’t have a class til 1, I was still on the bus at 7:20 (yeah, I was that student)
So how did snoozing help me have such kickass mornings and increased productivity?
I used the snooze button as a timer.
I didn’t go back to sleep, but I did hit snooze til I couldn’t hit it any more.
My alarm went off at 6, I snoozed 10 minutes.
I laid in bed and woke myself up slowly, moving my arms and legs, turning over, stretching, nothing much, but just enough to get my body out of sleep mode.
Then 10 minutes I’d get up and head to the bathroom,
10 minutes to get dressed
10 minutes to hydrate, grab my lunch and pack my bag
10 minutes to grab my shoes, coat and keys.
10 minutes to walk to the bus stop
It took me an hour to get up, ready and out of the door.
Snooze, snooze, snooze, snooze…
I’d get the bus, grab breakfast at college, then head to class (or the cafe to study until class)
It worked.
For years it worked, then I adopted the same morning routine to get ready for work.
Since then, with a family and a few big lifestyle changes here and there I’ve needed to rethink my morning routines, they got lost for a while.
It got to a point where I dragged myself out of bed, rushed around getting kids ready and out of the door, but only giving myself chance to drag on some clothes and neck a coffee… my calm mornings fuelled by music and the snooze button were a long lost memory…
SO it’s time to bring the snooze button back.
Music is easy – Echo Dots wake the whole family up with a chosen playlist, but I’ll be bringing the snooze button back to nudge myself from one step to the next…
Wake up
bathroom
get dressed
hydrate
journal
check the plan
head out for the day
In an hour I can get so much done.
That first hour sets the tone for your whole day, and I know from experience that having that kind of morning routine in place can seriously impact your ability to focus and get shit done through the day. Every day. Without fail.
This has very little to do with rigidity or formulaic ways to start your day… there’s no 5-step or 10-step process that requires/demands you to wake at 4:30am to get everything done. Far from it. This is a tool… hit the button, do the thing, hit the button again, do the next thing… it’s really simple and you can do whatever you want in that time.
It’s fuck all to do with rules.
It’s all to do with discipline
Discipline to do what needs to be done, to get you where you need to be, when you need to be there.
It’s simple really… just snooze your way through.
