How much time do you give yourself and what you do with it? I have heard from a few successful people about people not giving enough time for themselves. Most people have jobs, family, kids, tv, internet, phone etc. that take most of their time. But do they have time for themselves? Personal time?
It is the time to think and reflect on yourself. It is the time to learn and improve your life. It is the time to work on your goals, plans. It is the time to improve your health. It is the time to increase your knowledge. It is time for anything you enjoy doing on your own.
The first time this idea hit me on my head was when I heard a podcast in BP with Al Halrod. He is the author of the book called Miracle Morning. This guy got his life back from near death situation from a car crash and became handicapped. But instead of giving up or being depressed, he went on to become a very successful entrepreneur. How he did it was by giving an hour for himself every morning.
When you first hear such claims, it sounds too good to be true. But as I had tried it for myself for a month, I can attest that it is a very powerful technique. You allocate an hour or two or half every morning when you do this morning routine. Everyone who does this has their own routine of how they spend their personal time in the morning. But Al did a study and found out that they all fall under 6 habits. He insists on doing all six just as he does.
I don’t want to go into too much detail about his book but meditation, exercise, goal setting, reading, writing a journal, self-reflection or planning out the day are examples of such habits. There is no general rule for what to do and what not to. You should do whatever works for you.
Why in the morning? Morning is when the day starts. All these habits give you motivation and energy for rest of the day. So the earlier you start, longer the benefits. Plus, there is not a lot of distractions in the morning.
But I am not a morning person? You don’t have to be. Just wake up an hour earlier than you normally would. If you are used to waking up at noon, wake up at 11am. You can start out with half hour and wake up at 11:30 if an hour is too much. That is not too much to ask for.
Are you used to hitting the snooze button every morning and hating that you have to go to work again? Well, not anymore. Now as soon as you hear the alarm, if you even need one, you will be excited to wake up and do your morning routine. Do you ever hate to get out of your bed on Christmas day or the day you go out for vacation. No, when you wake up for something that you love, you will never have that feeling. It will be the same feeling with this habit once you get in the rhythm.
Like I said earlier, I wanted to try this for a month and I did it everyday. It was an amazing feeling. I have to be honest that it was a little difficult to wake up early in the beginning. Now, I don’t remember exactly what time, but it was sometimes between 4 and 5. I have changed my work hours so much, I don’t remember what was it then. But it was the best feeling I had in the mornings. As soon as the alarm went off, I knew I had an hour worth of free time for myself, no worries about being late for work or even going to work because all I thought about was getting up, meditation and reading and all that fun.
By the time I was done, I would be excited, pumped to begin the day. I already had a plan for the day and enthusiasm to go through it. It was fun and I was never late for work. My plans for the day included plans for the evening as well. So when I came home, I already knew what to do. It was very productive and rarely spent time doing meaningless work. For example, I would be reading books or listening to audiobooks or calling friends and family or calling real estate agents instead of just sitting on the couch and spending endless time on Internet junk.
I completed the one month goal, maybe did for couple of months but could not continue further. But I would like to get back to the habit again and continue this for life. I have not found a better habit than this, that gives you more positive energy and brings out productivity from you.
If I reflect on the time I spend everyday not being productive, I feel like I am losing so much. I want to go back to this habit again and become much more productive.
I would like to credit Kiran KC, a Nepali actor, who made me realize about this habit again. He was telling that he likes to spend 2 hours every morning for himself where he does yoga, walking, running, dancing or whatever he feels like. According to him, he has a great health because of that. For a busy person like him, finding 2 hours for him everyday is even important. Thanks to him for reminding me of this again. Who else wants to join us?
Millionaire Immigrant 