Early morning is the time for yourself.
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Editor’s note: The author Leah Fessler has a habit of getting up early since childhood. She does not agree with getting up early and immediately investing in the arrangement of one day’s work. She also advocates taking advantage of the morning time to observe his life and himself. Free yourself, exercise, think about your goals, progress, change you want to make in your life, and enjoy your intimacy with your partner. The original title The Art of Waking Up Earlier Than Everyone Else.
Source: Stephen Simpson / Getty Images
A few weeks ago, on the weekend, I was driving to Vermont with my best friends at the university. We studied at a small college in the Green Mountains (the attractions of Vermont) when we were in college. We love the scenery here. And the community.
In the plan, we want to swim, hike, drink beer, and eat a lot of maple cream. Because we only stayed there for a day, I thought about starting the nostalgic time of summer fun. For example, it starts at 6 in the morning.
But my friends obviously didn’t think so.
On the same day, I woke up naturally at 5:30 in the morning, quietly dressed my fitness equipment, slipped out of our Airbnb room, and I closed the door. The air outside the door was cool, there was no trace of New York City’s dampness, the morning light was weak, it looked pink under the watch, and a nearby stream creaked, I was sure I heard the frog’s cry. I looked at the phone: there was no notification.
I took a deep breath and then took a deep breath.
I want to go running, but I chose to walk afterwards. My feet wet the dewy grass outside the room. When I returned to the town, my head hurt a little and I felt a little tired. Looking back this week, my mind is full of customers, interviews and anxiety. It is not easy to eat, I usually need coffee on the morning of the working day.
I was sitting alone in the store that had opened before 7 am, thinking about my obsession with getting up early. My parents and brothers can’t always get up early, and my entire childhood is full of troubles. My mom always said to me: “The most successful person in the world has already got up before 6 o’clock.” Then she always reminds me: Never wake her up before 9 o’clock. Although my family was comforted during the night’s sleep and late night, I found that I still like to get up early, clean up, and eager to start working before 7 o’clock.
Although this imbalance is likely to be caused by my family’s biological clock and peak hours (they work, chat, and party later than I am), which leads to some contradictions: when they I think that when I get up early in the morning, I am urging them, or when I am putting pressure on them, I think that they are lazy and even boring when they are lazy in bed at 8 or 9 in the morning.
My job is a writer and a full-time consultant. These jobs never require me to go to work before 9:30 am (especially considering that most of my clients are on the West Coast, they work three hours later than me). My partner would rather sleep late at this time. Moreover, if I don’t get out of bed, my pug won’t start. It seems that I have no reason to get up early, even though I really want to get up early.
I have read a few articles about how early it is to improve productivity. I believe you have read them. These articles promote the benefits of getting up early to complete the to-do list. Most of these articles make me feel Bored because they depreciate the early rise of a sacred ritual.
In their article, getting up early is just to do more things, it’s just swearing porn; some geeks are obsessed with listening to podcasts at 2x speed, and it’s a bit like this (without irony, this makes humans Sounds like a robot). Or just starve yourself because Elon Musk says it will make you smarter.
Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and partner of Initialized Capital, opposed the busyness of the 007 style. He explained: “When the pain and suffering are removed, every day, every hour, every moment. All must work, otherwise your work will not work hard enough… This is one of the most harmful and dangerous things in the tech world.” He also said that the enthusiasm for overtime is “completely nonsense, it is not only harmful to your company, And it is also harmful to your happiness.”
So, is there any practical value for getting up early? Why should I do this, why should you do this? Should you let yourself sleep late, just like you should buy a cup of damn coffee?
As a person who got up in the early hours of childhood and achieved some success (whether it is a coincidence or not), here is how I use my early morning time.
I will do nothing
The weekend, my friendThey finally woke up, because they had a beer the night before, they were dizzy, and they didn’t understand why I wandered around before sunrise and tortured myself. They asked a simple question:
What did you do when you wake up so early?
This is a good question, frankly, it stumps me.
I don’t do the same thing every morning. I basically agree with Chaunie Brusie, author of Forge, who believes that the fixed process in the morning is not important. Some time last year I wrote an article every morning, and I stopped this attempt a week later. Sometimes I get up very early because I am really anxious and can’t sleep anymore (this is very common and deserves more attention). However, most of the time, I didn’t plan to wake up.
“To be honest, I usually go to the kitchen to make coffee, then sit there and play with Chester (my pug), it will do some fun things, want to eat,” I answered my friends like this.
They think this answer is ridiculous, but it is true. Normally, my partner and I sit quietly drinking coffee (not intentionally silent or meditating, we are just quiet). He ate his peanut butter sandwich and I gave myself 舀 Greek yogurt. Our pug sits next to us, or sits on our lap and does a funny expression that only a pug can do.
In other words, most of the morning I get up very early and do nothing. I don’t produce, don’t meditate, just live. Many efficiency experts will think that this is a waste of time like a god: during this time, I should be able to arrange a full day of work, write a to-do list, or sleep for a while! As Joe Fassler wrote in The Urgent Case for Boredom, these critics ignore that doing nothing is an essential element of human evolution, creation, problem solving, and personal growth. Studies have shown that people who are forced to do boring tasks are more creative in their subsequent creative tasks. As Fassler explains, although today’s society is boring, the benefits of boring are obvious: “When our work or environment becomes unremarkable, boredom motivates us to find new areas and new ways. Bring exploration, change and improvement,” he wrote.
If your work is particularly busy, you will have a hard time getting bored at work. Even if you are bored at work, you will feel sad. Personally, I think the career I should pursue should be more interesting, or I should try to work harder.
But this is not the case. When you get up early, your day will increase by a few hours. This is the time to make yourself bored for a while and not to be sad.
Some mornings, I am walking leisurely while walking the dog.Coffee, good fortune, thought of a great story, an interesting tweet in my mind, and the motivation to text a friend who hasn’t been in contact for a long time. More early in the morning, I was just bored for an hour. During this time, I would read one or two articles, listen to a song, even stare at the wall, then take a shower to go to work. There are no good or bad situations in both cases. In both cases, I feel very calm. They make me clear-headed and ready for innovation at a busy time.
I will exercise
In the past few decades, if science has proven anything, it is that exercise is vital to physical and mental health, longevity, heart disease prevention and weight control. Exercise is good for you, I don’t have to tell you at all.
What is frustrating is that most of us can’t find time to exercise. In the first few years of my work, I belonged to a group that didn’t have time to exercise. I couldn’t go out to exercise at noon, and I was really tired after work, not to mention that fitness classes in New York were very expensive. As far as I am concerned, working with a lot of fitness people makes me very stressed.
Getting up early is a simple solution. When you create more time for a day, you have more time to exercise, and there is no pressure to work out with others.
It takes time to get into the habit of getting up in the morning. You will feel bad at first, you will hate it, and you will feel tired and sick. After a few weeks, you will be looking forward to every morning. But one thing to note: If you want to squeeze out time to exercise without getting up early, you will feel extremely rushed and stressed. You need to get up early and give yourself time to exercise without affecting your preparation before going to work.
When you don’t want to exercise, you shouldn’t force yourself to exercise. I used to run every morning, I really like it, and even addicted to it. Now, when I get up early and have a good spirit, I want to run for as long as I want to run. I don’t want to run and stop. Running makes me healthy and happy during this time, and running early in the summer can avoid the heat. But this is just my idea. Whether your favorite sport is yoga, cycling, hiking, swimming, weightlifting, or even fitness, you should get up early and get more time for your workout before you sit in the office all day.
I will spend time alone
My work, relationships, health, friendship, financial situation, and work location are constantly changing during the age of 20-25. My time in the morning is a valuable resource for me to plan and evaluate my life choices. Our minds are more awake in the morning and will not be affected by what is going to happen next. Sleep can usually alleviate anxiety, depression or fear, which makes the morning a perfect time. You can simply think about where you are now and where you want to be.
Whether you are sitting at home, walking nearby, or exercising outdoors (early risers often have a gym), there are some unique things about getting up early and being alone.In our highly interconnected society, solitude is as rare as boring. Being alone is very different from feeling lonely. Loneliness is considered a mental health disorder. After you are sick, you will feel lonely even if you are near a friend or family member.
When most people you know (or most people on social media) wake up earlier, this will give you a valuable opportunity to enjoy being alone and not feeling lonely. This is mainly because in the early morning, nothing can make you feel scared, and no one sends you a message. Even if you want to go out to play, no one will accompany you.
Research shows that there are countless benefits to being alone, and most of the benefits are focused on introspection and self-awareness, which is closely related to self-confidence. Psychotherapist Amy Morin explained in Forbes magazine that the other underestimation of being alone is that it can set aside time for short-term and long-term life without being influenced by others.
Morin wrote:
Most people spend a lot of time planning weddings, planning vacations, but never planning how to maximize their enjoyment of life. Taking time alone can give you a chance to make sure that all your busyness has a goal. Quiet spaces provide an opportunity for you to think about your goals, your progress, and the changes you want to make in your life.
I will be very close to my partner
The intimacy I am talking about is not about sex. Intimacy can be an upgrade to your relationship: ask how your partner feels, or how he/she is doing this week. Intimacy can be lying quietly together, or it can be a simple massage. Intimacy can be a calm discussion of a problem that you don’t have time to solve. Of course, intimacy can develop into physical contact that both parties agree on.
For me and my partner, the intimacy of the morning is just a quiet moment together – drinking coffee, laughing when the pug jumps on the lap, and enjoying the quiet sound of the city before going to work. Intimacy is highly psychological. It is very difficult to stay with your partner without considering life and work stress during the day or after work. Personally, I am too tired after work, unable to communicate with my partner at this level in the evening.
A large number of studies have shown that physical and emotional intimacy is the key to long-term relationship satisfaction. But intimacy does not happen as we have seen in romantic comedies. Like anything of value, intimacy and happiness require time, attention and work. Getting up early to create space for intimacy is a neglected way to help you and your partner feel concerned, needed, and cared for.
As far as I am concerned, I found that getting up early is the easiest, cheapest and easiest way. It allows me to pause in my busy life and let me put myself in the first place on the working day. . When I get up early, I can see myself more clearly. This makes me happier, even if only for a few hours.
Getting up early won’t make you make millions of dollars, and it won’t make your career soar. It won’t solve your depression, solve your insecurities, or let you get a perfect date. However, getting up early will give you more time and space to live quietly and peacefully, and the value of this opportunity cannot be overemphasized.
Translator: Xitang