Marcus Aurelius was the emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 A.D. During his rule, Aurelius
found the time to construct a series of autobiographical writings, now known as the Meditations. The
Meditations is regarded as one of the greatest works of philosophy which is why in this video
we will be using some of his wisdom as a motivation to talk about 10 things we should do to wake
up early.
1. Find your Ikigai Marcus Aurelius says “Everything – a horse,
a vine – is created for some duty… For what task, then, were you yourself created?”
Ikigai is a Japanese wellness theory that can make your mornings beautiful. It is defined
as one’s “reason for which you wake up in the morning”, which can be interpreted
as your purpose in life. Marcus Aurelius believed that we each have a purpose; something that
we were created for. It is our duty to carry out that purpose because it is purpose that
gets you out of bed each morning. Your Ikigai could be anything - your long lost hobby,
a new skill you wish to develop or anything that gives you a solid reason to be excited
about it. The best way to find your Ikigai is by asking yourself this one simple question
- If I had more time, what are the things I could do. You may come up with multiple
answers, so select that one thing that excites you the most. It is a task you need to complete
before you start off with your day because the whole word is quite and you have ample
of time for yourself to pursue the activity you are excited about, which will eventually
help you to have healthy social connections, to challenge yourself in a good way, to relieve
stress, to be fit, to be creative and to ward off depression. You need to give yourself
a solid reason to wake up - something to do in every morning that excites you the most.
2. Prepare yourself for mornings In the words of Marcus Aurelius “All our
efforts must be directed towards an end, or we will act in vain. If it is not the right
end, we will fail utterly.” Becoming a morning person requires more work
than setting your alarm for 5:00 A.M. and hoping for the best. People who've decided
to make the most of their mornings not only have a routine for when they wake up but before
they go to bed as well. While you may not have control over your consciousness while
you are asleep, you definitely have a control over your evening activities that will make
you get up out your bed. You can start by –
Minimizing your television and your phone time before bed.
By keeping everything ready for the morning. For example if you wish to go gym, then put
out your gym outfit before you go to bed. By putting out your clothing the night before
you save energy the next day. If you exercise in the mornings it will be tough to skip out
on a workout when your gym clothes and trainers are sitting at the foot of your bed when you
wake up. This is a two-minute exercise that will save you energy in the morning.
You can even use your evening time to settle any unresolved issues. Having unresolved issues
will not only have your mind racing before you go to sleep but you'll also wake up stressed
out. It's better to spend whatever time is needed to resolve any issues you can before
you go to bed. This will help your focus as you get into your morning routine.
By making small sacrifices you can be on your way to becoming a morning person and squeezing
the most out of your day to be more productive.
3. Avoid distractions after you wake up Marcus Aurelius says “Concentrate every
minute like a Roman— like a man— on doing what's in front of you ... And on freeing
yourself from all other distractions” Some mornings you wake up and feel like you
are being pulled in lots of different directions. You usually get distracted by all sorts of
things: miscellaneous emails, a new episode of your favorite TV show, your cell phone
ringing, text messages, the dirty dishes in my sink and the unpaid gas and electric bill
sitting in your face. No matter how early you wake up, you will be distracted. There
may be days when you may be convinced that the world is conspiring to keep you from getting
anything of substance done. Much of the time, the things that distract us are things that
need to get done… but they aren’t necessarily what we should be focusing on right that second.
If you are waking up early, you are waking up for a reason – which is to make the most
of this extra time to do things that you love before you get pulled in by the demands of
your daily life.
4. Wake up consistently According to Marcus Aurelius “You must build
up your life action by action, and be content if each one achieves its goal as far as possible–and
no one can keep you from this” If you are serious about waking up early every
day, then you have to do it consistently in order to make it part of your routine. You
need to develop your self-discipline. Self - Discipline is nothing more but the habit
of consistency – finding the motivation to do something again and again, until you
do it on autopilot and start seeing results. Hal Elrod in his book, The Miracle Morning,
tells us that we need to be consistent for the first 30 days to develop this new routine.
We need to divide the 30-day time frame into three ten-day phases. Each of these phases
presents a different set of emotional challenges and mental roadblocks to sticking with the
new habit. The first ten days of implementing any new
habit, or ridding yourself of any old habit, can feel almost unbearable. If you’re new
habit is waking up early, during the first ten days your experience might be something
like this: Oh God, its morning already! I don’t want to get up. I’m soooo tired.
I need more sleep, where is the coffee? And then we hit the snooze button. The problem
for most people is that they don’t realize that this seemingly unbearable first ten days
is only ‘temporary’. After you get through the first ten days – the
most difficult ten days – you begin the second ten-day phase, which is considerably
easier. While days 11–20 are not unbearable, they are still uncomfortable and will require
discipline and commitment on your part. But by this time, you will be getting used to
waking up early. You will also have developed some confidence and positive associations
to the benefits of your habit. So stay committed. Phase Three is also where the actual transformation
occurs, you go from having an identity that says I am not a ‘morning person’ to I
am a morning person! Instead of dreading your alarm clock in the morning, now when the alarm
goes off you are excited to wake up and get going because you’ve done it for over 20
days in a row. You’re starting to see and feel the benefits.
5. Go easy on yourself As we learn from the words of Marcus Aurelius
“Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, “Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t
I endure it?” You’ll be embarrassed to answer”
The truth is our brain prioritize instant gratification. It values short term rewards
over long term benefits. Which is why 95% of the people fail time and time again, to
start exercise routines in the first 10 days. The problem for most people is that they don’t
realize that this seemingly unbearable first ten days is only ‘temporary’. Instead,
they think it’s the way the new habit feels, and will always feel, telling themselves:
If the new habit is this painful, forget it – it’s not worth it. Which is why when
we fail to wake up early on one day, we often say to ourselves that I will start waking
up early from next Monday or from next month. We need to understand that our ability to
keep going is what molds us into a disciplined and strong person. A bad day doesn’t have
to become a bad week, a bad week doesn’t have to become a bad year. We need to realize
that the new day comes with a new life, and with another opportunity to be better. So
forgive yourself for waking up late today, and start waking up early from tomorrow.
6. Practice voluntary hardship Marcus Aurelius says “We should discipline
ourselves in small things, and from there progress to things of greater value. If you
have a headache, practice not cursing. Don’t curse every time you have an earache. And
I’m not saying that you can’t complain, only don’t complain with your whole being”
Voluntary hardship means constantly testing ourselves and by making life routinely uncomfortable
in some way, we are hardening ourselves for the day we may need to live it for real. To
wake up early, you can practice voluntary hardships like –
Put your alarm clock far from you bed because if its right next to your bed, you’ll shut
it off or hit snooze. Never hit snooze. If it’s far from your bed, you have to get
up out of bed to shut it off. By then, you’re up. Now you just have to stay up.
Go out of the bedroom as soon as you shut off the alarm.
Don’t allow yourself to rationalize going back to bed. If you allow your brain to talk
you out of getting up early, you’ll never do it. Don’t make getting back in bed an
option. Just force yourself to go out of the room.
Jump in a cold shower. If you have a hard time getting going in the
morning, jump in a cold shower. You’ll see how quickly it wakes you up. The cold water
increases the circulation in your body, which leads to a higher demand for oxygen. You automatically
start breathing deeper – and this fights off fatigue.
7. Find an accountability partner To quote Marcus Aurelius “It will even do
to socialize with men of good character, in order to model your life on theirs, whether
you choose someone living or someone from the past”
When you realize that your purpose is to wake up early, then having a good accountability
partner is very important. As we go after our goals, there is one skill that will stand
out high above all other skills. The skill of holding yourself accountable. An accountability
partner is a person who coaches another person in terms of helping the other person keep
commitment. Your accountability partner could be your friends, family, colleagues who have
already achieved the goal you are working towards. In this case your accountability
partner will help you stay consistent with your morning commitments and your progress.
For partnerships, you must select someone who is as committed as you are, has similar
values, can be available when you are available, and is genuinely interested in helping you
succeed with your morning routine. An accountability relationship always feels good because knowing
that we will check in with someone who is emotionally and energetically invested in
our success keeps us on track, even when things get hard.
8. Remind yourself of death Marcus Aurelius informs us “Since it is
possible that you might depart from life this very moment, regulate every act and thought
accordingly”.
The Stoics made it routine to keep the prospect of death in mind and you too can practice
this every morning. There is a phrase within the stoic philosophy called Memento Mori,
which means remember that you will die. The one perennial truth – rich or not, successful
or not, religious, philosophical, it doesn’t matter – you will die. The point of this
reminder isn’t to be morbid or promote fear, but to inspire, motivate and clarify. This
morning routine will help you to keep perspective on things that really matter – which are
your internal principals. Your house, your money, you fame, is temporary and it can anytime
be taken away from you. The one thing that can never be taken away from you is your character.
It is only our character that defines us and carries us through life. A man can rise or
fall just due to the virtues or faults of his character and it is often this that leaves
a legacy. So the idea of reminding yourself of your death will ground you. Just like Steve
Jobs, every morning look in the mirror, and ask yourself – If today were the last day
of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And if you go too many days without
saying yes to this question, then you know you have to change something very fast.
9. Practice negative visualization every morning We are advised by Marcus Aurelius “When
you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling,
ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't
tell good from evil” Rather than imagining an ideal society, the
stoics see the world as it is. Negative visualisation is all about keeping your expectations upfront
and be far more honest with yourself. What could go wrong? How would you handle such
scenarios? Can you overcome or plan for them? When you prepare for the worst, you are in
a better place to deal with disaster if and when it does arise.
For example you go into work and your boss is treating you badly, but since you have
already visualised this scenario in morning, you’re always prepared for your boss to
be uncooperative. You’ll be super pleased when he unexpectedly treats you well. But
even if he never does, you’ll be prepared and always able to keep your cool.
Visualizing negative occurrences makes you fear them less, leaves you less anxious when
they happen, and mentally prepares us to deal with the crisis should they come along. You’ll
also find yourself feeling elated on the occasion where they don’t occur.
10. Appreciate your life In our final quote in this video from Marcus
Aurelius, he says “To the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good parents,
a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything
good”. Marcus Aurelius is very honest and humble
about how he learned to develop his values and ethics and displays much gratitude to
those who helped him to become himself. We too can replicate this by keeping a gratitude
journal. Keeping a gratitude journal is a simple process. Gratitude doesn’t have to
be saved for the “big” things in life. The habit of being grateful starts with appreciating
every good thing in life and recognizing that there is nothing too small for you to be thankful
for. Every day, you should pick three to five things
every day that you're thankful for and write it down in a notebook or journal. So if you
had a rough day at work, focus on coming home to your family or your pet, or simply that
you're grateful for being alive. Appreciating your life just before going to bed, will not
only give you a peaceful night sleep, but will also give you a reason to wake up with
confidence to face new challenges of the day.
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