Waking early

Before I start today's letter, Temi replied.

To think my heart almost cut because I thought you were going to drag me for all the times I disturbed you in 2017.

For all the times I knew you were super busy but I needed an emergency fixed 10 mins ago.

And of course for always calling you FI-LE cos I just can't imagine calling you otherwise.

Thank you Praise, you are a huge inspiration to me too.

I see you and I am proud to say I worked with you! xoxo

Touching, yes?

My day typically—on a normal day—starts at 12PM. I work roughly between 2h a day to as much as 20h a day depending on the scope of work.

This means I am the worst person to talk to you about waking early, except today. I woke up 6AM and that's not even early enough compared to a new friend who's had to wake up 5:20AM everyday for the last six months or another one who can't sleep past 4AM.

I'll still talk nonetheless.

Have you seen those YouTube videos? The ones that tell you the 7 golden steps to success that Warren Buffet and Elon Musk use? Waking early is always a point. They never miss it. Don't forget laying your bed too. Lol.

Yeah, they're shit—and that's for lack of a better word.

He says, and I'm paraphrasing, "don't waste your mornings". I read this book more than 7 times, and whenever I got to this part, I always feel attacked on the first page.

Yet, Solomon goes on to explain that your morning isn't 5AM - 10AM. Your morning is whenever you start your day. He is saying, "don't waste the momentum that starting brings with it".

Everytime you open your eyes, your mind resets like a PC—irrespective of the speed of startup. You are approaching everything afresh. Solomon says "do not waste it".

The religion of laying your bed, morning meditation makes the same mistake as God providing the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. It bestows upon you the duty of discipline, which begins the cycle of fail - remorse - determination - start over - repeat.

Whether you wake up 4AM or 3PM, don't spend it doing shit! Be honest with yourself. What keeps the energy up? Is it listening to a podcast? No? Scrolling through Twitter? Maybe a good dose of Yanni? A call from boo/bae? A shower? Jumping right into work?

What maximizes the energy that your body has stored up during sleep? Is it laying in bed doing nothing for one more hour?

Don't decide your morning with other people's preferences. Have a think on some of your best mornings and write out what keeps you up best, reverse engineer it and do it again.

For me, it is a mix of many things.

Last year, it used to be the articles that Opeyemi sends to me. I hope he sees this and resumes.

The point is, find what makes your morning worth it.

So, leave "waking early" alone for now. Making waking worth it first, because if it isn't, 4AM or 10AM, the results remain the same.

Have a nice day.

Ciao.

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