I’ve been reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius to start off the month of February. I’m almost through it, and book eight offers some great advice for Monday mornings.
When you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, remember that your defining characteristic – what defines a human being – is to work with others. Even animals know how to sleep.
-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
For many of us, waking up early sucks. It’s the first challenge of the day, and it can sway your productivity greatly. The phrase, “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed” comes to mind. It might not be the wrong side, it might be that you woke up on your side at the wrong hour.
Jocko Willink, the retired Navy Seal and recipient of both the Silver and Bronze Star for his service in the Iraq war views waking up early as crucial to winning the day. “Don’t think in the morning,” Willink says. “That’s a big mistake that people make. They wake up in the morning, and they start thinking. Just execute the plan. The plan is the alarm clock goes off, you get up.”
I’m not sure that Marcus Aurelius would have agreed about using a “don’t think” approach to getting out of bed, but he certainly would approve of the results. If you want to be successful, separate yourself from the animals: wake up and get to work, whatever your work may be.