Someone recently asked me what advice I had for someone struggling to find time for themselves to exercise. My answer? They need to master their morning.
The majority of the most successful people in the world get up early. Tim Cook, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and more are all known to wake up well before the sun rises. There is a reason for this – so much can be done before the typical person wakes up. Typically, your family is still asleep, calls are not being made, and last minute fires don’t have to be put out at the office.
This morning time can be your time – a time to take care of yourself both mentally and physically. Your mind and body work differently immediately after a good night’s rest and without the day’s distractions taking away from “your” time.
Sure, it can be tough to not hit the snooze button and keep sleeping. That’s reality – deal with it. I have not met anyone that actually enjoys the alarm going off before 5 am. I wake up every morning between 3:45-4:45 and it fucking sucks. There is nothing fun about it. Ultimately however, I love what I am able to get done in the morning. It gives me an incredible head start on the day physically and mentally. Champion boxer Floyd Mayweather often trained in the middle of the night because he felt it gave him a mental edge on the competition. While his opponents were sleeping – he was training. A strategy he would implement and visualize in a fight. A similar feeling comes to me when I am trying to solve a problem, be better than my competition in business, or overall conquer my day – I know that I have put in more work that my competition and did it while they were all cozy in bed. We have primal instincts still within – and in survival of the fittest, I am going to subsist and prevail. A lot of this strength is taken from the morning.
Here’s the deal – distractions and desires may not prevent you from hitting your workout at some point in the day. If you’re getting shit done, then keep your schedule, wake up at 7:30, and continue to kick ass. However, if you are constantly searching for that answer – more time to take care of yourself, inspiration to hit the gym, or how to schedule fitness into your busy professional, personal, and family life, the answer lies before that sun rises. Master your morning and you will dominate your life.
