Early Riser vs. Night Owl
Do you live for those precious morning hours? Do you love the smell of the crisp, fresh morning air when it’s still dark out?
If you had told me when I was 16 that I would easily be waking up at 4:15 every morning...and LOVE it...I would have said you’re on something.
Back then I was a total night owl.
Burn the midnight oil!
That was my motto.
My best friend and I would jokingly, and kind of seriously call each other late in the evening with questions about school projects. Sometimes we’d just call each other in solidarity of working together past midnight...even if we weren’t working on the same project.
Then, there was a time in between when I first started teaching Pilates where I tried to do both early mornings with 6 AM clients and late nights at networking events in Hollywood or pounding away on my keyboard writing the latest draft of a screenplay. Sure, I’d take a siesta in between. And that worked through my twenties, but not so much now as a mama growing a business.
Though don’t get me wrong, I still revel in snuggly naps with Declan.
Fast forward to now, I revel in getting to sleep by 9:30 PM so I can wake up at 4:30 AM. I love the stillness of those early morning hours when the rest of the world is asleep.
I find a sense of certainty and peace in running forward along the beach as the sun is just beginning to rise, or diving into the hole of the gym in the dark to emerge gloriously into the light of a new day an hour or so later.
So what’s better...
Being an early bird or a night owl or midday siestas?
Honestly, it 100% depends on you.
But you can’t think your way into it.
You gotta feel it.
IT IS IN THE FEELING OF GROWING PAINS THAT YOU WILL RECOGNIZE WHEN THE DEMAND HAS OUTSTRETCHED YOUR CAPACITY TO DELIVER AND THAT’S WHEN YOU EVOLVE TO A NEW LEVEL, YOUR NEXT LEVEL.
You will have to adapt as the demands of life adapt.
This comes on all levels.
You will have to adapt as a parent - asking for more support from your partner - whether that’s so you can wake up earlier to go to the gym, or stay up later writing your latest masterpiece instead of succumbing to the temptation of having that relaxing glass of wine with dinner.
You will have to adapt as a business owner - delegating more to your team - whether that’s so you don’t look at those customer service emails before noon, or whether you stay up late handling them.
You will have to adapt as a body - listening to the deep body-mind communication she is giving you - whether that’s telling you to sleep in a couple of extra hours in the morning or to get to bed a bit earlier so you can feel refreshed.
This evolution of you involves shedding the dead weight -
Dead habits.
Dead relationships.
Dead thought partners.
Dead beliefs.
Dead patterns.
They served you up to this point, but as Dr. Marshall Goldsmith says, “What got you here, won’t get you there.”
A few examples of the dead-weight that I’ve shed has been…
The belief that I’m not a morning person.
Purposeless friendships that were more interested in going out and partying than living for something greater than shots. Gross.
Thoughts that the morning hours were scary and dark (Yes, I recognize this one doesn’t make sense if you’re in the dark as a night owl.)
A relationship that was emotionally draining, exhausting, and didn’t make me feel a sense of purpose in living, let alone waking up early.
The belief that I’m not a runner. I’ve now run five full marathons and three halves. Take that, old belief!
Feelings that it was hard to wake up in the morning - Sure! if you don’t feel your early rising is attached to purpose, or if you tell yourself that story, or if you don’t get enough sleep the night before. Then, yeah, waking up early in the morning can feel hard.
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO EVOLVE.
Change.
Transform.
Grow.
Become anew.
Rise from the ashes.
Emerge.
Reinvent.
WHO YOU HAVE BEEN IS NOT THE VERSION OF YOU THAT IS GOING TO TAKE YOU INTO THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS - SO ALLOW FOR THE EVOLUTION, THE GROWING PAINS, AND THE CHANGES THAT ARE INEVITABLE.
If that means becoming more of a night owl, transform.
If that means becoming more of an early bird, transform.
Your evolution is in your hands.
Choose to evolve.
Remember, your reign is now.
P.S. Sometimes when you don’t know what the next level of your life is going to require of you, it helps to find answers - lots of answers and a brainstorm of possible solutions - that could work for you, that allow you to play with your curiosity.
There’s so much to be said for the power of a 1:1 conversation. You can book your High-Performance Acceleration Consultation and we’ll navigate all the ways you can evolve to your next level of productivity and performance as you build your empire.
Gather some new ideas, stimulate your curiosity, break through, play with some new habits, feel what could serve you best for this next evolution into YOU 2.0.
Do it now while space is available.
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