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Before you read this article and maybe get influenced and decide to wake up early in the morning from tomorrow onwards – you need to understand why and how it will help you! To understand the power of magical mornings in shaping your future and narrowing the gap between your goals/dreams and reality, you need to understand an underlying structure called – Hierarchy. 

The textbook definition says – a system in which members of an organization or society are ranked according to relative status or authority.

Therefore as chickens have a pecking order; similarly, humans have a hierarchy. Surprisingly you will see that people who are way above in the hierarchy wake up way early, and those at the bottom mostly wake up late, like you.

Even at 10 am, you are hoping to catch a few more minutes of numb senses and distorted reality.

Well, the bottom is way crowded, you got to get to the top!

Here’s a list of a few people controlling the top and their waking up timing: 

Apple CEO Tim Cook wakes up at 3:45 am.

Disney CEO Robert Iger wakes up at 4:30 am.

Richard Branson gets started at 5:45 am.

Warren Buffett begins his day at 6:45 am.

Elon Musk rises at 7 am.

This list is exhaustive. There are more than 20,000 people who wake up before 6 am and whose net worth is more than 100 million USD. However, if you are a serial procrastinator (which I am sure you are), these figures and numbers don’t mean shit to you. These are just a misrepresentation of highly complex data, which intends to spark a behavior change into your reluctant being. 

“This is shit and nothing more than that!” That’s what your sweet, doughy brain must be yelling into your ears!

Let’s try this. What will you say if I promise that waking up between 4 am-5 am will –

Increase your appetite

Improve your self-confidence

Improve your mental health

Raise your self-esteem

Improve your sex drive

Increase your financial wealth

Will you at least care to listen more?

Awesome!

Thank you for lending me your attention!

Now, before we move ahead, you need to decide, why do you wish to wake up early?

What is your Why?

No one on this planet can change until they are themselves willing to. If you genuinely want to experience long-lasting rewards of waking up early and provide more stability to your body and mind, enriching your soul at the same time – you need to know your why.

Let me share with you a little background about myself. I, too, like you, was a late riser. My philosophy was :

Winners sleep late.

Losers wake up early.

Creative people/ Artists need to be up at nights to create legendary art.

Real art is created when you are dead tired, burnt out, and dwindling between sleep & trying to stop those eyelids from shutting down on you.

Routine is slavery. Order is constraining. Chaos is where lies success!

I know countless miserable artists who follow the same doctrine as I did a few years ago. There is a handful of whom I indoctrinated. And, that is the reason now it is more critical for me to bring out this truth to you. Writing this article is my way of communicating with my previous nihilist self, who thought and preached Chaos is where lies the gold!

In truth, there is a thin line between order and chaos – that is where lies mastery, creativity, financial wealth, a better partner, and a promising, rewarding future. 

If you are a nihilist or a procrastinator or a combination of both, if you have experienced the darkness, if you have remained up till 4 am’s and woke up at 5 pm’s – my dear friend, you are fortunate. You have already conquered chaos. Chaos (Yin) is your friend now.

However, as you cannot be a crook nor a saint, similarly, you cannot choose either order or chaos. It would help if you balance yourself in the middle. You have already befriended, conquered, enslaved chaos. Now is the time to familiarize yourself with order, discipline – The Yang.

To create an equilibrium between order and chaos, I h

Worries often plague us. We anticipate that something terrible might be lurking around the corner.

I am healthy today, but what if I fall ill?
I have money saved, but what if I lose my job?
My partner loves me, but what if she leaves me in the future?
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality!

How to deal with fear?
Express gratitude before falling into a dark, bottomless pit of worry.
Most of our fears are groundless. Baseless fears can make us paranoid and impact our mental health.

Identify whether the fear is real or not!
Do you have valid reasons to worry?
I am healthy today, but what if I fall ill? - Have you experienced any symptoms which might point out towards illness?
I have money saved, but what if I lose my job? - Are you spending a lot? Are you not giving your best at work?

If your proofs of future troubles are not concrete then, why worry.
If the proofs are concrete - Prepare yourself with preventive measures and remedial steps.

Seneca on groundless fears -
"It is likely that some troubles will befall us; but it is not a present fact. You will suffer soon enough, when it arrives; so look forward meanwhile to better things."

There are different ways to lead a life. To lead a meaningful life – there’s just one –Sacrifice what gives you pleasure and derive pleasure from your purpose. This is the only path that leads to greatness.

The easiest manner to conduct ourselves is – falling prey to impulses which induce momentary happiness.

Why should a child not play video games instead of completing their boring homework?

Why should you not waste your time in your college cafeteria rather than listening to a boring lecture?

Why should someone do a tiring job; not to the liking, when they can sponge off their parents?

Why should you stay loyal and not bed every woman you might have a chance with?

Why should you stay sober, when you can stay drunk and numb your mind using drugs?

Why should you even get up from your bed; your life is going to end eventually?

The answer to all of these questions is – for a better future.

We need to make sacrifices; mostly these are things we love – but that is what which makes us unique.

We, unlike animals, have an understanding that there is a tomorrow and it’s our duty to make it better.

Once you open your eyes, you need to remind yourself of your goal – “Be a better person than I was yesterday.” In sickness or good health; in poverty or when surrounded by riches; in success or failure; in the day or the night; be it summer or winter; a bright sunny day or a gloomy damp evening – your goal in life should always be to become a better person than you were yesterday.

You do not need to compare yourself with your friends, your relatives, that celebrity on TV or that random dude whom you saw scuba diving on the internet. You do not know their true story and they are not the benchmark that can define or influence your journey. Stay focussed on making yourself better than the person you were 24 hours ago.

I prefer a journal entry as soon as I wake up – Good morning and welcome to a brand new day of your brand new life. Let’s make every moment worth living.

You can try other ways. A simple 30 second mirror gaze works for many. You look into the mirror and tell your reflection – Buddy, we are going to do great things today.

If you are in an intimate relationship, and the first thing you see is the lovely eyes of your beautiful partner – hug her tight, kiss her on the forehead and tell her how thankful you are for her presence in your life and then get her a warm cup of coffee.

Try few things before you find which works well for you. A journal entry, mirror gazing, thanking family, loved ones or god (if you are a person of faith), introspection, a promise to self or a primal scream – whatever works for you.

I prefer a journal entry.

After this impactful pill of morning motivation induced by self; you are in a good place. You are positive and you have the will to embark a challenging 16 hour work day.

While you get on with your morning routine – try to create a small roadmap of things to do before you die. You die every night and then you are reborn the next morning. This is your life now. 24 hours to make it or break it. The goal is to be better than your previous life.

You need micro goals. That’s how you can train your mind to achieve and deliver more.
You can maintain a journal entry to track your progress or use other means which you find more suitable.

In your shower, you can quickly make a mental note of tasks you need to accomplish apart from your core work. If you can manage to spare 5 minutes for a journal entry, nothing beats that.

I always insist on journal entries because documenting our thoughts and plans gives substance to our dreams. Our minds can always trick us into believing things which are untrue. We constantly lie, deceive and trick our self in order to avoid responsibility. Our primal urge is to be in chaos with no responsibility and destroy every beautiful thing around us. In order to defeat this primal urge, we need to practise thought control and stop lying to ourselves. A journal helps you to do that. It acts as an honest and mature extension to your confused, chaotic self.
You woke up with positivity on your left and determination on your right – Let’s conquer the world now.

You come back from a hard day at work; you need to unwind – In front lies your messy life in visual cues. An unkempt bed; litter in the corners; clothes scattered all around; your dirty, stinking socks proudly hoisted on your study table; half burnt cigarettes decoratively cover your floor – the poster on the wall screams; You can do it – Believe in yourself. What do you think would happen next?

Do you think you can work on making your dreams come true; in this god-awful setup?

The answer you are looking for is yes; but the truth is – NO.

Before you even start planning to work on your business project; that unfinished novel; your journey as an Instagram influencer; your guitar riffs; your first YouTube video; your digital marketing agency; asking your crush out on a date – CLEAN YOUR ROOM, Bucko!

I meet countless youngsters who are self- driven and want to drive a positive change in the world. They are extremely radical in their thoughts and aware of the inadequacies in the world around them. My only advice to them is before you even conceptualize an idea, about changing the world, change the immediate surrounding around you. Tidy your messy room!

Your personal space, i.e. your room/workspace – is an extension of your individuality. It is your room and you are responsible for it. You are responsible for your life and you are responsible for your room. You cannot sort your life without sorting out your room first.

Your messy room is just a projection of your messy brain. You want to take control of your mind; get your life in order – start with the easiest step. Clean your room. Taming your mind is an extremely challenging, never ending task. Cleaning your room would only take few hours.

Our brains rely heavily on visual aids. The moment it traces streaks of chaos around – it would want to go all berserk. It would give you all the incorrect ideas – Light a doobie; drink whiskey; watch porn – and go to sleep. You are feeding the wrong impulses.

If your brain would sense order around you – it would be forced to make peace with the deviancies and then you can start working on your vision.