The Real Reason Leaders Wake Up Early

I've tried it all, accountability partners, apps, the latest tactics, techniques - anything and everything - but that doesn't take away the fact that I'm still stuck in front of the computer!

That's not what I wanted... I wanted more time.

Call it lifestyle entrepreneur, lifestyle trader or lifestyle investor - whatever you want - but what I really want is more freedom to do what I want, without sacrificing the only limited resource I have - time.

We all have 24 hours in a day, so how do you find time for ANYTHING. Good question, one that deserves an answer. Let me start by waking you up to reality...

Wake up. (No really... it's time to wake up from that slumber you're in right now)

That's it. We're all given an equal number of hours to spend each day. How we use them is the difference between success and failure. Whilst I do believe in working hard, I don't think working hard is a virtue.

What I do think is more important is being efficient with the time when you work hard. I'm talking about taking 'smartcuts' and not shortcuts - something that is wider, nobler and smarter. There are a couple of ways to do that, but let me share with you the most impactful.

Ben Franklin advised over 300 years ago.

He was right.

Start Your Day Early - if you've read the Miracle Morning - the only thing about you need to take away, is waking up early allows you to get ahead of others because you've started your day earlier. This is another version of what we call - the early bird catches the worm.

Head over to your bedroom right now (or fix the alarm on your smartphone - I guess you check that every morning) and set your alarm clock one hour earlier.

Even better, go to bed one hour earlier, believing that you'll wake up early... yes, I stopped using the alarm clock so I could wake up naturally. I haven't used an alarm clock for the last 7 years.

So rise early and get started on.... wait for it.... you don't need to read the entire book, just remember these points:

1. Glass of Water
2. 10m of meditation
3. 10m of positive reading
4. 10m of writing
5. 10m of workout

"But I'm a night owl" you say - I don't care... you can fool yourself, as much as you want, but the science is this - as you get tired, your decision making will power is reduced - that's why so many of us give in to junk food during the evenings and late nights - it's when we're the weakest mentally, and temptation, well there is no temptation at all.

Your brain functions better after a good rest - it's like a battery that has just been recharged. Neuroscience is teaching us more about our brain - and the facts are, we haven't been paying due attention to it as we should be!

Getting enough sleep is a force multiplier — everything will improve from your health, energy, mood and of course to your creative thinking.

Jeffrey J Fox, in How To Become a CEO.

Studies show that successful entrepreneurs typically get to work one hour earlier than their employees.

Our CEO probably knew this as well. He - put in a more blunt way... "I don't care about the last 5 hours - I care about the first 5 minutes". He was hard to beat... he was the either the first or second person in the office at 7 am.

And here's the secret sauce - do things that matter - don't do stuff that's easy - do stuff that counts.

If you do the easy stuff, you'll end up not doing the hard or difficult stuff that really needs to get done for you to make progress. As you go through the day, I can almost guarantee that your energy levels will dip and you won't be able to do the difficult stuff. So do stuff that matters to your business or project - that's all that matters, everything else is just a waste of your precious time.

All of what I've said above should not surprise you - it's all common sense, but unfortunately common sense is not in common practice. You'll probably read all this and think... I should do that. Unfortunately, most won't. Would you? Take action today...