What’s your first response to a new day?

pushing-snooze-cropped Good morning!

It seems fitting that my blog journey with you begins at starting the day.   If you're not a morning person, read no further.  This will be completely irrelevant.  No judgment.  Go back to sleep my friend.

But if you're anything like me, you've discovered in your mid-life years that mornings are your jam.   After that, it's diminishing returns on your day.

As a father of two boys under the age of 10 and married to a wife who is an opera singer, quiet is a precious thing.   I am most productive in my solitude.  So every minute in the early morning counts double.

So how I start my morning is paramount.   For this, I am taking a page from Suzuki sensei (9th dan), one of my treasured aikido teachers who has so passionately helped my development.

"When that alarms rings, you jump out of bed!"  he would emphatically tell us.

"Mind leads body.  Don't let your body win the first challenge of the day!"

These words stuck, and I challenge you to do what I did ... loathe the snooze button.  That little button is an admittance that you're not ready to start.

Of course that snooze button is a powerful lure.  We know that it has the ability to alter time.  For reasons unknown, that extra 10 minutes of "snooze time" feels completely different than the last 6 or 7 hours.

But resist the urge, people!  Don't start your day with a snooze.  It sends the wrong message to the universe.

Go ahead and try something like this and see if it changes your day ...

1) First, disable the snooze.  Don't even make it an option.  If it's not there, it can't put its magic spell on you when you're most vulnerable.

2) Put your alarm clock across the room.  When it goes off, you have no other choice than to get up.  And if someone is next to you in bed, they're going to be pissed if it keeps ringing.

3) And here's the true challenge, when you get up, truly get up.  Bounce out of bed.  Make it energetic and immediate.

It's made a huge difference in my day.  It makes me feel more powerful.  And when I say "powerful", I mean I have control over a little button that can set the pace for my entire day.

Let me know how this works for you.  I really want to know.

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