Warrior Hour: 4 A.M.

Author: vicque fassinger
Category: The Daily Blog

11078_347000142076265_43416705_nWhether you’re already the owner of an established business and are interested in exploring additional ways to generate revenue or you’re an entrepreneurial-spirited individual who longs to bring all those late-night brainstormed ideas to fruition and (finally) launch your own successful business, there is one common, integral ingredient that will help you achieve your particular life goals: the 4 a.m. hour.

While there are countless already-successful people who live an amazing life doing it, and while there are lots of life-enhancing benefits to it, it’s no surprise that many people still choose not to wake up early every morning. Instead, they opt to set (and re-set) the alarm until the very last moment when they literally have to jump out of bed and rush to get ready to start their day (or they simply crawl out of bed long after the birds have already had their breakfast and are now contemplating at which lawn to have lunch).

To achieve your professional (and personal) life’s goals, you must plan the hours of your day purposefully, thoughtfully, and intentionally.  Everyone is given 24 hours; yet, what many accomplish in their life with that same exact amount of time each day often astonishes and perplexes those who only still daydream about the life they desire. While it may seem overwhelming to make the commitment to yourself today to forever get up and get going with your day by no later than 4 a.m., you can simply break it down into small increments.

  • Tonight, make a list of things you want to accomplish tomorrow, starting with wake up early. Plan for it.
  • Tomorrow night, make the same commitment (and list of things to get accomplished) for the next day.

Before you know it, you’ll discover you’ve gotten up early all week long!  Soon it will become a good habit and you won’t need an alarm clock; your mind, your body, and your spirit will know it’s time to embrace another day with gratitude, joy, and excitement.

Here’s a look at some of the reasons being an early riser matters:

Be intentional:

start early and you’ll get lots accomplished.

When you’re up by 4 a.m., you have 8 hours before noon to get a lot done. Whether it’s planning your day’s agenda, making a list of the properties you want to peruse to build your brick-and-mortar business, editing your business plan, adding new content to your website, enjoying a bowl of fresh strawberries and blueberries (in lieu of that McMuffin on the way to the office), preparing a fresh salad for lunch (instead of crankin’ the elbow with the boys over a heavy lunch of steak and potatoes), working out at the gym, meditating in your garden, or saying your morning prayers as you take a brisk stroll through the neighborhood with Fido, what you can accomplish in the morning is only as limited as your gumption and imagination.

Be intentional:

start early and you’ll have time to exercise.

In a 2013 Forbes article on things super successful people do, wellness expert Jennifer Cohen shares, “exercising before work gives you a boost of energy for the day and that deserved sense of accomplishment. Anyone can tackle a pile of paperwork after 200 ab reps!” Former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice gets up at 4:30 a.m. every morning to do at least 40 minutes of a cardio workout via a traditional treadmill or an elliptical trainer. If you get up at 8:00 a.m. and have to be in the office by 9 a.m., you’ve left no time to exercise. Think you’ll feel like a physical workout at 5 p.m. after a day at work?  Probably not. If you don’t get up early, you’ve just let another 24 hours slip by without doing anything physical to strength your heart, your lungs, your muscles, your energy, or your confidence!

 

Be intentional:

start early and you’ll get your hardest tasks done first.

Mark Twain wasn’t kidding when he said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”  When you wake up early, you have the time, concentration, creativity, and energy to tackle that “let-me-put-it-off-for-one-more-day” task.  Whether it’s completing a client’s project, finishing the next (or first) chapter in your magnum opus, contacting an experienced writer to create an engaging and informative feature article about you, or preparing your quarterly taxes, if you at least start it before the sun rises, you’ve got that much less to do on it later in the day. Inspirational businessman Brian Tracy even wrote a book on time management called, Eat That Frog! Do the hardest, less-desirable things first in the morning, then the rest of your day will be free to be creative, productive, and enjoyable.

Be intentional:

start early and you’ll have time to reflect on your day ahead.

Perhaps inspired by Ben Franklin’s famous early morning mantra: “What good shall I do this day?” Steve Jobs had a similar one that he shared with the Stanford graduating class of 2005 during his commencement address. “For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”   If you’re trying to apply your mascara behind the wheel of your car or are checking your voice mails while commuting in that bumper-to-bumper morning traffic, do you suppose you’ve found the time to ask yourself how you can make the day better for someone else?

Be intentional:

start early and you’ll have time to make your bed.

“To change the world,” revealed Navy Seal Admiral William McRaven during his 2014 commencement speech at the University of Texas at Austin, “make your bed!”  Getting up at 4 a.m. will enable you to do that!

Although it takes a certain mindset to understand, embrace, and steadfastly adhere to the pre-sunrise morning routine, anyone can do it.