This morning I had a hard time waking up even though I had slept for seven hours.

I lay in bed and told myself, “Come on, you don’t need any more sleep, you’ll feel great if you get up and write.”

So, finally, I did.

I got up and put my bag together, biked downtown to Peet’s Coffee and got to it.

It feels just like the euphoria at the end of a strenuous workout—the little voice to “get up” always feels right. The best habit I ever started was waking up 60 minutes early.

Waking up early created huge results.

It gave me 90 minutes of writing per day which lead to progress on my website, book and articles.

Countless new ideas and inspiration to write more.

Feelings of productivity.

Having time for myself before my nine to five job.

Having a sense of calm in the morning rather than rush.

Time to soak in the sunrise.

Taking control of what I want to achieve in life.

As an avid fan of Seneca’s book, On the Shortness of Life: Life is Long If You Know How To Live It,  I believe that we have “enough” time. There are pockets of time in our days masked as something else—masked as sleep, masked as rush hour, masked as to-do lists. But, we can choose to see these pockets for what they really are: time to tackle our dreams, time to slow down and appreciate the sunrise, time to contemplate our intrinsic feelings of progress and explore our self-worth.

My question to you: where are your 60 minutes?  What can you gain by introducing these minutes back into your life?

I want to hear your strategies so please leave comments below.

 

 

Author: Tracey Livingston

Image: Flickr/Andrew Smith

Editor: Pippa Sorley: Ashleigh Hitchcock