If you’re looking for motivation or inspiration to get more done in less time, consider going to bed a bit later – and/or getting up earlier than usual.
Allow me to explain:
Several months ago, I made a decision to get up earlier than usual and slide out the door to walk a minimum of three miles.
This may appear to be an easy task, but I’m a “late to bed” moonlighting type of guy, so I’ve never practiced, believed in or advised others to get up at 5 AM or to go to bed early.
Yes, I realize there are many successful people who swear that getting up early is the hallmark of their success. Similarly, I’m simultaneously aware of the masses who get up early each day and receive no tangible or verifiable benefits.
Additionally, there are many legendary historical figures who worked creatively into the night – as well as innovators who discovered new pathways after midnight.
As a practitioner of Chinese internal martial arts, and a student of Taoist teachings on health and longevity, I’m aware of how the grandmasters have taught for centuries that the power hours of each day are 11 PM – 1 AM and 11 AM – 1 PM.
Think of the person taking a “power lunch” or the innovators and creators who were working after midnight to bring something new into existence. There may not be many of them, but I believe they enjoy a secret that few are aware of.
Personally, many of my best products were either created or finished in the late-evening, early-morning hours, and to celebrate the accomplishment, I slept in.
The ancient Taoists meticulously tracked everything they did, and as a result I was taught, by more than one master teacher, that every hour you spend in dedicated practice, espccially in the evening from 11 PM -1 AM, you obtain the equivalency of two hours of benefits in the form of “internal power.”
If you train for an hour – you get two hours of benefits. If you go for two hours – you get four.
I realize that this structure doesn’t necessarily appeal to those who believe you should get up at 5 AM each day or that you must have eight or nine hours of sleep per day to be a peak performer – yet, I believe there are some definite similarities to the approach.
Here are a few I can verify:
1. You’ll find it infinitely easier to engage in deep concentrated work because the majority of the world is sleeping,
2. You’ll be less prone to interruptions and trivial matters that anyone with a third-grade education can handle.
3. You’ll gain psychological and spiritual benefits, in part because you feel a sense of achievement just from the realization that most people are in bed already.
So, as you can probably see, if I’m going to be up until midnight or later, it’s inconceivable that I should also get up early to go for a jaunt.
Yet, intuitively, I felt this was a shift I needed to and wanted to make.
Upon contemplating the situation, I became aware that following this approach would result in a five or six-hour sleep pattern, rather than the eight or nine hours I was used to getting.
I then thought of something novel and made a psycho-spiritual shift in how I used my imagination as well as how I was utilizing my frontal lobes, the part of the brain involved in planning, organization and the prioritization of one’s day.
I put my ideas on paper in a hand-written journal I keep, then I set my timer to awaken at 5:55 AM, and made an agreement with myself to be out the door within 10 minutes.
When morning came the rebellious side of me that was intent on hitting the snooze button was unbelievably incorrigible.
What are you doing? Who do you think you are, Furecat? You don’t get up this early. This is absolutely stupid. Hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. This is crazy. You already walk five miles a day, you don’t need to do it at THIS HOUR.
As I was about to hit the snooze button, an illuminating awarness flashed before me.
I noted the precise mental picture I had just imaged.
The go-back-to-bed voice I was hearing was mostly a mental image, a mental picture of myself snoozing. At that moment I crafted an idea to transform the image of myself snoozing to one of me getting up and going outdoors for a walk.
This simple change in how I was using my imagination made it incredibly easy to follow through on my plans.
As a result I’m now able to get even more done in less time – so much less that I now do something truly mind-blowing.
I can cover this for you in a future dispatch if you’re game for it.
Or you can apprise yourself of all the nitty-gritty details at my seminar in February.
Until then…
See it. Be it. Have it.
Matt Furey
P.S. I’m thinking that no one reading this email can picture himself or herself in some area of life wherein you’d love to make a change for the better and move to the next level. But then again, maybe you do want to get more done in less time. If so, enroll in the seminar I’m doing with the legendary Ted Nicholas this February in Tampa. It will transform your life in a way unimaginable in common hours.