What I don't do when I wake up
I’ve written about my morning ritual here. Something I didn’t mention in that post was what I don’t do upon waking up. This is something I began practicing this year (2020). It’s simply that I will not open my phone or laptop until I’ve completed my ritual.
Honestly doing this has one of the best decisions this year.
When I’m just waking up my mind is piecing together the stories in dreams; or I’m thinking of all the things I want to get done that day. My mind is very, I mean very, unfocused and chaotic.
So checking my notifications/emails first thing in the morning adds to the spiral of chaos. Plus if I’m also reading the news, I have a recipe for an anxious and unfocused day. It’s not because checking notifications/emails/news in and of themselves are bad. But rather checking them first thing in the morning is bad.
It’s highly unlikely that I’ve an emergency situation which requires me to check my notification/email first thing in the morning. And the same thing is true with the news. Constantly tuning into the news makes me more fragile (news cycle have been fine tuned to get strong reactions from viewers).
And we aren’t built for this kind of constant update. Historically news disseminated much slower—travelling by word of mouth. Some, however, received it much quicker than everyone else, i.e. Nathan Rothschild. But our technologies have made it possible to know what’s happening on the other side of the planet right this second. And this is a good thing. But the problem is that we’re hooked on it. And now we’re suffering from update overdose.
I’m strongly aware of this because for many years the first thing I did after waking up was checking my phone. I had put myself at a disadvantage all those years. It would take hours to get my focus, to get in the zone.
So now my morning ritual starts me off in a resilient state. My day begins with doing something difficult, i.e. jumping into a cold shower—I still don’t enjoy it. Once the ritual is complete, I will check my email/notifications etc.
Start a ritual and do it before checking your email/notifications.
Have a good weekend!