Stop Hitting Snooze, You’re Missing Opportunities
Inspiration is a funny thing, it never comes from where you’d expect. My husband and I were driving home from church this weekend and I was browsing through the church “leave behind” and there was an article about hitting the snooze through church. The gist was that if you sleep in and skip church there is more than a sermon you’re missing and what that amounts to in your lifetime. (Note: I’m not looking for conversation re: religion in the comments, just an example so please don’t think I’m advocating one thing or another). I thought to myself “interesting – how does that apply to my work life?”
There are a several things that I think that an extra 15-30 minutes at the beginning of your day can do to really set the tone for your day. If you’re hitting snooze before work you’re missing out on a few things – professional development opportunities, “me” time, and setting yourself up for a more productive day.
Professional Development – Twice this week I’ve gone into work early, not to catch up on projects, but to have coffee meet-ups with local professionals to discuss professional topics that I’m passionate about. Those two days have been my most productive, energy-infused days so far this week. Sure coffee had something to do with that, but the energy that comes out of a meeting where ideas are shared and thinking is done outside of a to-do list is inspiring and motivating. Take the principal of the “Never Eat Alone” book, this is a great time to pick the brain of a colleague, mentor or expert and further enrich or extend your network.
Me-Time – The first 15-30 minutes of your day is great me-time, the only thing in your way of that me time really is your snooze button. A meeting won’t run long, project pop-up or something else that over-schedules into your run, pilates class or time to yourself. Start the day doing something for you and not only can you start the day refreshed and with a clear head but probably help your health. Ideas in this category: short run/walk, yoga, read the paper, watch the news, catch up on your feed reader or whatever you do to relax.
While yoga, meeting up for coffee or reading a book might not seem like a short-term productivity gain or career builder, long-term the stress relief gained, ideas you’re exposed to and connections you’ll make will have lifelong benefits in your health and career success.
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Great point Jamie! I get up and drink coffee, read my RSS and catch up on emails much like the way I get a kickstart on my week:
http://newlycorporate.com/2008/04/14/5-ways-to-kickoff-your-week-right/
It’s about time I stopped repeatedly hitting the snooze button every morning. On the days when I don’t snooze, I do some exercises and stretches and eat breakfast before going to work, but more often than not, I snooze until it’s almost too late and rush to work without breakfast.
Jamie – this is so true. The snooze button used to be my best friend when I was younger and I feel so much better getting straight out of bed and doing what I want when the rest of my world is still sleeping.
I hope your post persuades some of those sleepy heads to check out what they’re missing.
So true Jamie !
That means you’ve got to be available for what you are doing, when you are doing it. I love the “snooze” metaphore.