About 300 years ago Benjamin Franklin said “Early to Bed….Early to Rise….”. Is it possible for a late riser to suddenly start getting up at an unearthly hour?

Let’s say you are a late riser – and you get up only at 8.30am every day, and you have a convenient UK shift and you need to leave for office only at 9.30 (or u stay close by) and can afford this luxury. Now suddenly you read Benjamin..and were inspired to get up at say at 4am. Well, not bad, but lets go slow…

One of the biggest challenge of every time I try (I guess it is true for most of us) to install a new habit is the beginning. The first step.

Like Nike says, JUST DO IT.

OF course, the second one is consistency, i.e. not giving up after a while. This is at least secondary, the first step is to tell your mine that YOU can do it. The mind will come up with:

• why change?
• you are too old (young, strong, weak, ill, fit,….it is only for the other gender…)
• what will you get by doing it?
• so what if you are a little overweight/ underweight / weak…

and thousands of such things, so the first step to be conquered is the MAJOR BLOCKER. So when the alarm rings, just get up. So whatever you want to do – invest more, eat less, get up early, go to the gym….you need a very Strong Motivation and put your mind on auto pilot (no thinking, just do it).

When you allow your mind to think, it goes to the lazy mode (remember SIP is more psychological and less mathematical).

Strong Motivation has to be from concrete, believable SMART goals, desire to reach somewhere and clear discomfort in current situation (or future). This has to be personal. If it is not personal, it will not work. The mind will start saying “to work in a bank why do you need to be as fit as Virat Kohli” or if you are a woman “Deepika needs to look like this – her life depends on that…not for me”. So like a SIP, JUST DO IT – and put it into your head “7 am I will be up”. To ward off the temptation to go back to work..make some major change. Maybe wash your face, make your bed and take a bath. Chances of going back to bed is almost nil.

So in a waking up case…keep advancing the time in 20 minute steps…so in 6 weeks you could be down to your target time.

Brain Blocker, a way to stop thinking and put myself in autopilot.  Our mind is our worst enemy in such situations. We have discussed this concept earlier too. Letting your mind think while doing something is different…but if you ‘ask’ should I do, then it goes to its pre-historic thinking and refuses to do anything physical (do not waste energy, you need it when an animal attacks you), eat as much as you can (what if food is not available later on)…kind of a thinking. We are at an age when we have more food and more variety of food than ever before, but our pre-historic thinking hurts us.

I discovered a new term called the Heroic Minute:

The heroic minute. It is the time fixed for getting up. Or to jump into the pool. Or to say no to extra food.

So if it is getting up at 7am give yourself the heroic 20 seconds…but without the RIGHT to think – what will I do by getting up, why should I – today is Sunday, what if I skip the gym for 2 days in a week…so no thinking, just do it.

I am sure Nike will be happy with this post. See the powers of the words...’Just do it’.