We've all heard it: "What you need is a good night's sleep!" However, what might have more truth in it is, "What you need is to get up early!"
It's true! There are, of course, benefits to going to sleep early (which is a requirement if you're getting up earlier), but what time you wake up will have a huge impact on how your workday is going to pan out.
Ever slept in, flung your t-shirt on inside-out, skipped breakfast and barely shut the car door before you're reversing off the drive?
That day has a frantic start and will often lead to a frantic workday. Anyone that has slept in/had issues with the kids/got distracted by Piers Morgan ranting on GMB and arrived to work late, knows that all morning it just feels like you're playing catch up.
- Research suggests that exercising before breakfast is more effective at keeping off excess pounds than doing it after (Source: Evening Standard)
- 61% of participants have followed their morning routine for over a year (Source: My Morning Routine)
- Morning exercisers are also more likely to stick to their routine (Source: Evening Standard)
- Most participants sleep 8 hours a night, followed by 31% who sleep 7 hours, and 14% who sleep just 6 (Source: My Morning Routine)
Mark Wahlberg
Whatever context you've known Mark Wahlberg in, rapper, model, actor, producer, he has had continued success thanks to, perhaps, his sleeping pattern.
Mark allegedly gets up at 2.30am(!) to fit in two hours' exercise, including a gym workout and basketball, before breakfast (chicken and vegetables) at 6am. From then it's to the latest film set (Mark has starred in The Departed, Ted, The Fighter and Boogie Nights) - phew!
Jack Dorsey
Former Twitter CEO, Jack, revealed in 2012 that he was waking up at 5.30am to meditate and go on a six mile jog.
Back then, he was splitting time between his new venture, Square, and Twitter, and spent roughly 8 hours per day at both companies!
Steve Jobs
The late, great Steve Jobs, spent his morning revaluating his work and goals. The once-CEO of Apple told a graduating Stanford class:
“For the past 33 years I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
Those are words to live by, we think.
Anna Wintour
Super-glam, British-American journalist and editor, Anna Wintour, likes to rise early to get an hour of tennis over, before her hair appointment. That bob is famous in its own right!
Anna is in the office - she has been Vogue's Editor-in-Chief since 1988 - by 9m.
Barack Obama
The 44th President of the United States of America didn't let a small thing like being the world's most powerful political figure get in the way of family time.
He began every morning with a 6.45am workout and reading the newspapers. He made sure to have breakfast with his family too, before starting work at before 9am.
Sometimes his workday went as late as 10pm but made it a priority that he would sit for dinner with his family every day.
Find more like this via Office Life.
