Wake up to Wisdom
Investing10 minutes in the morning to learn and grow will change your life for the better.
They say when you make a good start to anything, you get an edge.
When you wake up every morning, what you do in the first few minutes determines what kind of a start you are getting. To keep it simple, let us look at the first ten minutes before you consume any sort of information (eg: email, text, WhatsApp, news, social channels and any kind of analytics or reporting).
The Timing
Now, you might ask why is it important that we should do this in the first ten minutes and why it should be before we consume anything else?
Let me answer the first question from the above.
Waking up is a guaranteed activity for anybody who Is alive. It’s a non-negotiable in nature. I learned from Prof. BJ Fogg at Stanford (who I met through Joe Polish of The Genius Network) that a new habit has a better chance of sticking when it is attached to something non-negotiable in your life. So, that is one reason I attached the practice to waking up.
Here is the answer for the second question. Think about it — when you wake up in the morning, you don’t start eating junk food even if you love eating junk food. Now, unlike food packets, information does not come packaged with nutrition labels. So, unless you are self-aware, you might recklessly consume unwanted or unnecessary or just plain stupid information. Any of the above will set you in a bad mood — that’s like getting a head start in the wrong direction at the beginning of the day.
Lastly, what is a choice better than doing this in the first ten minutes?
You might say why not do this whenever you want?
Well, WHENEVER might denote flexibility, but in reality, it’s an excuse for inaction — the NEVER within the WHENEVER usually takes over the day.
The Resources
These are the three resources you need for the practice
- Audvisor | It’s an app (available both on iOS and Android) where you can get access to micro-podcasts from world-class experts on topics of personal and professional growth. We have over 3,000 micro-podcasts from over 125 experts. Annual subscription is $120. Don’t click on this link as it might lead to a page with a discounted price for a limited period.
- Notepad | A handy notepad or a notebook to write.
- Pen | well, this is self-explanatory.
The Practice
Here is the breakdown of the 10 minutes:
3–5 minutes | Listen to one or two micro-podcasts on Audvisor.
2–3 minutes | Write (with a pen and paper), not type the core idea
2–3 minutes | Act — Add this to one or more of the three lists
- (a) to-do list — you want to do something about it
- (b) to-think list — you want to think some more and
- © to-share list — write one or more names of people to send this idea to because its relevant to them
- (D) to-delegate list — write if and what you will delegate to your direct reports, secretary or a freelancer to make something out of this insight
A template might look like the below:
The Magic
The “Wake up to wisdom” practice produces magical results to say the least. I have been practicing this for several weeks now and based on what I see, I will continue this practice for months and years to come.
Now, why does this process work?
There are many reasons. One of my mentors, Opher Brayer says that most people passively consume good information. They go after inspirational content and all they get there is a temporary high and a sense of accomplishment, This process works because what we are doing is to nudge them to take micro-actions and the time commitment we are asking is super small — just ten minutes in the morning.
There are more than two dozen friends who have also got into the practice. It is pure joy to see it is already making a big difference in their lives.
When you try it and experience magic, please share your story.
Sketch Notes on Wake up to Wisdom by Tanmay Vora
My friend Tanmay Vora has created the sketch note for the process..
