The Ultimate Life Hack

There is secret world that exists under our very noses. A world of the productive and efficient, the fit and the organised.

Anyone can gain entry, but to do so a sacrifice must be made.

A sleep sacrifice

I am not naturally an early riser, but when the possibility of a lift into the city for university is on offer, as opposed to my usual hour-long trudge of a public transport commute, I jump at it. Any excuse to save £4.58 and myself from an overly ‘scented’ far too cosy bus ride.

Today I was afforded such a possibility and arrived in the city in comparative luxury and over an hour earlier.

It felt surreal to not be in a rush, no early morning Olympic sprinting from the late bus to the now late-for class, no burnt tongue from hasty caffeine.

I had time, I even – wait for it – strolled. I had time to metaphorically smell the flowers.

I noticed little currents of life trickling by that usually I’d have rushed past or even disturbed. A man sat by the fountain in the park just watching it, another feeding the birds and a stranger even bade me a good morning.

I was awed, I felt like I’d stumbled into a secret society or another culture that lived entirely differently to me.

In a way I had. I was incognito amongst another species who existed before alarm clocks and opening hours. People who were jogging, early for work or actually reading the papers.

I’ve always known that productivity lives in the morning. Known, but not necessarily applied.

We’re all familiar with the womb-like comfort of a warm bed in those precious snooze-d morning minutes stolen from routine.

But the real life hack, to really get ahead, is to set that alarm a bit earlier. Even if it seems ridiculous – unnatural even – ‘FIVE .A.M, WHAT?!’.

To get the stuff done that you can’t normally fit into your routine: yoga, jogging, blogging, social media planning, housework, homework etc. you have to CHANGE your routine!

You have to not let Netflix play that next episode (hard as it may be), get your ass to bed and give yourself a massive morning to work on your plan for world domination or just to be your best self.

The morning is a mine of productivity that you have to excavate in order to achieve your goals. Plus there is a tingly wonderful you-are-in-tune-with-your-own-life feeling that comes with seeing a sunrise by choice. Lucky for you there is one every day. You are missing quite the show. 

They say the early bird gets the worm, but I think she actually gets a whole lot more.