Before 7am

Before 7am

By Steve Pavlina

I love the morning magical(ˈmajək(ə)l) time. It’s my favorite time of day – before dawn(dän,dôn) when most of the city is still snug(snəg) in bed.

This morning I hopped out of bed at 4:45am, feeling happy to start another adventurous(adˈvenCHərəs,əd-) day. By 7am this morning, I had done the following:

Ran 5 miles(mīl) / 8 kilometers(kəˈlämədər)
Did 12,000 steps(step)
Listened to 4 hours of The Art of Possibility audiobook (100 minutes x(by) 2.5 speed)
Did 15 minutes of yoga(ˈyōgə) with a little meditation at the end
Made a green smoothie(ˈsmo͞oT͟Hē) (1 banana, 6 mandarin(ˈmandərən) oranges, spinach(ˈspiniCH), celery(ˈsel(ə)rē), blueberries(ˈblo͞oˌberē), maca(ə), dehydrated(dēˈhīdrāt) barley(ˈbärlē) grass(gras) juice, chia(ˈCHēə) seeds, hemp(hemp) seeds, water)
Mopped(mäp) the kitchen floor (well… assigned(əˈsīn) a robot to do it)
Started some steel(stēl) cut oats(ōt) cooking (I love the InstantPot(ˈinstənt pät)!)
Dreamed up an idea for a new course / launch

Afterwards I reviewed my goals, and now I’m sipping(sip) the smoothie and writing this blog post while the oatmeal(ˈōtˌmēl) is cooking and the robot is diligently(ˈdiləjəntlē) cleaning the kitchen floor.

Caffeine(kaˈfēn,ˈkafˌēn) isn’t part of my day by the way, nor is chocolate, caffeinated(ˈkafəˌnādəd) teas, or other stimulants(ˈstimyələnt). That would just slow me down.

When I was 20 years old, this is what my morning would have looked like (sometimes all the way to noon and beyond):

Zzzzzzzz
Yawn(yôn)
Zzzzzzzz

Then I’d drag myself out of bed and start my day very sluggishly(ˈsləɡiSHlē). It would take me at least an hour or two just to feel awake enough to function much at all. Then the rest of the day would be a blur(blər), with the main decisions being figuring out what to eat. My biggest accomplishment of the day would be going for a long walk. At least I liked to walk.

What made the difference? Really it came down to a decision. I decided I didn’t want to live like that first person anymore. I didn’t want his life or his results – because they sucked(sək)! It was a boring, low energy, depressing(dəˈpresiNG) way to live. And I decided that I could change that.

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https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2020/05/before-7am/