I feel most productive first thing in the morning.
Before the sun comes up.
Before the day has had a chance to crowd me. Before the phone starts speaking. Before the world begins asking for pieces of me. Before my mind fills up with all the noise that comes from simply being awake and available.
There is a small window in the dark of morning when my thoughts still belong to me.
I have learned to use that time carefully.
Sometimes I lie there in bed for a few minutes before getting up, not rushing, not punishing myself into motion. The room is still dark. The house is quiet. The sun has not yet risen, and for a little while, the day feels like something I can meet on my own terms.
I think about the things I want to accomplish before noon. Not everything. Not some impossible list designed to make me feel like I failed before the day has really begun.
Just enough.
Enough to give the morning shape. Enough to give myself direction. Enough to let me feel, by lunchtime, that I kept a promise to myself.
I have learned that productivity is not always about doing the most.
Sometimes it is about knowing what is reasonable. Knowing what is kind. Knowing that if I ask too much of myself, I may end up doing less. But if I give myself a plan I can actually carry, I get to feel the quiet dignity of finishing what I said I would do.
And there is something powerful in that.
Before the sun comes up, the world has not yet made its demands. The day may still get heavy. The world may still come calling. But in those first quiet hours, when my mind is clear, the house is still, and the light has not yet broken across the room, I feel like I have a chance.
Kyle J. Hayes
kylehayesblog.com
If this found you at the right time,
Feel free to like, comment, or share it with someone who might need it too.
Salt,Ink, & Soul 
Leave a comment