I used to hear my alarm and hit snooze three times before I ever got up, then felt sluggish all morning. I even bought a “zen” alarm clock with a pleasant chime (although not so pleasant when I was trying to go back to sleep) and still woke up lethargic. No matter how much sleep I got (even 10 hours a night during some points in my life), I still felt tired throughout the day. I thought, “If I could just get enough sleep I’d feel better.” Somehow there was never enough sleep. The more sleep I got, the more tired and lazy I felt. Can you relate to this?
I thought this was just the way I was made. “Some people need less sleep than me,”
was my thought. Or if we get into the whole “pre-Self Love Rockstar” self image, a deeper belief was, “Something is wrong with me. I’m broken and other people are not.” I tried to drink coffee for more energy, but that only upset my stomach and made me all jittery. At some point I don’t consciously remember, I settled and accepted that life was just like that for me.
Change Your Physiological State by Moving Your Body
Anyhoo that was a long time ago (thank goodness). It all changed when I went to a seminar that was unlike any other seminar I’d been to before. There were long hours with few breaks, and not a lot of opportunity to sleep my (at that time) standard 8 hours a night. We were up early until very late and I felt incredible! The speaker was Tony Robbins, and he was talking about how one of the ways we can change our physiological state is by moving our bodies. He basically said that when we sit around and “relax,” we don’t get more energized, we get more tired. Something clicked in my brain and I realized that all these years I had a belief that, “if I just rest enough, I’ll have more energy.” But that never happened. So I thought I would give this new concept a try.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting any one of you doesn’t sleep at all (I still like to sleep 6-7 hours a night ideally), but the time spent awake is what is different now. When I wake up, I have conditioned myself to pretty much jump out of bed with a thought something like, “Let’s do this!” This sounds nuts, but it works! I hardly ever hit the snooze button, and if I do it’s for like 2 or 3 minutes (and it’s rare). My whole morning is shaped differently as a result of this one shift- of getting up out of bed with the intention of feeling energized. Again, this sounds almost too good to be true, but starting the day with intention like this makes a huge difference! Get your Rockstar Badass self up in the mornings!
This week’s challenge rockstars is to TRY THIS! Tomorrow morning when you wake up let yourself get up and psyche yourself into feeling energized (even if you have to “fake it ‘til you make it.”) Think of a phrase you like, such as, “Let’s Do This,” or, “Giddy Up,” or “I am unstoppable.” Giddy up Rockstars!
