Get Up & Get Going

Rise and Shine!

I’ve noticed something…

My day seems to be much more productive when I Get Up & Get Going.

I actually think that the new time change has helped me in that respect. Maybe it’s a better match for my body clock? I don’t know for sure why, but I’ve sure struggled to get going in the mornings for the past few months.

We’ve all been there right? Snuggled underneath a warm blanket. And if we’re really lucky, we might even be curled up with a lover. Well, it isn’t only us commoners that must grapple daily with the vice of sloth. In his journal, known to us as Meditations, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius repeatedly counseled himself on the matter. Saying:

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?” -Marcus Aurelius

Shoot, fictional characters even struggle with it! Looks like no one is immune…

So how do I, Get Up & Get Going?

Well to begin with, I’m probably not the best tutor on the subject. Actually, wasn’t I just sharing that same Marcus quote? Am I the only one that seems to be learning the same lessons over and over?

And just today — I actually got back into bed after I’d gotten up! Wait just a minute, I know what you’re thinking — just hear me out. I did it intentionally, so that makes it alright. Right?

I mean look, if the most important thing to me is spending time with my loved ones. And she starts pout’n when I get up and put my robe on. Then you can’t blame a fella for shucking that joker, and sliding back underneath the covers every now and then. I mean, she does have to share me with the whole world once we do get up and going. (Haha, I joke to her all the time that I’m world famous now that I’ve got subscribers and sold books outside of the USA😉)

So again, I might not be the best tutor on the subject. 🤔 But then, maybe that’s exactly what does make me a good tutor on the subject! Because this is what it really looks like in real life to work on improvement.

I’m no Sage — I haven’t gotten anything figured out. But I am learning and getting better. And although I may not always be moving forward, if I continue to practice, my gains will outweigh any losses incurred along the way. Small Steps, as Zeno said.

I wish I had some great secret to share with you — a trick to getting up and getting going every day without fail. But I don’t. The only advice I have is to be grateful you’ve woken yet again. Gratitude is always the best way to start anything. But frankly, that isn’t always easy either.

So I’ll keep trying to, Get Up & Get Going, each and every day. Will I always succeed? Probably not. Will I win more times than I lose? Certainly.

Want to get more accomplished? Be more productive? Successful?

The most successful people in today’s world all have one thing in common — they Get Up & Get Going! There’s no sense in naming names, you know who they are. But I’ll close with a quote and blog post from one of them:

No matter where I am, I rise early – usually around 5am. I like to sleep with the curtains open, so the sunlight wakes me. I find natural light to be wonderfully motivating. It’s hard not to be enthusiastic about the day ahead with the sun streaming through the windows. -Richard Branson’s blog 11/27/17

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Here’s the full video from this week’s Southern Writers Guild recording. Myself, Rick, and Grace discuss Rick’s new Thursday Guild Feature, First Light — his short story Antique Bastards, and novella Saudade. And we ramble off course a couple times in the process, too. Enjoy!

Granddads, Grown Men on Scooters, and Lumineering

Oh, and here’s the one from last week! The crew tries to get Hank Cotton to talk, The Ugly Duckling, but he’s more interested in discussing other things…