Don’t hit the snooze button

My wife and kids tell me all the time that I have a propensity to buy alarm clocks every time we travel. I think they are right.

I bought many kinds of alarm clocks, from the simplest kind with a hammer hitting two bells every time it rings, to the most sophisticated ones wherein you plug in your smart phone and program the music that would wake you up in the morning.

Perhaps deep in my consciousness, I know that the way I wake up in the morning would define the way I work and live that day.

Many people sleep with their smart phones beside their beds. I have decided not to do this. I charge my phone overnight, but far away from my bed. I don’t want to develop the habit of being too reliant on my phone and to wake up every now and then every time it vibrates just so I can read the SMS. Sleep is important. We can go for a few days without food, but we cannot function within a few days without sleep.

Now, here is the important thing, I learned to NEVER hit the snooze button. Another five or 10 minutes of sleep will not make me live my life better; in fact, it will only make me sluggish. Once you wake up, do not hit the snooze button; instead you get up. You turn on a light, fix your bed and leave the room.

Most times I get up. I turn off the alarm, do a little prayer, and I begin to focus my mind to anticipate great things to happen. This simply means that I have defeated the snooze button not only in my alarm clock, but a snooze button that is inside all of us as well.

The snooze button inside us says: “Come on…just a few more minutes…important things can wait...I should cover my head with my blanket...I hate the morning light...just a few more minutes...okay?”

It’s not okay! The genius who invented the snooze button meant well, but the results have not been good for those who rely on it. The moment I wake up, I turn on the lights. Light is energy and it triggers receptors in the brain that produce serotonin and it wakes me up.

Whenever I open my old, abused and over-used Ipod, I begin listening to podcasts as I march into the bathroom to do my early morning drills. My mind begins working, absorbing and learning. It happens because a combination of all these things defeated the snooze button inside me. And then I do my quiet time, I listen to God speak by reading His Word and by meditating on it. I speak to Him through prayer. This builds my inner strength, the very thing that would give me the stability to face the many outer challenges that may come my way.

While dressing up--clothes picked and prepared the night before--I continue listening to my Podcast, so I can still learn a thing or two. And while having a hearty and a healthy breakfast, I shift my attention to the news.

Believe me, this works!

Start your mornings right! Do not hit the snooze button in your alarm clock and do not trigger the snooze button that is inside you. Start the day by being on the offensive and not being defensive.

Attack the day with gratefulness knowing that some people out there will no longer wake up in the morning, that life today is another gift courtesy of The Creator, and then look forward to being productive. These things create what we all long for: happiness.

You will never be happy unless you are productive.

Do not snooze your way through life. Conquer the day and make it meaningful. Do this every day and you will have a productive year. Do this many years and you will have a more meaningful life time.

(Francis teams up with famous speaker and author Krish Dhanam on May 15 in a whole day seminar entitled “Achieving Peak Performance” at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire at 09158055910 or call 632-6310912 for details.)