Nothing more that I want than to go back to sleep. I don't want to make a peep. I want to make dreams. My head screams--well it's more like a whine. It's heavy and I can't ever seem to find the time to get my full 8 hours in. I think it takes me much longer to do anything. My mind tends to linger and ponder and grow fonder to just being blank. I can thank meditation for that. I am now typing with my head on the desk. Multi-tasking. I ask a lot of myself as most women do. I put all my goals on the shelf right above my desk as if gazing at them day after day they will grow wings and take flight. I guess any forward movement is good trajectory but if I were to erect a line graph of my progress it would look like long leisurely wedge of swiss cheese. Slow and steady, don't mind the dips--although my head does flips when it's not staying still and I wish that I could just chill or focus or be like those founders that don't need Z's. They work on their projects as if curing disease. I respect that but also know that it could take its toll on you in other ways. Maybe not now, but eventually, when your life is off kilter, you bleed. Or atrophy. You use some parts and get that reputation strong, but your spiritual health is long gone. Or you're super fit and your love life has gone to shit. The question I'm constantly asking myself is am I willing to sacrifice living well in all domains to realign my career to be free to work independently. I'll cradle this thought--it will be my premonition, as I return to my bed in the fetal position.
who do you think you are
"Who do you think you are?"
Who do I know I am? I stand before me to receive that which must be believed.
I am a dreamer, a doer, a believer, a prover. Mainly to myself. I visualize what I will see then write it down when it comes to be so I can thank God for it later. Yes, I keep track of the times that my mind makes true--it is astonishing what thoughts can do. When you have a one-track mind that is set to success, the universe won't rest on it. That is of course if you have the right attitude, you must be practicing gratitude. Thank your creator for giving you rocks and water to hike and swim, for your arms to embrace your family and friends, for delicious meals and music to dance to. For moments of romance. For the positivity that flows into your brain. For the ability to stop and slow down your mental train.
Think great, do great, wake early, meditate, and thank God for the ability to conspire and create your inevitably fabulous fate.
morning person
Good morning, person.
Are you reading this before noon?
Do you work best before the sun peaks?
“I don’t know”? Me too.
It was recently discovered that there are genes that determine morningness
so it is a “thing.”
Yet, like so many things that we cling to and assert our identity to, it often times becomes a mental hindrance if you are trying to create change.
you say you’re not a morning person—that your best inspiration strikes after dark.
That might be true.
But what I have come to starkly realize for myself that when you start taking action consistently and you actively seek inspiration, it comes; you don’t have to wait for it to find you.
‘Cause if you do, you may be waiting forever.
Progress isn’t made from a lightning epiphany someone had just once in bed wearing their mismatched socks. It is made from someone taking stock, doing the work, regularly. Sometimes slowly. Whether it’s before dawn or after dusk is inconsequential. Everyone moves differently.
For some time, I had been fascinated by successful people’s morning routines. I studied people whose work I was consistently enamored with and wanted to know what they did to start their days. Some of them meditated, some wrote plays, some did pushups. Some, like Marie Forleo, started it the night before by outlining her day in her planner. Big ups.
Not much did they have in common other than the fact that each of them did seem to have a morning, i.e. woke before noon. And none of them were eating donuts or any kind of junk. When you’re in a sugar stupor it can put you in a mental funk.
Regardless of what their process was, they were making things happen just because.
My process is a constant experiment in being comfortable being uncomfortable. At the present, I do pushups, meditate, and write. And if the rest of the day doesn’t pan out, I did something for me before the first light.
Did it dawn on you that you’re a self-made morning person, too? Tweet me your early-riser ritual @alisonperrie. I’d love to hear from you.
comparison
My boyfriend says I'm the better-looking one of the two of us. Uh, yeah, that was purposeful. What girl doesn't want to be the "pretty one" in the relationship? Although he probably 'primps' as much as I do in the bathroom, and works out probably twice as much, he is in an industry where pretty people dominate and it is hard to avoid comparison. And there is no easier comparison than one of your looks--your skin color, your body, how symmetrical you are, which is which is one way your brain identifies attractiveness in a face. For me, my comparisons favor career accolades over attractiveness. Where they have been published, their titles and affiliations, awards, and "lists" of the Top people Killing It that are Younger than You--that latter is my favorite. They delve into their productivity habits, which Tony Robbins book was their favorite, what they eat for breakfast--as if swapping your egg sandwich for a spirulina smoothie is the secret to the job and jawline of your dreams. I am not saying that I do not enjoy these articles because I am genuinely curious about how successful people as ordained by media outlets make decisions differently than most others. I also enjoy them because it keeps me motivated to stay on my path and to continue to evaluate myself on my own terms.
But that's just it. We should not be comparing ourselves to others, we should be comparing ourselves to how we measure up against our own yardsticks. Meryl Streep's stick is different than yours. Why? Because she has a different Why than you and the roles that are right for her are not the roles that are right for you. You can not compare yourself to others because you most likely have different motives, different exposure to opportunities, different forces working for and against you. We should be more like the career marathoner who compares her own time to previous races vs. the sprinters at a 40-yard-dash race. By all mean, learn from others about how they define success for themselves, but find the benchmarks that define what will make you thrive and carve them somewhere you can see and stand beside.