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ALISON P. TUGWELL

ALISON P. TUGWELL
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WhyDoYouDoThis_alisonperrie

morning person

January 19, 2017

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.  

In Creativity, Career, Wellness Tags morning person, morningness, productivity, habits, routine, inspiration, creativity, innovation, process
screen prints by @seanmort

screen prints by @seanmort

what's around

January 16, 2017

There's nothing scarier than a blank page. Have you heard this line? Excuse me, that was a typo, it's actually a 'lie.' Have you ever seen the music video for Crossroads by Bone Thugs 'n' Harmony? The Angel of Death, a tall, stoic, dark man with dark glasses approaches and touches the forehead of an older gentleman on his porch playing cards. Upon his fingertips his eyes turn black and he falls backward to the horror of Wish Bone, his card-game compadre. It's terrifying. I loved the song--always will, but that image used to give me nightmares as a kid.

Blank, black eyes. That's scarier than a blank white screen.

"But what do I write about?" You whine. You write what's around. What's taking up space in your head. What happens in your body when the rain flings itself against your window pane in torrents. Write about what's hanging up in front of your face as you face your blinking cursor. And you better have something up there. If you don't, I'll send you something. Just e-mail me your address and I'll drop something in the post that you can post in front of your face to remind you everyday of why you wanted to make in the first place. And when you're sick of writing where you are, move. Go to the movies, the museum, go to a spot that's beautiful outside that no one else has noticed yet.

You could also pay attention to how you present yourself to the world and find the themes that scream out to you. Have you ever done a word cloud on yourself? It's super-fun. Go to Wordle.net (word of warning, you may have to install Java first), Copy and paste all the words from all of your online profiles--social, dating, job sites--throw your bio in there too. And see what concepts balloon. Then write them on sticky notes and put them on the wall and everyday start with that so you will never be scrounging for inspiration or a title again. Talk about getting unstuck. I have done this with the answers that I've gathered from speaking with people who have deemed themselves to be multi-passionates like me, and that is how I start formulating the morning's post each day. It just takes a little looking in and looking out if you want to be creating consistently.

Once you say "YES" to noticing, the world is an enticing place.

In Creativity Tags writing, art, making, consistency, inspiration, word cloud, blank page, fear
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