Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar. You wake up in a rush because you have already hit the snooze button twice and now you are on the verge of being late for work. You jump out of bed, hurriedly get ready in the bathroom and briefly stop by the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee or a quick on-the-go breakfast bar. As you head out the door, you see your Bible and your notebook on the table, but you don’t have time to breathe let alone stop and read because you are just too busy. You hop into your car brainstorming ten million excuses as to why you are late and already wishing the day were over so you could go back to bed.
Now maybe your morning didn’t go exactly like this, but I bet it comes close. Realize your first hour awake sets the tone for the rest of the day. If you want to transform your life, you can start by adjusting how you spend the first hour. Even if you are not crazy like me and want to wake up at 5:00 a.m., you can choose to wake up an hour earlier no matter what time you get your day started. You have to be willing to create what I call the whitespace or margin in your calendar in order to proactively allow room for joy to flow.
As I said in my “Joy Notes” book, “to let joy flow you need to go slow.” We need to not let the excuse of we are too busy to slow down get in the way of living our best life now. Remember B.U.S.Y. stands for “Burdened Under Satan’s Yoke.” When you choose to create whitespace in your calendar you are giving yourself time to refocus, rethink, reset and refuel so that as we go throughout our day we can respond from a place of peace, love and joy.
Og Mandino, an American author, encourages folks to “let their first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo throughout your entire day. Over the next several posts I will be sharing with you how I spend the first hour of my day which when you practice these seven steps can transform not only your mornings, but your life. Share in the comments section how you spend your first hour.
And remember “we are all given the same number of hours in a day, some people just use them better.” Today let your life be an echo of inspiration, possibility and joy by using your first hour wisely.
