Work that morning quiet

The predawn early morning hours are a magical time of day. No matter what happened yesterday, this new morning is a blank canvas, stretching ahead into a fresh day with possibility. Savor the quiet moments. Watch dawn’s growing light paint new colors into this new day, let your mind come into focus on what you need to accomplish to make this day count.

For much of my life, I’ve been more of a morning person than a night owl. I savor the quiet time before my full household gets rolling to its full velocity (and volume). I like this quote about mornings:

Outside, there was that predawn kind of clarity, where the momentum of living has not quite captured the day. The air was not filled with conversation or thought bubbles or laughter or sidelong glances. Everyone was sleeping, all of their ideas and hopes and hidden agendas entangled in the dream world, leaving this world clear and crisp and cold as a bottle of milk in the fridge. ” ~ Reif Larsen, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

Many will advise you to take a problem or dilemma to bed with you, to let your subconscious work on a solution while you sleep. If I awake before a blaring alarm intrudes upon my peace, I find the doors between the waking mind and my never-sleeping subconscious have not yet slammed shut for the day. Wispy fragments of inspiration sneak through the cracks, making their way into the conscious part of my mind, enabling me to examine their full potential.

If I can tap into that small window of morning peace, I have fewer interruptions. It gives me a chance to focus on what needs to be done today.

Laura Vanderkam, author of “What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast,” suggests that people can become more productive morning people by making the to-do list the day before; getting a good sleep; exercising; practicing a morning ritual, including meditation; eating a proper breakfast; avoiding morning meetings so the most important work can be done at highest productivity time; tackling the most important work first; and visualizing your ideal day.

That early morning time is a treasure. Tap into its power.