Get Up. Get Dressed And Show Up For Life. Everyday.

My friend once told me, "You gotta get up and show up for life." This was the same friend who would show up at my door, completely showered and dressed by 10AM on a Saturday morning when we were teenagers. The same one who believes "working from home," is a recipe for failure. "You gotta at least have an outside location as your office," She'd say. 

I remember my dad always reiterating that old saying, "The early bird gets a worm," to me. He would get up every morning at 5AM, run 5 miles, then get ready and leave the house by 6:30 AM to catch the train to be at work in 7:30AM, returning home by 7PM and in bed by 11PM. Diligently for at least 35 years. Both are extremely successful individuals. I had a client once who told me, that as a writer, I should leave the house, go to a coffee shop, for the best, unadulterated writing. I found him to be correct.

I have this theory, that people who stay up late and sleep in late tend to be less productive in their lives and less engaged with the world and then in turn are less likely to be fulfilled. Not to mention, let's just admit it, staying at home in your pajamas doesn't make you feel quite as engaged, now does it.

I mean, it obviously depends on your goals, but studies have show that being productive and engaged leads to feelings of happiness and fulfillment.

I have always desired, strived for and wanted a lifestyle, less driven by the 9 to 5, and more committed to art, culture and entrepreneurship and independence. To that end, I even went through a phase, or perhaps I got waylaid, by this concept, which I now believe is false, that more creative people are night owls and that staying up until 3AM in pursuit of art and creativity and sleeping in until 10 or 11 was a sign of an artist. Yes, an unfulfilled artist perhaps. As a writer I do my best writing after 8 hours of sleep at 8AM. And to be true, too many of these so called artists are not exactly creating art at 1 and 2 in the morning, but are rather forcing themselves awake by virtue of chasing the next video game, the last call at the bar, the late night movie or something that is not sustainable, and not productive in the long term.

I know it is romantic and glamorous, the night life,the night owl, and to be a tortured artist, but to be productive and successful you really do need to get to bed at a decent hour, and get up at by 8. I always have and I always will believe this. And the lifestyle which I desire, to be independent and sort of more in charge of my world is clearly a desire for me to work for myself, and not to be beholden to someone else's schedule. Just because I despise the 9 to 5, doesn't mean I will also need to stay up late and sleep late.