Success Advice

5 Life Changing Things You Miss Out on After Pressing the Snooze Button

Published

4 years ago

May 21, 2020

Image Credit: Unsplash

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When was the last time you pressed the snooze button? If it was recent, you’re not alone. Snoozing is a modern-day epidemic. You must always remember the saying “If you snooze, you lose,” because it’s not far from the truth.

As a regular commuter, it never felt natural to hit the snooze button because if I did, I would miss the morning bus. It wasn’t until I enjoyed my sabbatical that I “reinvented” the snooze button on my phone, and I quickly figured out how to find a reason to crawl back into bed. While I’d hardly fall back asleep, even if I did get more sleep, I didn’t feel good about it.

Here are 5 things you miss out on after pressing the snooze button:

1. Missing out on quality sleep

Regardless of whether you fall back asleep once you hit the snooze button, you miss out on more quality sleep. If you press the snooze button multiple times, you confuse your brain and communicate to your body that you’re going back into rest mode. As a result, you may end up as a zombie when you crawl out of bed. On top of that, snoozing makes you feel guilty.

2. Missing out on quality time for yourself

I often hear from people that reading or journaling would impose a major weight on their agenda, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Getting up earlier is the best time to immerse yourself into a great book or jot down your ideas on paper.

Here’s a list that you may want to consider as an alternative to snoozing:

Exercise: Morning exercise has been shown to improve your sleep during the night. Doing some push-ups for 5 minutes might not seem like a lot, nor is it a vigorous exercise, but it’s more than nothing.
Meditation: Many of us would assume that meditation and mindfulness are types of spiritual hocus-pocus. At least that’s what I thought. However, the truth is there are more than 4,000 scientific articles on the science of meditation. Meditation has been linked to improved mental and emotional health, reduced stress, and increased creativity.
Journaling: Many successful individuals begin the day with journaling, which helps them to digest the lessons from the previous day, practice gratitude, and maintain focus.
Reading: The morning is the best time to read. Even if you just read 5 pages, you’re already ahead of people who chose to snooze. Always remember small things add up and soon you’ll become an avid reader.
Checking email: Although checking email in the morning isn’t the best use of your time, it’s way more productive than hitting the snooze button. If you happen to get into your inbox, make sure that you don’t spend too much time on a single message. Just use the 2-minute rule to address your duties: Everything that takes more than two minutes to do is something that might go to your to-do list.

What I’ve learned over the years is that you need to let go of your all-or-nothing mentality. The key is that you always do something. Even if this is a 5-minute exercise or a 5-minute meditation, you move the needle and that’s how you gain momentum.

“One key to success is to have lunch at the time of day most people have breakfast.” – Robert Brault

3. Missing out on a healthy breakfast

Although there’s some debate on whether breakfast is the most important meal of the day, by choosing to snooze, you may end up with an empty stomach. Even worse, you may end up in a fast-food restaurant. Preparing a healthy breakfast takes five to ten minutes. Isn’t it worth the time?

In his book, Atomic Habits, James Clear argues that you make every new habit as effortless as possible. The author introduced his own two-minute rule: “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.” Begin with baby steps and then slowly build up your desired habit. That’s how you carve out some time for your one thing.

4. Missing out on a time to do your ONE Thing

I like the ONE Thing concept published by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan. The idea of identifying the most important thing to do is simple yet so powerful. You block out time for doing your ONE Thing, and you diligently show up every day. The focusing question, as the authors coined it, goes like this: “What’s the ONE Thing I can do today that by doing it everything else will be easier or even unnecessary?”

It’s a universal formula. The 80/20 principle, the Frog analogy proposed by Brian Tracy, the Daily Big Three coined by Michael Hyatt, or the Big Rocks attributed to Stephen Covey, all arrive at the same mantra: Identify your most important projects or goals and then do something every single day to achieve extraordinary results.

The advocates of those principles mostly agree that morning is the best time to do your ONE Thing. There are few, if any, distractions there in the morning and for most people the energy levels are high.

“If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I would spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

5. Missing out on a positive psychological benefit

When you hit the snooze button, you’ll tell your brain that you don’t want to embark on your daily journey. It’s something very similar to making your bed. Making your bed in the morning can be a life-changing habit. It pulls you into an upward spiral of small accomplishments. And, you know, big things all begin with baby steps.

Stop pressing the snooze button once and for all

Sleeping feels good and getting up feels bad. Even if you’re lucky enough to get out of bed with the enthusiasm of a child who anticipates Christmas morning, getting up still hurts. Nonetheless, the point is that getting up late and feeling guilty about it is worse. Prioritize having your most important tasks done early in the morning so you set up the day for success. Over time, it becomes addictive.

Here’s a simple trick that may help you get rid of your snoozing habit: put your alarm clock far away from your bed, so that you need to get up and move your body to turn off the alarm. The odds are that it might help you to stop pressing the snooze button once and for all.

Do you have any techniques that help you not press the snooze button and get out of bed when your alarm rings? Share them with us below!

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Csaba Vadadi-Fulop

Csaba Vadadi-Fulop is the founder of Productivity95. He is on the mission to demystify productivity and share his journey with those who want to overcome procrastination and break free from mediocrity. Want to do something right now to increase your productivity? Get your free productivity bundle and set up a simple system to stay organized and get more done.

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There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

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In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.

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