What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? If you are like 46% of Americans according to a 2017 survey it's check your phone. The number jumps to 66% for Millenials. That means that before we even get out of bed a lot of us are consuming other people's content.
Given that many people feel the most creative when they first wake up in the morning you might be squandering the time of day when you're most likely to get an idea or solve a problem. Ever notice how many times you get a great solution to something that's been puzzling you while you're in the shower? It's the time of day and isolation certainly, but also it's one of the only places where you aren't likely to check your phone.
Today's challenge, and the challenge as we go forward, is to create something out of your own heart and soul before you touch your phone. It doesn't have to be monumental, you could do your morning pages, read about those here, or set your intention, read about it here, for the day.
Many writers and other creatives consider the first hour of being awake as a sort of golden hour. A time when the mind is awake but not yet cluttered with the chaos of the day.
The power behind it is not absorbing other people's content (Instagram) or taking on anyone else's agenda (email) until you have done at least a bit of your own work. What that work is or how it grows over time is up to you. Doing this will also encourage your creative self since when we consume other people's content, especially if they are working in our same field of interest is that we immediately swerve from consumption to comparison.
If you are comparing your work to others before you even get started it's a recipe for failure.
Your motto as you go to reach for that phone tomorrow morning is "I will create something before I consume."
Guilty!
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