Why You Should Get Your Ass Up Every Morning and Get Sh*t Done

It’s hard to get up every morning when all the energy and motivation is sucked right out of you. Trust me, I’ve been there (and continue to do so from time to time). You can go online and read all the basic stuff you need to do to be more productive and have a more calming sleep schedule; but if your heart and mind aren’t just up for it, it ain’t worth it. When you feel down and out, it’s hard to get shit done. Hell, I know we’ve all experienced this at some point.

So here’s how my day goes: I usually wake up at 5 in the morning, listen to a 5-10 minute podcast from New York Public Radio (yeah, I’m old), read a few chapters of a novel or book (I’m currently consuming Deep Work by Cal Newport and Max Brooks’ World War Z, really good shit), and then proceed to take a shower. I get breakfast, commute to work, clock out at 3 PM, and do my radio show until 7 PM. That’s it. A five-day cycle of routinary bullshit that sometimes sucks the life out of me.

Don’t get me wrong; I love my job(s). But just because you love something so much doesn’t mean that it would always be a cloud nine feeling forever. But despite losing motivation, I still get shit done.

How? I don’t know, the Force (Jedi way be damned)?

Kidding aside, I know that the positivity mentality doesn’t work for everyone. Now, you might be thinking, “who’s this bitch ass who thinks he’s got it all figured out?” Nope, I don’t. And I don’t think I ever will. I’m not trying to shit on you if you find it useful, but all I’m saying is that it’s not the only way to help you go about your day.

Before I get all motivational guru on you, let me tell you—I don’t believe in forced positivity, let alone having a conscious mindset of being positive. It’s not that I’m encouraging a passive/pessimistic attitude. What I do for myself when I lose motivation is more of a practical way of getting out of a rut to get shit done efficiently. If positivity works for you, then, by all means, have at it. But if you’re tired of forcing yourself to “think positive,” let’s call its bullshit and get straight to the point.

Getting Up In The Morning

So you wake up, but find that there’s no drive left in you. It’s weird because you’ve slept for six to seven straight hours, yet you wake up still tired. One would argue that it pays to think that “today is going to be a great day!”

Fuck that. You know what I do? I accept it. I allow that feeling to take over me—but I don’t let it get the better of me.

Working as a content strategist and digital marketing specialist has taught me lots of mind-boggling shit for the past four years. Your creativity is sometimes limited to what the client or your boss requires of you. Control over what you write doesn’t always happen, most of the time it’s dictated by keywords and projections and marketability and yadda-yadda. It hit me—there’s always a limit to what you can do, no matter how much you try to break that.

Now that feels shitty, right? Yeah, it does, but in a good way. Knowing this reality helps me understand that these are the things I have to work on, these are my resources, and I just have to fit my creativity into what is set before me. So when I wake up feeling down, or just meh, I accept it. Accept, allow, and acknowledge that feeling.

Yes, you feel like shit. Yes, you don’t feel like going to work today. Yes, it doesn’t feel like your day. But that doesn’t make you less of who you are.

But don’t let that fool you into slacking off. Turn this negative energy into something that would push you to give value (keyword here is “value”). My life in the advertising and broadcast industry allowed me to recognize the meaning and weight of the word “value.” Every campaign I plan should drive value, not just money. Every word I say on air has to be valuable, lest people think you’re just a mumbling dumbass who’s all talk and attitude. Every blog I write has to give value and meaning to the reader.

Finding value and meaning in what you do every morning and it will pay off for the entire day.

Okay, so you’ve sold me. How do I get shit done then?

Get the fuck up. That’s it. By doing this, you’re already winning over your mental battle. If you’re a resilient type, this will be a walk in the park for you. But for the average person, this can be a feat that only the gods old and new can accomplish. But that’s okay. No one’s good at riding a bike their first time. There’s not a single person who was born with the natural ability to walk. You have to train and psych yourself up to do this.

What I do is lounging around for a few minutes in bed. And then I get up. Why? You are a valuable person. I don’t mean this in a motivational TEDx talk kind of way, but you are a walking value machine. There are so many things you can do for the day that will add to the growth of your company, business, project, thesis, whatever the fuck that is.

There is value and meaning in what you do. It doesn’t matter where you are. Maybe you are a creative, a freelancer, a student, an office worker, government employee, etc. What you do means something. That’s why you’re being paid in the first place. That’s why you need to finish your tasks for the day. There is value and meaning in what you do.

You will never get shit done if you allow and give in to that shitty feeling. This is what I do every day. There is meaning in my work as a content strategist. Hell, these brands look to me for proper execution, what gives me the right to diminish that value? There is value in my work as a radio host. People love music and will continue to do so long before DJs are gone.

Again, there is value and meaning in what you do.

Now go on. Get up and get shit done, stat!