Things You Should Avoid On A Daily Basis Part 1

TWT Newsletter #8

I’m an avid advocate for creating systems and routines to optimize your day. Having effective systems in place allows you to be as productive as possible. I’ve experimented with a lot of things, researching and analyzing things that give you energy on a daily basis. I’ve discovered and tested these actionable concepts that give me more time and energy in my life.

1. Hitting the Snooze Button

This is one you probably wish you hadn’t seen. I’m not going to lie, I am guilty of hitting the snooze button from time to time. This was something I did every single day for years in my early 20s. I would have 5-7 alarms all within 2-5 minutes of each other. If you can relate, then you’ll probably dread what I’m about to say next.

Hitting the snooze button and trying to get more sleep doesn't help you feel more rested. The rest you get after snoozing your alarm isn't productive. It's fragmented sleep that makes you more tired.

Fragmented sleep can compromise your attention span, cognitive ability, and negatively impact your mood. Even if you didn't get enough sleep, it's better to wake up than to roll over and ignore your alarm. Snoozing and trying to get fragmented sleep leads to oversleeping, disrupting your body's natural rhythm (circadian rhythm). Your circadian rhythm is what naturally regulates when you are tired and when you wake up. Experts recommend that you go to sleep and wake up at the same timeframe each day. That's because the human body craves routines.

By doing this, your body is used to waking up when the first alarm sounds because you're at the end of your REM stage. However, snoozing your alarm lets your body drift back into that REM stage. Then, when your alarm sounds the next time, you're in the middle of the REM stage, which can leave you feeling tired and groggy. Prolonged snoozing of your alarm disrupts your circadian rhythm. Your body isn't sure when it's supposed to go to sleep and get up. This can impact your ability to fall asleep at night as well. So don’t hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. Jump out of bed as soon as your alarm goes off.

Another secret I’d like to share is, I set my intention every night before I wake up so that I can think about how I want to feel and how I want to wake up. Practicing this right before bed and envisioning your morning will work well for you and help get you out of bed immediately.

2. Overcomplicating Things

Overcomplicating things is something we all do and need to avoid. Simple concept to grasp, but hard to do. But if you can shift your mind and focus when you start to overcomplicate things, it is a very powerful routine to internalize.

When over-complication happens, focus on what you can do now.

It’s like driving in the dark. If you don’t really know where you're going, it is imperative to keep driving at a safe speed so you can see the next direction to go. This is similar to what you need to do when you start over-complicating things. Break it down into simple steps, just enough to get to the next step.

3. Manually Scheduling Meetings

One of the things that takes up a lot of your time and energy is meetings and/or scheduling meetings. Studies have shown it takes 3-4 times going back and forth between people to schedule a meeting. On top of that 60% of meetings are unnecessary and longer than they should be.

To fix that, I used Calendly for all my scheduling needs. I just set up the hours I am available to meet and then just send them a link to schedule a meeting. This saves me a ton of time and energy. The reason is you don’t have to go back and forth. Additionally, sometimes the person doesn’t schedule the meeting (meaning it wasn’t worth your time or wasn’t as important as they implied), which saves you even more time and energy. I’ll have a Youtube video of how I use Calendly and walk through some other things coming soon, so subscribe here.

That’s a wrap on things to avoid on a daily basis:

• Hitting the snooze button

• Overcomplicating things

• Manually scheduling meetings

Thanks for reading this two-part series. The next newsletter will cover the rest of the things I found that give you more time and energy.

Hope you learned and enjoyed my newsletter!

If you want to learn more about building a wealthier life for yourself through mindset and investing - subscribe here. Also, share with someone who might gain value from this newsletter. Remember you can make magic happen daily. Have an awesome day!

- William Thing