Early to Bed

Early in life, I had an interest in the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin, and one of the principles I learned was “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” For most of my life, I have known that it is a good thing to go to bed early and to wake up early.

I have not always followed that rule. For the longest time, I would do what most people do. I would stay up at night, entertaining myself or being entertained, often with TV. Enjoying myself, I would stay up later than I should, thereby deciding to sleep less, hoping the tiredness I might feel the next day would be justified by the enjoyment of the moment. After all, I had worked all day and deserved to relax and enjoy life, at night.

In recent years, without much to do in the evening except watch TV, which I think of as a waste of time, and not enjoyable enough, I go to bed early, so that after 8 hours of sleep, I will wake up well-rested and have an hour or two in the morning to enjoy my coffee before getting ready for work. During that time, I like to enjoy the moment, letting my mind wander and otherwise work through some of life’s issues. Brian Tracy, a well-known author and speaker on success and achievement, encourages waking up an hour early to go over one’s goals and to set a positive and energetic attitude for the day.

So it is interesting, from an analytic standpoint, that those who stay up late at night tend to view the next day of work, and meeting sometimes overwhelming expectations, in such a way that they dread the next day. They sleep until the last minute and then roll out of bed, hitting the ground running, so to speak. And then there are those who go to bed earlier, usually happy with the accomplishments of the day, and looking forward to the early hours of the next morning to start the next day on a positive note.

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man or woman healthy, wealthy and wise. Being well-rested is physically and emotionally healthy. Thinking about one’s day and one’s goals, and getting the day started on a positive note, is not only wise, but it also increases one’s ability to make it a successful day. Those who believe they are successful “burning the midnight oil” will be out of balance with the rest of their lives and are not as successful as they could be.

Make it a practice of going to bed early, reaping the benefits the next day when you are able to start the day well rested.

It is what successful people do.