Rise And Shine: Scraps Are For Losers

It was early in the morning, still dark outside. I was wide awake thinking about my day and, like they often do, ideas began to fill my head. I reached out, grabbed my phone and started sending myself reminders and emails of the ideas while they were fresh and clear in my mind not wanting to forget even the smallest detail. I decided to text my father a question about something I was supposed help him with, thinking he would get it later in the morning and respond. Then to my surprise my phone made a “ping” sound…it was my dad. He was responding to my text. Before I knew it we were having a conversation over text and then it clicked. “Top Performers are engaged in their success the minute their feet hit the ground every morning.”

My dad said “An early riser like me huh?” I said “you know it!” It’s at this time that our minds are the sharpest. It’s at the beginning of our day that we have the privilege of setting the foundation that the rest of the day will be built upon. We haven’t experienced defeat, faced the day’s obstacles, or been told why something can’t happen…the day is fresh and anything is possible.

The old adage “Rise and Shine” comes to mind. This phrase originated in the late 1800s as a military order meaning “act lively, do well.” So it’s not enough to just “Rise,” but we must “Shine!” It might  be dark outside, half the world may be curled up in their beds sleeping, but there you are…SHINING!

If we want to win we must be a step ahead of our competitors, and it starts in the morning. One of my favorite quotes is by an unknown author and reads “Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Lion or a Gazelle… when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” I don’t know about you but I don’t want anyone beating me because they arrived before I did. If we are both there, and it is a fair fight, but I lose then so be it. But if it’s over before it even starts, then it’s my fault for missing the party.

So we’ve all heard it said, “I’m not a morning person.” But I say if we want to become a “Top Performer” we had better start learning to be one. Because truly “the early bird gets the worm,” and those worms are precious. When you are second, you have to settle for the scraps and “scraps are for losers.” Sure you can sometimes scrounge up a worm or two (scraps) that are leftover, and many have survived their entire careers that way, but “things may come to those who wait…but only the things left by those who hustle.” Remember that success is not an accident, but rather a state of mind. So if we want to reach a level we haven’t yet reached, we have to consciously make the changes necessary to do what is required to reach it. SO GET UP!!

“Now go get that worm.”