Tell that rooster to shut the **** up!

Waking up at 2am unable to distinguish if I am in bed or at work still, eating peanut butter and jam on toast by 3:45am is no way to get a good night’s sleep. In fact its a disaster, the alarm goes off at 6:40am and I literally groan my way out of bed, tired and in joint pain and best of all….angry.

Not known for being a morning person, my reputation has increased ten fold these last 3 years. Opening the agency and sniffing and scratching around for business the first couple of years was one thing. Year three and I am joined by Kevin brown, Gary Newgrosh and Melissa Thomas and holy hell, I feel like I haven’t slept since.

This is start up territory, this is entrepreneurship and this is self employment. Plunge taken, challenge accepted.

At some point my poor addled brain switched gears and I thought how ridiculous it is to assume we can keep up this crazy pace. These insane hours, this flurry of snacks and quick meals, this terrible sleep and no holiday in sight. Haven’t seen the inside of a gym since 2016. haven’t properly run in any kind of regime since 2017 and my running partner hasn’t seen me for months.

Truth is we can’t keep this up.

I remembered back to my early days of discovering running when following a bereavement it was all that got me out of bed, it was the final clincher into getting me to eat regularly and well. It finally made me tired enough to actually sleep. I trained for races, I trained for my coach and I trained for my sanity. I slowly crept (or ran should I say) out of a very deep, black hole.

So now it occurred to me, in the same way we diet and train for races or even the elusive 42k marathon, why do we assume this is any different?

The fact is, to throw your all into a business and be able to pick up and keep the pace, you have to have crap-loads of energy reserves, a seriously good sense of humour and a clear, sharp mind.

Absolutely none of which I have had recently due to inadequate nutrition, haunting non-sleep and zero exercise. What I am learning in year 3 of this adventure called HR Innovate is that if I train my body and mind in much the same way as for running long distance, then I am a higher functioning professional.

So 5:30am it is. No longer 6:40. one foot in front of the other, pounding the pavement as I slowly wake up as I run, run like a mad person in the semi-dark among the olive groves near home. Knowing that in spite of my blurry eyes and empty stomach, I will wake up to the best sight possible to start the day with, sun rise. And as the minutes pass and my muscles warm up, my mind is alert and creative not stressed and overwhelmed, or frozen with the idea of what’s awaiting me in my inbox.

My new hunger is from the calories burnt, I eat well and I eat right. I eat clean. I have energy and higher concentration, the endorphins flooding my brain on the run set me up for the day with a better, calmer sense of self and I am able to sincerely laugh and be animated in my meetings or calls with candidates and clients. I sleep earlier and I sleep, actually unconscious. Waking only for the rooster call outside (who ever thought farm animal sounds at stupid o’?lock are glorious are so utterly deluded, I want to wring that bird’s neck.)

This is my new race, my new nemesis avatar of the 42k. HR Innovate has a life of its own almost now, as we continue to grow and flourish I need to be the very best I can be. So I am training body and mind to be stronger, more resilient and primed for the battle. But also to be able to actually enjoy the ride, so one day my memories will not be blotted with visions of my grumpy, nasty morning self who ate peanut butter and jam at 3:45am but filled with that sunrise.