You want me to do what? A rough guide to the subtle art of getting out of bed with a smile on your dial.

I love those mornings where you stay deeply cocooned in your scrummy blankets, soft pillows and even better, that long-awaited couple of hours where you've got the whole bed to yourself.

I'm not sure about you but I have really sensitive hearing which affects my ability to sleep. And it's quite specific as to what it can hear e.g.

• can't hear pug snoring (dogs are cute)
• can't hear horse shuffling in stables by our ensuite (my horse is cute)
• can't hear small micey things running around the bedroom at night (small cute furry things brought in by bigger cute furry thing)
• can hear when dogs need to go out during the night (worthwhile padding down the hallway in the sub-zero house to let cute dogs out for mimi - on the way, toss out non-native dead birds from lounge floor, delivered by the cute cat)
• CAN definitely hear husband snoring (29 years married, not as cute as the dog)
• can definitely hear husband breathing despite my ears jammed with earplugs and large pillow wrapped around **head (bloody inconvenient and noisy, wish he'd stop that breathing carry-on, and still not as cute as the pug)
• can hear/feel husband undertake magnificent barrel roll to move his air-frame from breathing in my ear to breathing towards the outside of the bed (having been motivated to shift by subtle and gentle smack to non-specific part of his body)

So, we've got the whole yummy morning, could stay there forever thing going on. Apparently, that's not very professional and there's this thing called 'daily habits' (healthy productive ones). You too? I get this little bit of icky feeling in the front of my mouth when I think about getting up to a routine. That said, I'm trying.

What you need to do

Having figured out that my team are no longer coming to work every day during Level 3 & 4, (I know, smarter than I look), I now recognise that they were actually the external-driver for my getting out of bed at a reasonable time in the morning. Not my own fabulous self-discipline, but the need for me to be at the team brief at 7.45 am daily.

The next external driver is the horse has to come out of the stable and be down in the paddocks by 8 am (large thing, gets really grumpy if that doesn't happen at the same time each morning).

Shame gets involved too; husband does the whole 5.30 a.m. thing every day, does goodness knows what between then and 7 am when I begrudgingly appear in the kitchen to meet my walking partner. Never asked, presume he may hum softly somewhere in the house and seek world peace for several hours.

UPDATE?– since I wrote the aforementioned words in COVID June 2020, I’ve spent a huge amount of time, researching and undertaking a neuroscience study course.?I’ve spent the last year designing and writing my Dream, Plan, Do, Be book and planner.?We’re working on an August publishing schedule, so winter will be spent tying up loose ends, editing and getting the final sign off on design etc.

This last year’s studies have led to the demise of the slovenly me. As much as I fight the urge to stay in bed, cocooned and so on... I now, with cautious acceptance, and no external drivers, set an alarm, s…, shave and shower (old army term), exercise and hit that coffee by 8 am. Don't you be giving me that eye roll - all of you 4.30 a.m. creepy weirdo's, this is a moment to celebrate for those of us who are generally very lazy (unless something interests us i.e., oooh look there's unicorns - I'd be out of bed in a flash).

Being a grown-up

And there it is. Nothing new, remember I am an ex-military officer so strong habitual behaviours and training strong habits, were skills that I had mastered. But I am basically very lazy (quite nice, but very lazy), and so, when I'm not training someone else, not responsible for a team, i.e. not being externally driven, my default is to sleep too much, eat too much and I'm darned skilled at drinking too much (only very good wine or gin post COVID! - that must count for something),?

The key is to recognise within yourself, and not be ashamed of the fact that your preference is for slovenly, unforgivably laggardly behaviour; and excess in most things. Once you've reached that pinnacle of self- enlightenment, you are able to figure out how the heck you're going to be a grown up and do the same but worthwhile and productive shit each day.

My key takeaway from my studies and practice of being a grown up combined with the internally driven success of overcoming being a loafing, slothful, dilly-dallying older lady are:

• write the check list (we know the neuroscience of this is critical in producing serotonin our satisfaction drug that links to melatonin our sleeping drug), and tick it off
• clean up your work space, electronic files, email in box etc. articulate your 'life's purpose' and check in with that daily
• deeply understand what you are passionate about, recognise it, and spend the time to articulate this
• plan your week and daily rhythm, ‘chunk’ your day, it gives you so much freedom having a plan in place, and go and get excited about Eisenhower's Matrix - it puts so much perspective on priorities for you
• check out my book and planner in August – my thought leadership on ‘chunking’ your day using the matrix as a basis for the rhythm of your day.?Science based planning.

Go easy on yourself - not everyone is a self-motivated, (possibly a little bit dull) self-disciplined guru.

Seriously, deep down, I do believe that organised people are just too lazy to look for things.