I do not buy newspapers BUT I am subscribed to the newspaper of the county where I live so I can read local news and learn what is going on in my community and country. Since the results of the leaving certs is now out, I was on the look out for that news…I checked out all articles written on the leaving cert specifically to check this year’s performance. As I looked, I saw a girl from one of the county’s who did really well, the girl power in me would not let me notice the boys first. Sorry boys. As I looked further, I saw another headline that says, “the boy with the highest possible score in this year’s leaving cert”. What the boy said in the papers made sense and because I was inspired by it, I bring you, early risers.
My husband looked at me one day and said, where in Jesus name do you get this strength from? What he meant was this: we slept really late on this particular night (me & him) and by the time it was 5.30 am, I was awake to work. By 7.30 am, he saw me dash back into the room moisturising because I had gone for a run, had a shower, hence the reason for moisturising……
……This is what I mean: I mean that no matter how late I sleep, I rise early because I have learnt that to be an early riser could change your life positively.
Back to that boy who got the highest possible score in this year’s leaving cert as said by that local newspaper I looked through. The paper had this to say about his interview with them: “After hard work, involving sometimes studying up to midnight and at 8.20am again in the morning, the young man is reaping his just rewards”……
Who is an Early Riser?
An early riser is someone who habitually gets out of bed earlier than usual.
Here are the two life lessons I learnt from that 19 year old repeat leaving cert student:
1, To rise again when we fall: this is because he was repeating so he could do his desired course, I believe…..
2, When you stay up late and then rise early to work on our goals, we get results, according to what the paper said…..
….but allow me focus on number 2, being an early riser…..
This was the message I kept repeating to one of my “mentees” before the leaving cert…..I would tell her, rise early and stay late to study, if you study, you will get good results, it is that simple. God is not a magician. She got good results and I am proud of her. In chapter 6 of my book, Use What You Have, I focused on how to stay late and rise early to work on your goals, you can learn more in there.
Remember last week on Motivation for Monday, I talked about Continue Preparing and I said that, in some preparation, you may have to wait to get the result you want but sometimes, you get the result instantly. Then last Saturday, I spent my afternoon listening to TedX talk, then I stumbled on Zain Asher’s speech. In that speech, it was almost like she read the blog and made the speech. She talked about how she prepared before she made it to CNN. Guess what, her preparation to make it to CNN included being an EARLY RISER.
See, in life, you may not get the reward of rising early to work on your goals in one day, you may not get it in one month and you many not get it in years BUT the REWARD will come……
Why You Should Be an Early Riser:
1, You Can FOCUS on Yourself at this time:
See early in the mornings, the weather is cool, the environment is quiet, there is no noise and the not so early risers are still in bed. At this time, you can focus on you, meditate, study, pray, get work done or write like myself. Not that it is bad to put in the work in the day time BUT there is something about people who rise early, they get things done. This is one of the secrets of some of the most successful people in the world. For example, Barack Obama is an early riser and he is a success story…..
Early in the morning, you can really take care of YOU and invest in YOU. It may not be easy to start off BUT it is doable. If you are a mum especially to young children, if you can rise early to work on you and your goals before your children wakes up, you will do a lot of great things be it to write a portion of that book or to write that business plan or to self-study for promotion or spiritual growth and on and on……
Rise early to work, you will see the reward, it may not come instantly, it will add up and bear good fruit.
2, Clarity Comes When We Are Still:
A lot of times in life we are not sure of what we should be doing with our lives: we are confused, not sure and can’t just pin-point exactly what we should be doing….
You see early in the morning, you can take time to BE STILL, journal your thoughts on your uncertainties, burdens, prayer requests or anything you may be confused about. When you write your thoughts down and begin to read back on them, a lot of times, you get clarity. You get clear about what you are not sure about. You get clear about what you are confused about and you will begin to do better. This is because you have a plan you are working with or running with.
If you have not mastered the act of journaling or you do not write at all, this is something you should explore. You will be surprised at what you will do.
In case you were wondering, I do journal and I have a journal for different areas of my life: finance, career goals, family goals and personal spiritual goals. Trust me, this MAKES A LOT OF DIFFERENCE to me especially as a woman and mum.
The motivators say, when you think about an idea, it is just an idea until you write it down. I like to say that when you are not sure, take a moment to write your thoughts down, clarity will come when you are still
3, As an Early Riser…
….You are setting up yourself for great things / success that will come. If you master the act of rising early when you are younger, it will not be a challenge as life becomes busier for you as you get older. The definition of rising early says, it is a habitual….allow me stop there. The word I am focusing on here is habit. If you build a good habit, it could set you up for a life time.
Instead of the bad habit of staying up late to stay on social media(except you are working on it), you can gradually build the habit of sleeping early and rising early to do great things: read a book( I do this every morning), write a portion of that book God has laid in your heart; pray, think (thinkers are innovators, thinkers birth ideas) and so on and on……
Finally, I leave you with this one scripture from Mark 1 vs 5: “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed”……
The icing on the cake here is that Jesus knew the importance of rising early to pray. The importance of rising early for him is so no one would disturb him. When you rise early enough to work on great things or things that are important, be it to pray or to study, no one would disturb you……and most importantly, RESULTS will come.
I was truly inspired by this young chap whom I believe will do great things in life. His success story gave me the inspiration to write this blog and this is what success stories do, they inspire people.
I hope you were inspired today and I hope you too will be a success story so you can inspire the world around you.
Thanks for reading.
Much Love, Mojisola
Congratulations to all those who put in the work and made good success on their Leaving Cert and massive Congratulations to Emmanuel Eguare for getting the best result in this year’s leaving cert. Thanks for inspiring us all to try again and to be EARLY RISERS.
Coming soon: How to Be an Early Riser!
Do you want to fulfill Purpose by using the power of your gifts? “Use What You Have, my Amazon Best Selling book will help you discover your gifts, own them, embrace them, develop them, maximise them, monetise them and use them to fulfill your purpose in life. Get Your copy HERE if you live in the UK and HERE if you live in the USA & Canada. You can also search “Use What You Have” by Mojisola Obazuaye on your home country Amazon to get yours. Having trouble finding it, send me an email on info@mojintouch.com
10 comments
I’ve worked to become an early riser, as it doesn’t come naturally to me. It has been a wonderful, positive change for me. I get so much done in the early hours when I have all that time to myself, and it sets a good tone for the rest of the day.
That is awesome Sarah. Well done to you hun.
Cheers
I get so much done in my day because I am an early riser! Shout out to all the early risers
Thanks Mojisola
Thanks for reading Detola.
Cheers
Wow Moji, you are blessed.
Love the way you take inspiration from real life situations and teach great lessons from.
Thank you. I was inspired. I am not an early riser, it is a struggle but I will be mindful of it.
Looking forward to the sequel to this one like you said
Congrats to the young man and to your mentee too.
Thanks for reading Chi and for the feedback. Always happy to read from you.
Rising early can be challenging but doable. Start and then commit to it, you will be surprised how far you would go.
XO
Cheers.
Very inspirational hun
Thanks for sharing.
XOXO
Thanks for reading Sam.
XO
I totally agree! I rise before everyone each morning and spend time reading scripture and praying. It strengthens me for the day ahead. Thanks for the inspiration Mojisola!
Thank you so much Linda for reading.
I am always happy to see women who takes the time to pray and read the scriptures in the morning. God bless you and continue to strengthen you.
Cheers.