Confessions of a Snooze Addict

I'll admit it. I am a recovering snooze addict. I was addicted to staying in bed, wrapped up in its warmth. But it was always temporary, and it was never enough. At first, I only hit the snooze button once. Next thing I knew, I was hitting that button at least ten times before getting out of bed. And this was during the workweek! The idea of getting out of bed to go to a job I loathed was unbearable, and would self-medicate by hitting that snooze button, over and over again. The weekends were worse. My friends were lucky to see me before noon. According to the math, I lost approximately two and half days each year just by hitting the snooze button every morning. That over a weekend's worth of time that I'll never get back!

On the days when I got up right away, I felt something click in me. Like I was aligned with the universe in someway. I felt awake. On the days I snoozed, I was grumpy, and I felt like I was rushing all day trying to play catch-up. I got to the point where I finally recognized my addiction to snoozing, and decided to do something I about, two things actually. First, I disabled my snooze button. Knowing I have no backup for waking me up forces me to get up every morning. Disabling the snooze button gave me ten more minutes to read the newspaper, or to enjoy my shower, or to actually taste my breakfast, or to settle in before I started my workday, or to talk a little longer with my girlfriend.

The second thing I did was quit my job. I realized that my addiction to snoozing was actually a symptom of my unhappiness with my job. I realized I was snoozing on my real life's work: entrepreneurship. I decided to wake-up, quit my job, and start my new life venture. And you know what? I haven't lost any sleep over it.

I'm not saying that if you hit your snooze button each morning that you need to quit your job, and create your own business. I am saying that you should examine how snoozing affects your life. When you think about it, the snooze button is the epitome of sloth, one of the seven deadly sins. You are starting your day by procrastinating on literally the first and most important task of your day: waking up. Every time that you hit that snooze button you are telling yourself that your day is not worth starting on time. Better yet, you are saying your life is not worth starting on time. By disabling your snooze button, you are telling yourself that you have an agenda for your day, for your life, and you intend to start on time.