I’m not a big social media fan but I do enjoy twitter (which is funny considering how wordy I am, no 140 character crap here). I rarely care where someone is (I’m miles from any of them) or what they are doing (I’m busy with my own stuff), but I like links to cool things I never would have found on my own (Many days, it’s the only place to get news that doesn’t make me want to dig a bunker and start stockpiling food). I can keep up with my favorite youtubers and podcasters and every now and then I see something funny or inspiring.
One such inspirational person is Jocko Willink. He’s a decorated, former Navy Seal commander, Jiu Jitsu practitioner, author, podcaster, leadership consultant, and all around bad ass. But what impresses me is that he gets up almost every morning @4:30AM (PST) posts a pic of his watch and works out.
I get up @ 5:30AM CST and by the time I get to check my phone and see what’s up in the world he’s the only person posting anything. I like to get up early and get things done. I’m not working out, I’m doing chores and prepping for the work day but it is accomplishment and that is, possibly, my favorite thing in life. Pick a task, work on that task, and accomplish that task. I love the feeling of finishing something. Success is a great teacher who will let you fail over and over and still teach you something when you get it right. I HATE the part of my day where I’m trying to get things done and the world around me is trying to derail, delay and, if possible, stop me. So, I like to get up early and get after it while there’s no one to distract me or add their problems to my pile.
Jocko’s watch tells me that I am not alone in this. It’s a small thing but it motivates me.
Now for the rub: Twitter has launched their algorithm based timeline crap with some new features designed to see if I want them to decide what I look at on twitter. The very first thing it did was throw up a pic of Jocko’s watch from yesterday 4 hours after his watch from today. I turned that crap off. I look forward to rolling out of bed tomorrow morning because by the time I’m ready to storm out the door to face whatever I have to do I’ll be able to see that Jocko’s up and facing whatever he has to do.