The Rule of 10 Minutes

Every last one of us knows the finite characteristics of the roads we routinely travel to work. We know where those awful potholes are, where the dips exist and pool with rainwater, what turns are too sharp and need extra caution – or, on dry days, a little more gas to let out our dangerous side – and exactly what time, almost to the minute, traffic will start. 

For me, that’s 7:20 AM. If I do not pass Costco by 7:19 AM, I can count on being in at least five to ten minutes of traffic with slight road-rage. But if I leave later and am not by Costco before 7:30 AM, I’m definitely going to be in bumper-to-bumper, have slammed on my brakes at least three times, and late to work.

To avoid having this kind of commute to work, I impart The Rule of Ten Minutes. I confidently assure you that this rule has changed my life.

Waking up isn’t the issue. Let’s be honest, if it were, you wouldn’t be reading this, and I wouldn’t be writing this. We’d likely be somewhere else if you know what I mean… So, no, the issue isn’t waking up but GETTING up.

We all have become surgical with our precise pressing of the Snooze button; near-ninjas, who need no light, no sound, and a half-conscious mind to find that phantom “button” on a glass screen. Take a second and just think about how difficult and foreign that ability is to our natural way of life. Think about all the things you say or think you can’t do yet, you can, somehow, find a button that doesn’t exist and place your finger over its’ area without having to turn on a light or even open your eyes. You’re supernatural! – and nearly by definition. So, no, the issue isn’t waking up. The issue is actually getting up.

Every morning, I have multiple alarms set. There are five, to be exact. The first one is my “Wake-up Warning”. It’s purposefully set so I can afford to hit that Snooze button, knowing I have some time before it’s imperative that I actually get out of bed. The next alarm comes ten minutes later. Although, on most mornings, I hit Snooze again anyway. But I do so because I have a final “Get-up Alarm” that goes off ten minutes after that. It is then that I sit up, rub my eyes, go to the bathroom, and wait – you know why – before I finally mosey on back to my room and get dressed. I’ve got my coffee set to brew at 6:56 AM (I don’t like the number 7, and SHE knows exactly why…) I, then, put a drop of milk in it and leave.

But the inherent problem I face because of this is: Every morning, I’m in a self-induced, stress-filled state of mind from a forced rush to work.

Now, think about that. Every morning I wake up and play a losing game of Man vs. Time. The winner gets… you guessed it. Anxiety! I get into a steel, windowed, and fiberglass death-trap that is my speeding vehicle, too tired and too anxious to make the best of decisions, and battle other people for road-space, all so that I can get to work on time. And all of that happens because I want to sleep for a few extra minutes? How valuable are those ten minutes really when you think about it clearly? 

I put you to the test! Read some of the credible literature on the subject of healthy sleep habits. Does any of it focus solely on how many “minutes” you clock at night? Nope! The literature focuses on continual HOURS of sleep, the achieving of REM sleep, etc. There are napping techniques, sure, but that’s a different article for a different day, and even so, the power-nappers of the world also have to get in hours of sleep to make those later-on “minutes” count for something. 

And let’s be real, this is all because we want to dream rather than go to work. Most of us don’t love what we do. The vast majority of us aren’t working our dream jobs; therefore, many of us want to exist in a relaxing dream-world than battle through those reluctant waking moments. And, believe me, it’s worse for people who don’t have pleasing hobbies or the income to take worthy vacations. In all reality, we wake up for work four out of five days a week just so our bosses don’t give us the availability to sleep-in regularly, even though we maybe one day dare them to try us...

So, think about it: What is ten minutes really? Your level of restfulness isn’t about to change with an extra ten minutes. You might feel better momentarily, but that doesn’t last. Nearly all studies will prove that ten minutes doesn’t make enough of a difference that you’re about to see a drastic change in your energy levels. Many will attempt to tell you that hitting your Snooze button allows you to “gently” wake yourself up. That’s helpful! - but that’s not the goal, is it? The goal is to wake rested and ready for the day. So, what is that allotted time you’ve hesitantly set your alarm to ten minutes earlier?

It’s peace.

When your first alarm goes off, sit up. Even if it takes you a minute or two to stand up, at least sit up. Don’t lay back down, don’t hunch over and drool on your boom-boom parts. Sit up, stand up, and make yourself start your morning routine. Before you know it, you’re moving and if you need a yawn, a stretch, and a few seconds to stand in place and think about how tired you are, do it because you have a minute to spare.

Continue your routine with a mind that tells your body not to be wasteful. There’s no reason to wake up ten minutes early if you’re just going to waste it and fall into that unhelpful and unhealthy routine you’ve grown used to. Use your time responsibly. Be mature about it and realize that you’re a valuable human being whose got important shit to do. Get to it!

Once your routine is underway, don’t sit. Don’t stop! Keep moving through it. Get dressed, get your shoes on, get into your vehicle, and get on the road. You’re out of your home before normal with extra time on the clock and guess what hasn’t yet accumulated on the road? Traffic… 

You can sip your morning beverage, drive the speed limit, breathe smoothly, and navigate your morning without those cancer-forming, heart-attacking, stroke-causing, and anger-resulting stress hormones, pumping through your veins. You don’t have anything onsetting the hate you once felt at the mere fact that you have to work just to get your bills paid.

If you’re not yet convinced, think about it like this: When you’re cooking something and it has been cooking for many minutes, does ten seconds really matter? Not really. If it does, well, your food likely isn’t cooked thoroughly anyway, and you need way more than an extra ten seconds to get it right. The same goes for your sleep. If you need hours, not minutes, then ten minutes won’t make that drastic of a difference. But what change does take place is conducive to your mental health. If you’re constantly feeling rushed and anxious, your physical and mental health are in peril. You’ll lose your appetite, your hair, your drive, your motivation, your time, and so much more. You’ll become unrecognizable to your friends, to your family, to your partner or spouse, and to the mirror.

So, consider it. What is ten minutes more of sleep compared to ten minutes more of time to get something done? For many of us, if we “only had another minute” much of our lives would be noticeably different.

If you took time to think, to relax, to study, to calm down, to train, to talk, to listen, or to do… anything! – imagine how much you could’ve changed about your circumstances. Time is what we don’t get back, and when we waste it, especially in ways that are insignificant, it weighs on our mental health until it inevitably effects our physical health.

So, start with ten minutes and see if it doesn’t make a difference. You can do this because you know that ten minutes is a manageable amount of time. And as you get better and perfect your application of The Rule of Ten Minutes, add time. Make it fifteen. Then make it twenty. Hell, if you want, make it thirty or an hour. But remember that whatever time you add to your morning, you need to subtract it from somewhere else. Recognize that seven to eight hours of sleep is healthy AND necessary for far more reasons than I can detail here in the closing of my short article.

Get into bed eight and a half or nine hours before you need to wake. Be certain that you’re allowing yourself the opportunity to get to sleep and stay asleep for at least seven of those hours. Remember to make your bed a place for sleep and not binging on food and television or playing on your phone or attempting to read a large portion of a book; your reading chair is for reading, your table is for eating, your couch is for entertaining, but your bed is for sleeping.

If you do this, if you abide by The Rule of Ten Minutes, I guarantee you’ll quickly notice a drastic change in your life. So, give it a try and see how it gets you right.