Now increasing productivity is generally a choice we make to get our lives easier to manage but when we’re forced to start increasing productivity it can actually be a blessing in disguise. Even when we’re forced to do things we don’t want to do if end result leads us to our goal of increasing productivity it will probably be worth it.

Just an example; I’ve traveled about 20 miles to work every morning for the last 10 years. From the day I started I’ve made sure I have alternate ways to get there just to ensure I arrive in a timely manner (and more importantly so I don’t get stuck sitting there red-faced with steam coming out of my ears as I travel 2 and half miles per hour while some idiot driving the Mercedes in front of me drifts back and forth into my lane while trying to talk on a cell phone and eat a bowl of cereal all the while steering his car with his knee). Well today as I left my house I checked the traffic only to find that all 3 of my options we no longer viable due to heavy traffic (hopefully the idiot in the Mercedes dropped his cell phone in his cereal bowl which in turn fell on the knee that he was steering his car with and he ended up in a ditch somewhere). Regardless of the cause there’s no way I would have made it to my destination in time. So with no other choice I ventured out on a road less traveled and by that, I mean a road I never took to work before. Turns out the way I was forced to take had less traffic than my alternate routes and a pleasant view almost the entire way.

The point of my rambling is that even after 10 years it took something extreme and rare to get me out of my routine and to again attempt increasing productivity in a way I hadn’t ever considered. Increasing productivity is usually always going to be a conscious decision but the times that it’s not may lead you to way of increasing productivity that you’ve never considered. Keep that in mind next time you’re sitting behind some idiot.

With that said I’ve recently developed a way to hit the snooze button but still continue on my path to increasing productivity. So basically what follows is a way to hit the snooze button but still get up on time. (And be happy doing it.)

Step 1: Get 2 alarm clocks

(THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART) Preferable you want 1 alarm to have a somewhat soothing alert. (the soothing alert is the key). The second should have that gut wrenching screech that will wake the dead. I use an alarm clock and my cell phone.

Step 2: Work out a time frame

My snooze button silences my alarms for 9 minutes. So I’ve worked out a schedule to where I can actually hit the snooze button at least twice before actually waking up and I still feel rested and unstressed.

HERE’S WHAT WORKS FOR ME

Since I have to be up by 6:20 in order to do what needs to be done I set my first alarm for 6:00 and the second for 6:20 and place the second one across the room. This is not anything new but what I have found works I setting the first alarm to a soothing tone that starts soft and works its way louder as it continues. (It’s actually the “Harp” ringtone on my iphone.) This alarm wakes me but it’s not a heart wrenching siren that completely throws off my sleep cycle. I simple reach over and hit the snooze button and lay my pretty little head back down again. 9 minutes goes by and this sweet sounding music to my ears starts again. By this time I’m somewhat conscious and I know that I will have to get up soon but being that it’s only 6:09 I reach over, hit snooze, and lay my pretty little head back down, but this time with the intention to try and stay awake in bed (but I usually just drift right off to sleep again). Now it’s 6:18 and I hear the harps playing. I know this is the third time I’ve heard this music and I have 2 choices; 1: hit snooze again knowing in 2 minutes that stupid alarm clock with that gut wrenching screeching tone will rip me from my rest and force me to get up, walk across the room and turn off, or 2: I can get up now feeling rested (but still tired) and walk over and shut off that stupid screeching alarm before it even stats. Either way this forces you to get up but unlike just putting an alarm across the room you’ve already been awakened three times before so you’re a little more coherent than you would have been if your alarm had just gone off. Plus your body and mind isn’t stressed because of the soothing tone you’ve been awakened with.

My suggestion is at least try this. The soothing alarm and the being able to rest between snoozes and even the fact you don’t have to hear that regular alarm clock sound that, like me, you probably hate with a passion really makes a difference. I’ve tried each of these things separate and they’ve never worked doing all of them in that order has really worked for me… (At least for the last month…)

When increasing productivity became a goal for me I came to the conclusion that the snooze button is where all the procrastination in my life stems from. To end procrastination and start increasing productivity I simply needed to stop hitting the snooze button. You may be saying to yourself, “I feel the same way but it’s sooooooooo hard to stop. What should I do?” Well let’s get the obvious out of the way. The easiest solution would be to get an alarm without a snooze button. If it’s not there, you won’t use it. In my opinion this is a cop-out. Anybody can stop doing something if they don’t have a choice to do it. Which brings me to my next solution; Choose not to do it. Tell yourself that today was the last time this was going to happen and stick to it. Tell a friend so they can offer some encouragement. You’re 33% more likely to do something if you tell someone about it or write it down. So do both and you’re more than half way there. These may work for some people but I highly doubt they’ll work for most. Every time I hit the snooze button I tell myself it will be the last but then I find myself pressing that gorgeous button again 9 minutes later.

You’re probably wondering why you’re still reading if my suggestions didn’t even work for me. Well I’ve saved the best for last. If you want to make something work make it a habit. (write that down) “A habit?” You say. Easier said than done right? Well you’ve made a habit of hitting the snooze button so why not make it a habit not to. Once your body gets in the habit of doing something it becomes part of your biological actions. This won’t happen overnight so start with something easy. If set your alarm for 6am and you hit the snooze button 4 times every morning before you really HAVE to get up (let’s face it we all know there’s a time we “should” get up and a time we “have” to get up) set your alarm to 6:09 so you can still hit your snooze button three times. Once you get used to that, set it 9 minutes more ahead to 6:18 and only hit it twice. Before you know it you can set it to the time that you have no other choice to get up and you’ll eliminate your option to even hit the snooze button at all. For example; I know if I don’t get out of bed by 6:36 I won’t make it to work on time, I’ll eventually get fired, lose my home, be disowned by my family and end up on the street talking to myself about how nobody ever really landed on the moon, so if I set my alarm to 6:36 I have no choice but to get up. Once you get used to getting up right when your alarm goes off you can work backward from there. Start setting your alarm 10 minutes earlier every few weeks. Eventually you’ll be getting up at 6am everyday without hitting snooze. The key is to do this every day, even weekends. Don’t just do it when you “HAVE” to. This will be the only way to develop this action into an actual habit. Not only that but you’ll have more time to spend actually living your life.

Once you’ve formed this habit of not using the snooze button, even when it’s there, you’ll find other things in your life following the same pattern. You’ll have no desire to hit the snooze button both literally and figuratively. In the long run this is the starting point that will open up doors for opportunities you’ve never realized existed. I know it sounds crazy to think that not pressing a stupid button a few times a day can change your life, but by reading my blogs you’ll see that I’m living proof of what can and will happen if you snooze through life and what can and will happen if you don’t.