How waking up every day at 4.30am can change your life | Filipe Castro Matos | TEDxAUBG

Summary

The speaker advocates for 'going beyond natural' by challenging personal limits and embracing small yet impactful changes in life. He shares his personal experience with the #21earlydays challenge, waking up at 4:30 am for 21 days, which unexpectedly gained widespread attention and inspired a global conversation on productivity and life improvement. His story illustrates the butterfly effect, where small actions can lead to significant outcomes, encouraging everyone to think differently and strive for growth and happiness.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Pushing beyond your comfort zone can lead to achieving things you've never imagined before.
• 🌟 Small, consistent actions can accumulate to create significant life changes and accomplishments.
• 🎯 Being ambitious and patient are key to achieving long-term goals, which may take years of hard work and a bit of luck.
• 📅 The #21earlydays challenge is an example of a small act that led to widespread influence and personal growth.
• 🌞 Waking up at 4:30 am challenged societal norms and personal habits, sparking a global conversation.
• 🤝 Finding support and accountability can be crucial in maintaining motivation and achieving goals.
• 👀 People are drawn to uniqueness and are interested in seeing different approaches to life.
• 🛌 Quality sleep and a healthy lifestyle are essential for waking up early without feeling tired.
• 🛑 Eliminating obstacles can make it easier to adopt new habits and achieve goals.
• ⏰ Waking up early provides additional time for work, exercise, and personal enjoyment.
• 🌅 Experiencing the world at a different time of day, like witnessing a sunrise, can offer new pleasures.
• 💪 Having the will to change is the most important factor; with it, no one can stop you from achieving your goals.

Q & A

What is the core message of the speaker in the script?

The core message is to 'go beyond natural' by pushing personal limits, being ambitious yet patient, and recognizing that small, consistent actions can lead to significant life changes and achievements.

What challenge did the speaker undertake and why?

The speaker undertook the #21earlydays challenge, waking up at 4:30 am for 21 consecutive days, to test the idea that successful people wake up early and to form a new habit, based on theories that it takes 21 days to establish one.

Why did the speaker believe that waking up early could lead to significant outcomes?

The speaker believed that waking up early could provide more working hours, improve productivity, and lead to a healthier lifestyle, which in turn could have a positive impact on one's overall life.

What was the unexpected outcome of the speaker's #21earlydays challenge?

The unexpected outcome was the widespread attention and engagement the challenge received, including features on Business Insider, national TV, newspapers, and radio, as well as inspiring many people to adopt the habit of waking up early.

How did the speaker's early rising challenge affect others?

The challenge inspired a global conversation and participation, with many people around the world starting to wake up earlier, sharing their experiences, and reporting increased happiness as a result.

What are some of the benefits the speaker experienced from waking up early?

The benefits include having more working time, being able to answer emails and messages with an Inbox zero, having more time at the gym, and enjoying the pleasure of seeing sunrises during morning runs.

What advice does the speaker give regarding the snooze button on an alarm clock?

The speaker advises to forget the snooze button, considering it one of the worst inventions because it delays起床, makes one more tired, and wastes time that could be used for more interesting activities.

How does the speaker emphasize the importance of a healthy lifestyle in relation to their early rising challenge?

The speaker emphasizes that a healthy lifestyle, including good sleep, proper diet, and regular exercise, is crucial for being able to wake up early without feeling tired and for maintaining the habit in the long term.

What lesson did the speaker learn about the power of small, consistent actions?

The speaker learned that small, consistent actions, like waking up early, can accumulate to create significant changes over time, potentially leading to large differences in one's life, similar to the butterfly effect.

What was the speaker's final message to the audience?

The final message was to encourage the audience to 'go beyond natural and think different,' emphasizing that every little thing done daily could lead to big, surprising outcomes in the future, resulting in personal growth, improvement, and happiness.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Embracing the Beyond Natural Mindset

The speaker, Bob Prottas, emphasizes the importance of pushing beyond one's comfort zone in both personal and professional life to achieve previously unimaginable goals. He explains that 'going beyond natural' doesn't require grand gestures but is the cumulative effect of many small actions. Bob stresses the need for ambition and patience, acknowledging that achieving goals can take years of hard work, risk-taking, and a bit of luck. He introduces the #21earlydays challenge, which he undertook to wake up at 4:30 am for 21 consecutive days, as a testament to the idea that a small, unconventional act can lead to significant outcomes, including media attention and personal growth.

05:05

📈 Lessons from the #21earlydays Challenge

In this paragraph, the speaker shares the insights gained from his #21earlydays challenge. He learned the value of finding support, as it helps in accountability and motivation. He also discovered that people are drawn to uniqueness, as his early rising was an uncommon sight on social media. Bob clarifies that waking up early doesn't mean sleeping less; instead, it's about adjusting bedtime earlier. He highlights the importance of removing obstacles to change and maintaining a healthy lifestyle to facilitate better sleep. He advises against using the snooze function on alarms, stating it only leads to more fatigue and wasted time. Bob reveals that he only needs 6 or 7 hours of sleep, which allows him to have more working hours and enjoy the benefits of an early start, such as answering emails with a clear mind and having more time for exercise. Lastly, he mentions the personal pleasure of experiencing the sunrise and the willpower required to make such a change.

10:06

🌱 The Ripple Effect of Small Actions

The speaker concludes by reflecting on how the #21earlydays challenge sparked a broader conversation and personal transformation. He describes it as a personal experience that led to widespread sharing and discussion, with the hashtag remaining active on Twitter. Bob continues to receive messages from people worldwide who have started waking up earlier because of his initiative, leading to increased happiness. He illustrates the butterfly effect, suggesting that small changes can lead to significant outcomes, and encourages the audience to take that extra mile in life. He ends with a message that every little action can lead to big, surprising results in the future, fostering personal growth and happiness.

Keywords

💡Beyond natural

The term 'beyond natural' refers to the idea of surpassing ordinary or typical limits to achieve more in life. In the video, it is used to encourage viewers to push their boundaries in both personal and professional settings, as a means to reach goals they never imagined before. The concept is central to the video's theme, which is about challenging oneself to achieve greatness through small, consistent actions.

💡Comfort zone

A 'comfort zone' is a psychological state in which a person feels familiar, safe, and at ease. In the context of the video, the speaker encourages the audience to step out of their comfort zones to experience growth and achieve new things. The video emphasizes that staying within one's comfort zone can limit personal development.

💡Ambition

Ambition is a strong desire to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. The video speaker mentions the importance of being ambitious in life, but also stresses the need for patience, as achieving one's most desired goals often requires time, effort, and a bit of luck.

💡#21earlydays

#21earlydays is a specific challenge mentioned in the video where the speaker aimed to wake up at 4:30 am for 21 consecutive days. This challenge became a symbol for the idea of 'beyond natural' as it represents a small, unconventional act that led to significant personal and public outcomes, including media attention and inspiring others to change their routines.

💡Habit formation

Habit formation is the process of developing a routine behavior that tends to occur subconsciously. The video references the theory that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, which is why the speaker chose this duration for his challenge. This concept is integral to the video's message about making lasting changes in one's life through small, consistent actions.

💡Accountability

Accountability is the state of being responsible for one's actions and having to report or justify them to others. In the video, the speaker highlights the importance of finding support and accountability in achieving one's goals, suggesting that others can provide the necessary push and also hold one to their commitments.

💡Productivity

Productivity refers to the efficiency of an individual or system in converting inputs into outputs. The video discusses how waking up earlier can lead to increased productivity by providing additional working hours and a quieter time to handle tasks such as email correspondence.

💡Snooze button

The 'snooze button' is a feature on many alarm clocks that allows the user to delay the alarm for a set period. The speaker in the video strongly advises against using the snooze button, arguing that it is unproductive and can lead to a less rested feeling due to interrupted sleep cycles.

💡Exercise

Exercise is physical activity that helps maintain or improve overall health and fitness. The video mentions exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle that contributes to better sleep quality and faster sleep onset, which in turn supports the speaker's challenge of waking up early.

💡Inbox zero

Inbox zero is a state where an individual's email inbox contains no unread messages, indicating that all emails have been dealt with. The video uses 'Inbox zero' as an example of one of the benefits of waking up early, allowing the speaker to clear all emails and messages before the workday begins.

💡Willpower

Willpower is the determination or resolve to do something. The video concludes with the idea that having the will to undertake a challenge or change in one's routine, such as waking up early, is crucial for success. It suggests that with willpower, no obstacle is insurmountable.

Highlights

The importance of going beyond one's comfort zone to achieve things previously unimaginable.

Small, consistent actions can lead to significant outcomes, such as employing people, saving lives, or representing a country.

Ambition and patience are key to achieving long-term goals, which often require hard work, risk-taking, and luck.

The #21earlydays challenge, waking up at 4:30 am for 21 days, as a catalyst for personal growth and media attention.

The challenge was not just about waking up early, but questioning societal norms and expectations.

The story behind the challenge, questioning personal routines and seeking self-improvement.

The 21-day duration is based on theories suggesting it takes this long to form a new habit.

Sharing progress and thoughts with a network can inspire others to adopt similar habits.

The #21earlydays blog post gained over 1 million views on Business Insider and sparked widespread discussion.

Finding support and accountability are crucial for maintaining motivation and achieving goals.

People are drawn to unique and different stories, such as a young person waking up very early.

Clarification that waking up early does not mean sleeping less, but rather going to bed earlier.

The importance of eliminating obstacles to make habit formation easier.

A healthy lifestyle, including good sleep, diet, and exercise, contributes to better sleep quality and waking up early.

Advocating against using the snooze function, as it can lead to more fatigue and wasted time.

Personal experience of needing only 6-7 hours of sleep and the benefits of not oversleeping.

The increased productivity and working time gained by waking up two hours earlier each day.

Using the quiet morning hours for tasks like answering emails and achieving an Inbox zero.

The advantage of having more time for exercise without feeling rushed or tired.

Experiencing the world from a new perspective, such as seeing sunrises while running.

The willpower required to make and maintain changes in one's routine, leading to personal growth and happiness.

The unexpected global impact of the #21earlydays challenge, inspiring people worldwide to wake up earlier.

The butterfly effect analogy, illustrating how small, consistent actions can lead to significant, positive changes over time.

The overarching message to think differently, go beyond the ordinary, and recognize the potential impact of everyday actions.

Transcripts

Translator: Bob Prottas Reviewer: Leonardo Silva

Beyond natural. It's always better to go beyond natural.

In your private or professional life, anywhere and anytime,

try to push your limits well beyond your comfort zone.

Try to not stay comfortable

and, with that, reach things you've never imagined before.

But what does it mean to "go beyond natural"?

Well, I believe that you don't need to do a huge thing to make something different.

In reality, those big things like employing hundreds of people,

saving lives somewhere in Africa,

or representing your country when you are part of its government,

are the result of many little things,

hundreds, thousands, little things that you do in all your life.

Of course, you must be ambitious in your life.

But, at the same time, you need to be very patient.

Because you only reach your most desired goals

with a lot of hard work, a few risks

and a little bit of luck.

And this may take years.

So, today I'm here to show you that a little thing,

in some way different than usual, may lead to something great.

The best example that I have for you happened to me last year.

It started with a simple challenge:

waking up at 4:30 am for 21 consecutive days.

A challenge that I gave the name of #21earlydays.

This is the reason I am here today, and the reason I was featured

on Business Insider, also on national TV,

newspapers and radio. But why?

Probably you will agree with me that this is quite unusual

but, at the same time, this is something that anyone in the world could do, too.

I don't have any special power to wake up at 4:30 am.

But this is something that everyone can do.

There are millions of people doing that everyday.

But if we take a better look at it,

you see that my challenge wasn't to wake up so early.

What I challenged was a global status quo that says how your life must be,

what you must study, where you must work, what you must watch on TV,

and also at what hour you must wake up.

I confess: many times I also fall in this chain

where you just follow what the others do, without questioning why.

So, why the hell am I waking up so early?

What is the reason behind it?

The story behind it is very simple, in fact.

One day, I was thinking about why I was doing my days the way I was doing

and what I could improve in my life

to be a better person.

I remembered reading some articles in the press,

about how early some of the most successful CEO's in the world wake up,

and so I decided to take a chance on it. I thought it was interesting.

But why 21 days? Well, 21 days, I put a limit of 21 days

because there are theories that say that it is the right amount of time

you need to form a new habit.

I didn't know if it would work,

but for me it was more for the sake of establishing a goal.

A thing that I always apply to life is to always establish a goal

when you want to reach or change something in your life.

Because only in this way will you understand if you succeeded or failed.

So, I started to share a lot of thoughts with my network.

The advantages of it, the little pleasures and also my progress.

Many people started following what I was doing.

And 2 or 3 weeks later,

there were already people trying to do the same, waking up so early.

But --

This thing about #21earlydays really exploded

when I shared a blog post on Medium about the lessons I have learnt from that.

Thousands of people saw my blog post.

My blog post was also republished

on Business Insider with more than 1 million views,

and the Twitter feed around 21 early days is endless, still today.

So, what did I learn with this?

These were my lessons:

1. Find support along the way.

It is always better to find these people that will push you forward

and will hold you accountable for failing, even if they criticize you.

This is my blog post -- my Facebook post,

the original one, about the challenge,

and where I was more exposed to many people.

2. People like to see different things.

And come on, a young guy like me, waking up so early, is different.

At least it's not what people see on Facebook

(Chuckling)

and at least people see different pictures on their Instagram feed.

3. No. You don't need to sleep less.

One thing that happened a lot was

a lot of people, horrified, asking me:

"So you sleep less. How do you manage to do that?"

And I say: "OK, I don't sleep less. I only go to bed earlier."

This is what she is saying. That means: Bed early and rise early.

In fact this is simple. I slept a few hours before.

4. Get rid of your obstacles. This is really important.

When you want to change something in your life,

it's important to eliminate all the obstacles

because it becomes much easier to reach your final goal.

5. A healthy life is really important if you want to sleep properly.

So I sleep well, I eat well

and I exercise, and it helps a lot with that.

I fall asleep really fast, 5 minutes on average.

I sleep well and anywhere if needed,

and I wake up without any problems,

and this helps a lot, of course with my challenge.

This is me exercising. So it's proof that I exercise.

6. Forget snooze, please.

For me this is one of the worst inventions ever on mankind.

Come on, it doesn't help you with anything.

You delay for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes of your life.

There are studies that say that you get more tired sleeping that time,

and you are wasting your time for more interesting things.

So forget this. Nothing good comes from snooze.

7. I only need 6 or 7 hours of sleep.

This is me waking up a little bit.

I swear that I'd like to sleep,

but my body only demands this much time for sleep.

So why waste my time with sleep

when there are a lot of things that are way more interesting?

8. I found that doing this, I have more working time.

In fact 2 more hours per day.

And in the end I can leave the office earlier

and have some drinks with my friends enjoying the beautiful sun of Lisbon.

9. I found that it was a better way

to get messages out of my way.

During the morning no one is working,

so I can answer all the emails and messages

and I have an Inbox zero and no instant answer for today,

and this is a great feeling during the morning.

10. I also found that I have more time at the gym.

So this is the proof that I go to the gym,

and I found that waking up earlier,

when I go to the gym I am not so tired.

As I worked before for 2 hours that's not an excuse.

It helps a lot on those days

when you think that you don't have enough time to exercise.

11. New view on the world.

This gave me a few little pleasures.

Like seeing a sunrise when I was running.

This is great.

12 and last. You need the will to do it.

But if you have it, no one will stop you.

So this challenge was the result of many thoughts

and many conversations that I had in the weeks before.

So it was a personal experience

that allowed people to think and discuss this subject.

Many shared the story.

#21earlydays is still today

one of the most active hashtags on Twitter,

without paying a cent for it.

And more important than that, even the best part of it

is that still today I continue receiving messages from people all over the world

saying that they are waking up earlier, because of me,

and that they are happier doing that! That's great!

So, here's my point: a small act, but different act,

such as waking up at 4:30 am

originated a big result such as allowing people to think and discuss

about their own schedules and how to be more productive.

None of it was planned,

and I never imagined that it would reach so big dimension.

But I think this is what happens in everyone's lives

if you are willing to take that extra mile.

Like in the butterfly effect, where a small change in one stage

may lead to large differences in a later stage,

anything you do today can result in a big thing tomorrow,

for you and for other people.

And this is more likely to happen if you do a lot of little things

that you believe that will improve your life.

So, please, never forget:

go beyond natural and think different; every little thing that you do everyday

may lead to a big thing, a surprising thing in the future.

I don't know where you will be in the future,

but I can assure you of one thing,

that doing this you will grow,

you'll be better person, and you'll be happier.

Thank you.

(Applause)