Most of us have something we must fight every day. Some “enemy” lurking around the corner.  Be it the doughnuts at the grocery store, that one guy at work that just gets on your last nerve, or the government of the day.

Whoever your enemy is, the only way you can win is by working harder and being more persistent than said, enemy.

Under pressure we don’t rise to the occasion, we sink to the level of our training. That’s why we need to train, to become better and stronger men. The success of any operation is determined by how well we are prepared for that moment, your life, relationships, a house invasion, or lifting heavyweights.

Working out, reading books, and planning your life is part of this training. It’s how we fight the enemy of the day. It’s how we become better and stronger men.

For me, that work starts every morning at 5 am.

Sunrise And Weights

The first thing I do every morning is my strength training. I have an outside gym and I love doing my workouts outside in the elements. I live in the countryside so working out in nature is just my place of fortitude. The sunrise is different every morning. And I like to appreciate nature in between my sets.

There is a stillness at 5 am I can’t put into words. No Phone, no e-mails, and no work issues. It’s just me the weights and the sun fighting the darkness.

Maybe I Need An Enemy

Some mornings it’s a fight to get out of bed and get going. Most people assume early risers and people working out like it, they assume it’s some super early riser gene we were blessed with, and it just comes easy. This might be true for someone out there, but for me and most other men I know it’s a battle. It does not come easy. I must work at it, and it takes discipline and planning.

I wanted an easier way; how do I make getting up early in the morning easier? Yes, discipline and routine will get you far. Like Jocko Willink says discipline equals freedom. But my discipline sometimes fails. I wanted a hack, a way of making it easier. And that got me thinking, maybe I need an enemy.

A nemesis like the Joker to Batman. A bad guy, as my four-year-old will say. Someone I can race to the finish line. Someone who demands my best and nothing less. Someone that needs defeating. Something physical, tangible, something you can see every day. And as I saw the sun raising its head over the hill, we became enemies.

The Sun My “Enemy”

Yes, yes, I know it was a little dramatic. The sun is my enemy now. But give me a chance to explain.

Making the sun my enemy made me a little excited. Getting up every morning was a little bit easier because the sun was my competition now, I wanted to be working out before the sun was up, and when it came up, I could say “yes enemy I won, you slept I worked out, ill race you again tomorrow. At noon I did my job well going the extra mile, and I got to say “hey sun you see that no slacking I’m still going. When the sun disappeared in the west, I got to say sleep well, I’m still fighting, tomorrow you will find me stronger, wiser, and better than today.

Having an enemy made my actions more focused. It gave me purpose in some way and it made the working out and suffering in the cold mornings more bearable. There was a sense of excitement.

Yes, the workouts and getting up early have other great benefits. But changing my perspective making it some kind of game energized my whole early morning routine.

Conclusion

I’m currently reading “The Power of Habit” a book by Charles Duhigg. It’s about you guessed it, Habits why we do what we do, and how to change it. Habits might be one of the brain’s strongest features.

If you do something enough times your brain writes a habit, it is its way of making a difficult task easier and more efficient. Think of walking. As a child walking took effort and a bunch of brains and willpower, but as you grow older it becomes an action you don’t even have to think about. You just do it, without thinking.

It is the same with anything you do. If you get up at 5 am enough times it will become a habit, it will be easier, and you will do it without thinking.

Making the sun your enemy might just give you enough spark to make an early morning routine a habit.

“A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.” -Baltasar Gracian

THE STRONG