Getting up that bit earlier, getting to the venue that bit before you need to and turning up at the place/occasion/event before everyone else, means picking the best seats, getting that spot on the beach, best spot in the gym class, advantageous position at the table and extra time for sussing out the lay of the land - to gain any other potential benefits that are there to be had.
I used to be in the camp of turning up just in the nick of time (but often arriving late) and foolishly thought that I was making the best use of my time by running everything close to the wire. This I have now learned, has been way off the mark. Rushing around all the time means higher stress levels, poor overall experience, scattered/low quality memory of the events we're dashing from-to plus a reputation for being unreliable and for holding everybody else up.
Take It With You
A lot of our tasks to be completed these days, involve being near a computer. With a smart phone or tablet, we have the ability to talk while we walk/drive and tools to communicate travelling on public transport, or do any of the tasks that require computer/comms equipment, that can either be actioned en route, or on location - completed during the quality free time remaining before the event has started.
Get Ahead Of Your Head
It's so obvious, yet, I see people (myself included) rushing to do things at home/work - 'just 5 minutes more...' - things that can be done whilst travelling or after arriving where we're going to. But we can't see it at the time. Yet, just getting up that bit earlier gives us an advantage on our brains. Because we have extra time to assess the day, reason with priorities to be done at that moment and brain capacity to just stop for a moment and think 'can this be done on the way or later?'. It's so simple, I can't believe it's ever missed and yet this Eureka moment is such a flash of revelation once realised. Every time I recognise the option to just put off what can be done while on the go or later on, I feel a gift of time being regained, which in turn helps me to relax more and enjoy being in the moment. These revelations usually come to me when I've started the day earlier and less so when I'm on a back foot - ie. frantically trying to play catch up with all my tasks. Putting off the unimportant tasks to allow time to get ahead of myself, makes all the difference between having a stressful as opposed to a rewarding and enjoyable day.
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