It's been another intense work week and so there's been no time and mental energy left over for writing for fun (ie, blog and other sorts of writing). The midnight preview of tomorrow is that it will also be intense. I already feel torn about what I'll do when the alarm goes off: get up and tackle what needs to be done or enter a repeated alarm--snooze--dose cycle. Admittedly, the snooze option has a bit of a stronger pull than the tackling option.

In Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, University of Chicago professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi points out that our approach to getting up in the morning has a significant impact on our overall curiosity, creativity, and enjoyment of new experiences and knowledge. "Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to," writes Csikszentmihalyi. "Creative individuals don’t have to be dragged out of bed; they are eager to start the day....they believe that there is something meaningful to accomplish each day, and they can’t wait to get started on it....It is easier if each night before falling asleep, you review the next day and choose a particular task that, compared to the rest of the day, should be relatively interesting and exciting. Then next morning, open your eyes and visualize the chosen event--play it out briefly in your mind, like an inner videotape, until you can hardly wait to get dressed and get going. It does not matter if at first the goals are trivial and not that interesting. The important thing is to take the easy first steps until you master the habit, and then slowly work up to more complex goals. Eventually most of the day should consist of tasks you look forward to, until you feel that getting up in the morning is a privilege, not a chore."

What task shall I identify as the one that will make me hardly wait to get dressed and get going tomorrow? Hmmm...I'll think about that as I shut down the computer, turn off my desk light, and go set the morning alarm.