Resolve to get adequate rest. Really follow the counsel of the Lord to "cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated" (D&C 88:124).
Are you getting the rest you need, or are you habituated to going to bed late and sleeping much longer than your system really needs and thus missing out on some of the personal inspiration you could be receiving? Great value can come to you as an early riser. Years ago, President Marion G. Romney, First Counselor in the First Presidency, told me that after receiving his call to be a General Authority in 1941, he went to Elder Harold B. Lee for advice on how to be successful as a General Authority.
"If you are to be successful as a General Authority," Elder Lee said, "I will give you one piece of advice: Go to bed early and get up early. If you do, your body and mind will become rested, and then, in the quiet of those early morning hours, you will receive more flashes of inspiration and insight than at any other time of the day."
President Romney said to me, "From that day on, I put that counsel into practice, and I know it works. Whenever I have a serious problem, or some assignment of a creative nature with which I hope to receive the influence of the Spirit, I always receive more assistance in the early morning hours than at any other time of the day. Following that counsel has helped me a great deal through the years."
You can have a similar experience in your own life. You can change, even if you consider yourself a "night person." Experts say that you can set a new habit in twenty-one days. When it comes right down to it, it is a matter of
strong resolve and "mind over mattress." --Elder Joe J. Christensen,
"Resolutions," Ensign, Dec. 1994, 62
