Killing The Night Owl
From the "outside-looking-in" department:
How to Start Your Day at 5:00am
I can't tell you how much I'd love to be able to do this. But here's how my day breaks down:
I usually wake up around 8:30am. I don my big, fuzzy bathrobe and check my email, my blogs, Drudge and Digg, a process which usually takes an hour or so, depending on the emails or news stories for that day. Then I do the normal morning stuff, showering, shaving, eating, etc. Right around ten, I'm ready to start working, but for some reason, I have no creativity, organization or determination. I usually spin my wheels or look at a blank screen until noon. Sometimes I write posts like this one. I've also found this is the best time for conference calls.
At noon, I stop accomplishing nothing and eat lunch. Sometimes I'll putz around on YouTube or play a round of Unreal Tournament while I'm eating. Then I usually look at the clock and get very annoyed at how little I've accomplished in the morning. This frustration becomes the fuel for the afternoon. From 1pm to 6pm, I am on fire. I do twice as much as the average person during this time. The only problem is that this is usually when clients want to call or old friends want to chat on IM. So to help facilitate my productivity, I usually shut my IM client down during those hours.
My wife gets home from work around 6:30ish, so I'm usually in a scramble trying to start dinner/switch laundry/clean up the house before she gets home. The problem then is that I've already gotten quite a bit of work momentum.
See, productivity for me is about momentum. Thats why it takes so long for me to get going, and so long for me to stop. Once the flywheel is spinning, get out of the way. I used to have a job answering tech support phone calls and manning a corporate website, and I never accomplished anything; as soon as I'd start making progress on the site, the phone would ring and I'd be setting up Netscape Navigator on a Tandy Color Computer 3.
So I usually work right up until dinner; then my wife and I usually chill out or head to church for meetings (usually 2 nights a week). But my wife usually ends her day earlier than I do; depending on my todo list, I'm usually up until 2 or 3 am working on things. This is my prime time; which is why getting up at 5am seems so unlikely for me. As much as I'd love to be up before the sun, it doesn't look like it will be happening any time soon.
Is there something I'm missing in this equation?
InterAction:
9 February 20072. Nathan:
If you sit staring at the screen till noon why don't you start dinner/ switch laundry/clean-up till noon, and then you can work right until your wife gets home.
9 February 20073. John:
Nathan, that is too perfect! I will begin to try this immediately here... I hope it works for Jesse.
9 February 20074. Jesse Gardner:
Well, I would say that Nathan's idea is brilliant. Trouble is, he's my brother, so he is in a de facto state of wrongness. I mean, how would that look, the older brother being taught by the younger? Nothing good can come of that, let me tell you.
9 February 20075. Dora:
Does it matter if you do your "stuff" in the morning or late at night? If you don't have somewhere to be in order to fulfill a responsibility during those morning hours, then I say do whatever is best for you (and Jessica :). Peace, little brother.
9 February 20076. Michael:
Jesse, you are talking my language here. I can't tell you how many times I have somehow "worked" all day long and then done more in 20 minutes than I did all day. What a weird world this is.
12 February 20077. Chuck:
HA I am unfortunately the exact opposite. I have to be up by 5:00 am at work by 6 on the phone and computer all day leave at 3 and I am soo tired when I get home. I do some chores ie. dishes or garbage or cat stuff (litter or food). then park in front of tv for an hour or two then I have to be in bed by 9:30 pm. No wonder all my friends left me. but the sunrise while I am driving in is beautiful. And productivity... well I am searching for that.
YourThoughts?
(Minutia)
This entry was written by Jesse on Thursday, February 8, 2007 at 9:30 AM and appears in the Mind chapter. The previous article was entitled, "Tripping To Israel", and the next entry is called, "Retrospectacle". Bookmark the permalink, save it to del.icio.us or Digg it.
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8 February 20071. Mike:
Hi there! You have a beautiful site that I've stumble onto from the 9rules network.
I used to keep the same schedule (up between 8-9:30; back in bed between 2:30-4). I kept this despite my continuing desire to "get up earlier."
It all changed when I traveled to Italy on vacation. For some reason, while I was there, I'd get up early to walk the near-empty streets and find some breakfast treat. Upon returning, I kept that schedule & have stuck to it without much effort.
Now, I rise at about 6:30 every day. (No, it's not 5:00, but it's a perfect balance for me.) I've found that these early hours are some of my most productive time; getting more done before the distraction of having to take client calls & such during normal work hours.
Of course, you might say to yourself: I'm not going to Italy just to wake up earlier! But, instead, I found that it's more about the necessity of rising early. In Italy, I had to get up to find breakfast before the shops closed for the morning (they keep odd hours for someone used to American work hours).
Likewise, if you force yourself get up early several days in a row, you'll find that you're too tired to keep working late into the night.
It's just a question of whether or not you can be productive in those early hours, I guess.
Good luck!