If there’s one thing I always hear about becoming successful is the importance of getting up early in the morning.
And I know this to be true, because when I get up early, I can get much more done and I have much more energy during the day. Until now, I used to get up between 6 am and 7 am, depending on the days.
Based on my experience until today, I’m more productive in the first hours of the day, but my energy level begins to drop after lunch. This is true regardless of what time I get up, and even if I take a nap after lunch, it’s very hard for me to be as productive as in the morning.
When I was managing an online store a few years ago, I used to go to sleep late, usually at 2 am, and then I’d never get up before 10 am. At that time I would never thought of getting up before 9 am. That worked because I used to work only 2-3 hours per day, at home, without having to respond to anyone.
But I still wouldn’t join that lifestyle again (there’s a reason if I quit) and I don’t mind if everyone else at my age are doing their best to sleep as late as possible. I learned that if something is done by the vast majority of people, it’s probably wrong.
So, starting from tomorrow, I’m going to enter a 30 days challenge where I’m going to get up at 5 am every morning. Not because I have to, but because I want to see what will happen.
Here are the rules:
- I have to wake up at 5 am every day except thursday. I leave out thursday morning because I usually go to the gym on wednesday night, and I don’t want to stop that.
- I can take a nap if I want to during the afternoon, however my goal is to wake up refreshed, not with sleep deprivation. Thus, the afternoon nap would be an incentive to increase productivity, not to compensate sleep.
At the end of these 30 days I’ll decide wherever to continue with this new schedule or not. I’m also eager to find out if all this hype around becoming an early riser is really worth.
I know the first week will be challenging but I hope my body will adjust quickly.
At what time will I go to sleep? in order to get up at 5 am, I guess it’ll be something between 9 pm and 10 pm. But again, I don’t know yet and I’m curious to find it out too.
I’ll blog about this experience, how I’ll feel during the days, if it will be difficult to get up at that time and anything else that may come out.
Posted on February 21 2010
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Oscar, A worthwhile challenge. However, I find that if I’ve woken up at an early time, after that initial burst,I find myself exhausted around 6-7p.m. Good luck. Hopefully it results in more productivity for you!
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The think is that usually I’ll hardly get anything done after 6pm, so I’ll see what will happen. I’ll definitely post some updates on this aspect.
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I’ve been doing this same thing for the past month and a half. I love it. I wake up at 5AM even on Saturdays and Sundays.
I’ve dedicated my time, and in the last month and a half, I’ve built a team of 5, and have increased profits in my business by $2,000. So, there is a little motivation for you.
Except I’m dead tired by 9PM, and can’t even watch movies past that hour.. or I’ll just fall asleep.
I’m anxious to hear about this experiment – some people are night owls, and some are early risers. I think since I’ve set these goals to be an early riser and schedule my time, I’ve seen great results.
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Hey David, I used to be a night owl, but I believe it can be changed if one wants. It’s awesome that you were able to increase your business, that’s a big motivator!
I think it’ll not be a problem for me being tired at 9pm, as I usually do nothing important at that time.
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Welcome to the world of early risers!
I’ve been getting up at 5am since the beginning of February and my productivity and motivation has never been better. Bizarrely, my energy levels are higher too. I guess because you just feel so awesome for having done more work in two hours while every is asleep than most people do in a day!
Good luck with the challenge – I’m sure you’ll love it.
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Hey Ian, good to hear your up with this challenge too. So far is working great for me, although it’s just the first day.
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Hey Oscar,
This sounds like a wonderful challenge! Let us know how it goes.
Ben
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Hey Ben, I can’t wait to post some updates on this experiment. Cheers
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Awesome, I look forward to reading your results here Oscar. I’ve recently been getting up between 6:30 – 7:00am, and the results have been amazing. I’m more productive by lunchtime now than I used to be in an entire day. Not only that, but I actually feel much more energized and in tune with what’s going on around me than I used to be… it’s a nice feeling!
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Hey Travis, I started to wake up a bit earlier in the past month too and I noticed similar effects, that’s why I want to try to maximize them now with this experiment. We’ll see how it works and maybe you can try it too.
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Timely post for me Oscar. I have been getting up at 6.30am for about 6 months now which is great and a real improvement for me. I noticed recently however (since I changed jobs and schedule) that I am still getting up at that time but not really doing anything productive with the time. Starting this morning I plan to get up at 6am, do half an hours exercise and write one article before I go to work. I feel great for it today, but I’ll check back in here and we can compare notes on our challenges. I look forward to hearing how your’s goes – very inspiring!
Jen
btw – love the new look site!
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Hey Jen, I’m going to post the first update in a few minutes :)
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Hey Oscar,
This is a great experiment. I wake up at 5 am four times a week and I find that I am really more productive on those days compared to those days when I woke up at a later time.
I’m excited to know the result of this experiment. Will keep track of your progress. :)
cheers!
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Hey Mighty, my challenge is to wake up 6 days a week for 30 days, and then I’ll decide what to do next. I’m planning for another update today.
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You’ve inspired me! Today was my first day up at 5am. Already got so much done this morning (new post written, emails cleared, dishes done!), and still an hour and half before I leave for work.
Thanks!
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Hey Jamie, congrats! My best advice is to commit for it for 30 days no matter what. After that you decide. Let me know how it goes ;)
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And then I went for a walk before work and found $2 – great day!
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Awesome!
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Good luck, Oscar! I’m curious as to whether you’re going to use the extra hour for anything specific, or whether you’ll just do at 5 what you would normally do at 6 and so on. My hunch is that if you dedicate the extra hour to a specific goal you’ll see a lot of progress on that goal and that will motivate you to continue. Just thinking out loud here…
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Hey Antonia, yes I have specific things I want to do in that time. I’ll talk about that in my next update on next week. Thanks for your comment.
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