Today is the 17th day of my waking up at 5 am experiment.
It’s incredible I’ve made it so far. Especially waking up at 5am on saturdays and sundays was strange at first, but it’s very rewarding, and not that difficult.
The nice thing is that you really get a lot of time when you wake up early.
After the firsts days when the hype is high and you just work on the list of things that were accumulated in your todo list, you then start to appreciate your new lifestyle, at the point that you begin to wonder what you can do with all that time.
This week I came to the realization that we really have too much time, the problem is that we use it in the wrong way. If you wake up and fill your entire day until 6-7-8pm with work, you’ll get nothing done. Seriously, how can you pretend to focus at 9pm after 8 hours of work, maybe 1 hour of commute and thousands of interruptions? You can’t unless you are a night owl (2 persons every 10 on average), but even then you need to work at a job where you can start late, otherwise if you go to sleep at 3am and wake up at 7am you may have other problems.
Now let’s look at a different scenario. You wake up at at 5am, and you work on your personal projects (writing, studying, singing, you name it) until you have to go to work. Assuming that you start at 9 am and you have 1 hour of commute, you can get almost 3 hours of real work, without any kind of interruptions. Who cares if you have to go to bed at 9 or 10? Is watching tv really important?
Of course everything’s fine if you don’t need the time, but in the case you were looking for more hours in the day, well, you know what to do.
I have a lot to say about this experiment, and I’ll write the next update at the end of the 30 days. I’m pretty sure tough that I’ll not switch back to my old lifestyle.
Posted on March 10 2010
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Oh the early rising habit. If I could only count how many times I have drifted in and out of it. And I found out, funny enough, that my ideal time is either 4:30am or 6:00am no matter when I go to bed. Of course, travel and many things put a damper in a habit, but with spring around the corner, I’ll start again. I am very, very proud of you on establishing such a difficult habit that is so easily interrupted by normal everyday life. bravo and keep it up. The rewards are tremendous. Mornings are the jewel of the day!
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Hey Farnoosh, yes the rewards are definitely huge. I think 4.30am and 6am are not rundom number, as they are 90 minutes from each other, and 90 minutes is the duration of a sleeping cycle. Anyway something that’s really helping me is having to report the results of the experiment, this way I know I absolutely can’t stay in bed :D
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Yes my brother was explaining my sleep cycles to me. I am opting for 4:30am, Oscar. Thank you for getting me SO excited. Day 2 done, 28 more days to go! Piece of cake :)!
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Oscar, about to start again, after this last midnight India call for work. I am up at 6am most days but the 4:30am fell through with sickness and now I will try again! Keep me honest :)!
Oscar,
Colour me impressed. I’ve been having a really hard time waking early but it’s also because I go to bed at 11-12. It seems that my body requires 8-9 hours of sleep, so I need to go to bed around 10 to wake up at 6a.m.
It really is wonderful to awake early in the mornings, you tend to appreciate the quiet in the mornings. I also feel the most productive on those days.
Hope you make your 30 days!
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Hey Moon, I used to do that too, but I figured out I am more productive in the morning. Of couse I had to make a choice.
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I have been waking up at 5am since 2 days before the new year and I too have had great success with it! There is definitely something powerful about it. Many of the most successful people talk about doing something like this.
Lately I have been studying and practicing becoming more productive and effective with my time, which if you have visited my website this month you could see lol.
One of the best things I have learned to do now is to work in a rhythm of 50/10/50/10/30. In other words 50 mins of work, with a 10 minute break, and then at the end 30 minutes to relax and eat food etc.
Well this comment is long enough so I’ll stop there, but good luck with your experiment Oscar! I hope you find time to do much more than you thought possible!
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Hey Colby, congrats for sticking with waking up early, I’m starting to see the light but it looks like you are already ahead the door :D Thanks for your comment dude
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Great job Oscar! Keep it up!
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Thanks Ben, cheers
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Good job Oscar. I’m glad to hear you’re progress and your decision to stick to waking up by 5AM. :D
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Hey Mighty, while I would follow this goal for 30 days even if it was hard, I have to say I’m enjoying it.
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Hey Oscar,
You’re doing a great thing here. I really want to encourage you to keep this habit up after the thirty day experiment. It will be a great pattern for life.
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Hey Gordie, how’re you doing? I definitely think I’ll keep the habit after the 30 days.
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Oscar,
Been following your feed on this with a lot of interest, as I did the same thing at almost the same time you started.
I have always been a “lark” so decided to try 5am even on weekends. Really enjoy all the additional things I can squeeze into my days. Especially more time on hobbies, reading and meditating.
Recently our office hours were changed to an hour earlier, so I have moved to a 4am schedule. Little rough at first, but wasn’t that hard to adjust to.
Thanks for the read and good luck in your experiment!
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He Alex, thanks for your comment. I think it’s the same process as when you change timezone, it’s only a matter of adjusting after a few days. Also, do you find relatively easier to wake up at 4-5 instead of getting up later?
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Hey Oscar,
I also get up early, the hardest part for me though is adjusting my sleep schedule so I can stay out late on weekends with friends. Haven’t found a perfect solution, best I’ve found is to just try and get myself to wake up a little early on Sunday so I am tired enough to fall asleep on time (using some sleep techniques) on Sunday evening.
Definitely agree – working on my projects in the morning is the most productive use of my time as well
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Hey Sid, yes that’s something I have to do as well. Thursday is my day off because on wednesday I go to bed at almost 1am. I then wake up at 8am so I get just 7 hours of sleep, and then in the evening I find no difficulties to go to sleep.
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Oscar, you, my friend, are a total bada$$. No one is working harder to really change their life than you. Congrats, seriously. You really are a class act. I can wake up early but 5am is just not me. I like the late nights too much. But you, my friend, are pushing the boundaries. Keep up the good work. I’m really enjoying your journey!!!! PAPA
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Hey PAPA, how’s everything? thanks for your encouragement dude :D
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I am starting my 5 am wake up tomorrow. Not to mentioned the time change will be difficult. i will try.
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It will be cool to have a visual time line of how you start a day such as a calendar posted.
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Hey Renelda, I’m going to post that next week when I’ll write my conclusions of the experiment.
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Hi Oscar
I am discovering your blog today. Congrats for all your posts and thanks for sharing.
I have been asking myself so many similar questions and tried to improve on my lifestyle progressively along the topics you are mentioning.
Now waking up early is a big one. My main issue is the regularity and consistency that sleep requires i.e. if I go out at week-ends, it will just shift and cancel all the efforts of waking up early during the week. How have you dealt with that issue in your experiment?
Thanks again
Art
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