I started the year with grand plans to start waking up early to read my Bible, pray, and write blog posts. Daniel agreed to wake up early with me so he can work on his personal projects before diving into his day job. We both want to hustle in the morning to achieve our goals.
The problem is that we are night owls at heart. We both love staying up late. Getting to sleep before 11:00 p.m. is early for us. I especially love the peace of mind knowing my kids won’t need anything from me while they sleep soundly in their beds. I identified a lot with Danielle Smith’s post at Extraordinary Mommy about the struggle to write during the day time and the comfort of writing at night.
Even Daniel does better at writing code at night. Swizec at A Geek With a Hat wrote about why programmers work better at night, because they need several hours at one time to concentrate with a sleepy brain and a bright computer screen. Swizec writes, “Working on large abstract systems involves fitting the whole thing into your mind – somebody once likened this to constructing a house out of expensive crystal glass and as soon as someone distracts you, it all comes barreling down and shatters into a thousand pieces.” As a wife of a programmer I know that there are times when I can’t interrupt Daniel and he will let me know before he dives into code.
Daniel and I are night owls, yet we are curious if all the touted benefits of waking up early are true. Will we be more productive and less stressed? Will we be better planners and have more family time? Will we be more creative? Will we be more successful?
I also wonder if I will be in a better mood with kids knowing that my personal work for the day is done. I do feel better when I have completed my Bible reading and prayed before the kids wake up.
There is only one way for Daniel and I to discover if waking up early will help us hustle more: We need to wake up early. In the next few weeks I will post an update on how the early morning hustling is working out. Social media pressure works to hold me accountable, so I am posting this today.
As Jon Acuff says,
“If your dream isn’t worth getting up 30 minutes early to work on, it’s not really a dream.”
In 2009 I had a dream to run a marathon for my 30th birthday. My dream required me to get up at 5 a.m. to meet my group for long runs and 6:00 a.m. for weekday runs. Waking up early for my training was more difficult than the actual runs. I have been an early bird before, so I know that I can do it again.
When is your best time of day to work? Are you an early bird?
* Photo credit: Carly & Art (Creative Commons)
I struggle with this one big-time. I am a night owl, too.
Waking up early takes WORK and serious intent. (7am is my regular weekday wake up time.)
I get up at 5am on Thursdays to run with a friend, but I dread the alarm. Thing is, it gives me an extra hour in the morning to “get fueled” for the day before I have to head into work. Coffee in hand, I feel energized.
Then come 9pm, I am TIRED. But I hate going to bed that early when the night beckons me for more …
I wonder, too, how much more productive I would be with my goals if I woke up 2 hours earlier. … Going to bed early just is not how I am wired. And I wonder if going against that will hurt or help me. Again, I struggle. ….