Garrett St. John

With the first week of being an early riser under my belt, I thought it appropriate to write about how it went. All-in-all things went well and I really enjoyed my mornings. There were, however, some things I struggled with throughout the week.

Fighting the Urge to Stay Up Late

Fighting the urge to stay up late was really tough. Something in my body kicks on about 9PM and no matter how tired I am throughout the day, I have a second boost of energy. It was very difficult for me on most days to force myself to get into bed and just read. Once I did committed, my body gave in and sleepiness followed within 15 minutes.

Feeling Like I Have Less “Me” Time

Because that alone time at night has become such a part of my life, I found myself feeling like I didn’t have enough time in the day to do the things I wanted to do. In reality, I was awake the same amount of time (or even more) as before my shift in schedule. I started skipping a few TV shows I have always watched in the past (likely a good thing) and shifted a few other tasks to the morning. I’m looking to incorporate exercise as well which should help me to feel like I’m accomplishing more as well as helping my overall energy level.

One habit I did fall into was working longer hours. No good. There were a few days I started working at 6AM and worked until 6PM. My goal was never to work longer, only to be more effective in those hours which I work. I’ve either got to fill my morning hours with non-work related activities or knock off work earlier. Currently, I’m leaning towards the latter.

Early Morning Darkness

In the winter, it’s dark in the morning and I feel like it makes getting up way more difficult. Stumbling into the bathroom to wake up with a shower is a struggle. This is where Steve Pavlina’s tips for waking up really come into play. Practice makes perfect and it’s getting easier each day.

Early Mornings on the Weekend

This last weekend was the first under my new schedule and it was fairly difficult. I made some plans early in the morning on Saturday which made it easier to get up, but Sunday was a struggle. I knew in my mind there was no reason to be awake. If I was up, it was going to be to watch TV because I had no desire to do chores or side projects. I ended up sleeping in until about 9:30AM which was a decent compromise. I was still tired at about 10PM last night which didn’t screw up my sleep cycle too badly.

I think going forward I need to come up with a solid plan for my weekend mornings or I’ll fall into the same issue again. Even though it feels like the natural thing to do at that hour, I don’t want to work on the weekends.

The Plan

All-in-all I’ve really liked this new schedule. I plan to stick to it and hope that this first week wasn’t possible just because of the excitement behind proving I can do something new. I’ll continue to practice getting up so that I get better at ignoring the voice in my head telling me to stay in bed. With a few refinements, I really think this is something I could find good success in by changing permanently.