Today’s guest post comes from Cubert over at abandoned cubicle. Cubert is a mid 40s cube jockey who plans to be free in 2020 to focus on real estate side projects, blogging, and being “Dad.” He lives in the early retirement mecca of Minneapolis, with his wife and two kids. Oh, and he still dreams of maybe moving to the Front Range one day to hike often, drink the finest beer, and confidently wear flannel in public.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get your list of to-do’s done just about each and every day? Does it drive you crazy to see other people succeed more quickly and proficiently at the same endeavors you attempt, whether it’s physical fitness, finance, or, I dunno, writing?
Back in mid-July, around the time I resuscitated my blog from a three-month coma, I started the habit of waking up at 5AM every day. Not just Monday through Friday, mind you. Nope. Every. Single. Day. What I soon discovered was not only how easy it was to focus on my writing and the blog, but how much better I function at work and around my family.
I’m certainly no pioneer in this radical practice. J. Money featured a series on Benjamin Franklin a while back that got me at least thinking about the idea. Course, at the time I’m like, no fucking way… But, here I am now, writing this sentence at 5:46AM local time.
My curiosity is asking:
“is it possible to quantify the benefits (or costs) of waking at such a godforsaken early hour?”
Let’s find out!
Disclaimer: I’m not a sleep scientist or M.D. of any sort. Let’s see if our friend, the Physician on Fire can offer up some clarifying advice in the comments, should I go astray here…
Less Night Peeing, More Blogging, Less TV and More “Opportunities”
The first benefit I noticed is that I went from getting up once every night to pee, down to almost never. Isn’t that odd? Well it’s true. I admit that every so often, if I indulge in two of those sweet Old Fashioned cocktails, a middle-of-the-night pee break might still occur despite the 5AM habit.
On the writing front, the quantification is, shall we say less cloudy, and more black and white. Before shifting my wake up from 6:30 to 5:00, I averaged <0.25 posts produced per week. Since the new habit, the average has shot up to 2.3 posts produced per week. And that’s not including guest posts.
Here’s the kicker. The sleepless nights, you know… where it takes for-freakin’ ever to fall asleep? Those have practically melted away. If you’re not tired by the time 9PM rolls around each night, something’s amiss. Before the early wake-up, I had at least one, if not two nights each week where I’d lie there waiting an hour or more for the sandman to put me down.
On average, I’d need at least a half hour to wind down until I could zonk out. Now I’m lucky if I last 5 minutes before fading away. I think it has a lot to do with the next topic on the list…
Television, bless you child.
Before I went all Benjamin Franklin on my daily routine, I easily consumed about two and a half hours of television each night. We don’t have cable, but with an Apple TV, YouTube, and Netflix, the options are endless. I’d succumb to watching the replay of the PBS News Hour to see how F’ed up the day in Washington D.C. went. I was over-stimulated, courtesy of that damned, beautiful flat screen.
Since the new routine of hitting the sack at 9PM, I’m down to one single hour of boob tube every day: a 50% reduction. The only “news” we watch now is from late show monologues, courtesy of YouTube. The comedy takes the edge off. I’m lucky if I don’t fall asleep on the couch by 8:45 most nights.
Want to cut your TV habit in half or more? Get up an hour earlier every day.
On the Love Front
This is the aspect of the early wake-up that may not necessarily apply to you. See, my wife had already grooved-in her own 5AM wake-up habit a few years back, in order to find time in her busy day to work out. I thought, “Man, I could never do it. Too dark out there. Too cold. Sleep goooood.”
Now that I’ve made the switch and aligned my schedule with hers, I’ve noticed some subtle but very real improvements in our relationship. It’s just plain nice to go to bed at the same time. You get to chit-chat just a bit more about something interesting from your day. And it makes for, well, greater opportunities.
Granted, date nights are interesting. The sitter laughs when we return before 9, ready to call it a night. Old people…
You can’t quantify love. But for us, the benefits of an aligned schedule have been a measured improvement!
If you don’t believe me…
If I haven’t sold you on the idea of waking up at 5AM, consider slowly ratcheting back your schedule. Maybe try 15 minute increments, month by month, until you get there. At first you’ll be groggy as hell, but you should have some exciting project or task to get you amped up (along with that first cup of coffee.) Remember, the idea isn’t to reduce the hours of sleep each night. You will need to hit the hay earlier to offset the new wakeup time.
If you’re like me, you’ll sleep like a baby and start having more vivid dreams. Good luck to you. And if you need a little more convincing on this habit, check out this worthwhile read, here.
Mr. 1500 note: I too wake up early. If I sleep until 6am, I’ve overslept. And this was not a choice. Our kids are early risers. We have to force them to stay in bed past 5:30.
With that said, waking up early is amazing. I go for walks before the world wakes up or pound out some words on the keyboard. I highly recommend it.
And thanks for the great post today Cubert!
My pleasure, Mr. 1500!
I failed to mention that we too have been victimized by early rising children, ever since their adorable invasion a few years back. Now I get to enjoy waking their butts up at 6:30 to get ready for school. Muhahahahaaa…
Adorable invasion! That’s one way to put it! Tell me how you get yours to stay in bed until 6:30!!
You’re a coder, right Carl? I boss guys like you around for a living. Guess how that translates at home. 😉 In all seriousness, they don’t nap anymore. So by the time 8pm rolls around, they’re toast.
Yep, coder! At least I was. Wait, I still am, but now I don’t have to take orders from anyone!
Living the dream, man. I’m still on an 11th hour release call and the kids need to get ready for bed!
I have to admit that I tried for the longest time to wake up by 5 am in order to work out. I came home so exhausted for two weeks that I had to slide my schedule back in order to function properly. So I wake by 6 am most days and am asleep by 10 pm. I would love to wake up earlier but unfortunately I just can’t do it.
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Hey – at least you tried, man. And as long as you’re as productive as you feel you need to be, there’s not much you’d gain. In my case, the yield was immediate and the habit has stuck. It sure helps if your better half is also aligned though.
Cubert, great to see you over here!! I too am early to bed early to rise though it’s always come natural to me (or maybe mom forced us kids to be earlybirds to match her sleep cycle…hmmm.). So I’m curious, now that you have been doing this awhile, do you still have to use an alarm to wake? I don’t have a set work schedule so most days are alarm free (unless I have a super early flight) but I still have the pee alarm that goes off every 6 hours like clock work. I haven’t figured out the snooze button for that one. 😉
Thanks, Miss MoneyBags! (Taking that moniker back for you.) I’d say the alarm still comes in pretty handy. I think if I were in your shoes, I’d be okay with that 6 hour pee alarm. Knowing there’s no REAL alarm coming later is living the dream!
I think I may need to re-try my early rising challenge… I had a pretty good habit down but managed to scuttle it after a few back to back business trips with wonky schedules. I miss the quiet, alone time the early morning brings (aka- pre toddler wake-up!).
That’s the biggest benefit for me, Mrs. AR – that pre-toddler wake-up time is so peaceful. And it’s much easier to focus and write in the AM than in the PM. For me anyhow.
It’s great that you get yourself up that early. It’s the whole Benjamin Franklin “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” thing.
I’m FIREd now and my adult children live on their own. So no children to wake me up. I thought after I retired, I’d sleep in until 8 or 9 am everyday. Hah! I generally get up between 6:30 and 7. My wife usually gets up a little earlier than me.
Honestly, I don’t see myself getting up at 5am except to go on a trip. I like it to be daylight out when I wake up.
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I think It’ll be the same for me when I leave my cubicle job: Up by 5:30 at least. It is nice to have some daylight to wake up to. There are about two days with that around late June here up north, you betcha.
Ironic that I didn’t set an alarm and woke up late this morning (6:25 vs 6).
I like to get up early so I can get to work earlier/leave earlier – less traffic, less people! Flexible hours for the win.
On the weekends I wake up when the kid gets up – usually between 5:45-7. That time is not my own however! Maybe when she is not reliant on being fed by me that will be different.
This one will be tough to power through in the winter in MN! Dark + Cold = Sleep
Right on, Brother! As for winter in MN – just do what the Norwegians do and caffeinate often. Coffee, we love you.
Aww, that’s so cute that you and your wife have schedules that line up. It’s nice to make time just for you guys. 🙂
I wake up at 5:45 each day to make time for cooking breakfast for hubby and I, work out, and clean. Fortunately I work remotely, so I don’t have to worry about pesky things like commutes or wearing pants. I have been kicking around the idea of waking up earlier, though, so there would be more structured time to work on my side projects and blog.
I’m reading “Overlap” by Sean McCabe right now, and he talks about the magic of waking up early (versus staying up late). It’s a great time of day to get shiz done because there are so few distractions and you haven’t been beaten down by the day yet.
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It is extraordinarily cute, my dear. And you nailed it with that last sentence: with very few distractions, and your AM brain cells firing, it’s amazing what you can get done. My posts have actually reached a fifth-grade reading level as a byproduct.
Nice! 5am is early and I’d like to get there soon but at the moment 6:30am is the earliest I can do, This is still an improvement from my prior 7-7:30am wake up time. I’m trying to shave 15min off per month until I get down to 5:30 or 5am.
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Wait til you get old like me and Carl. It gets easier when you reach your late 20s.
There are a lot of benefits to going to bed early and getting up early. In the past, I often used those early hours to exercise, but after awhile, I missed seeing the sun. As a newish parent I can testify to the joys of waking before your children allowing for some quiet time. My oldest son went through a phase where he awoke each morning between 5 and 5:30, parenting has many joys, but this was not one of them.
I havne’t tried writing in the morning, but it might be a better idea then at night, which is my usual time slot. Maybe I’ll set the alarm next week.
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If you’re like me, night time writing is a huge struggle. I started my blog trying it that way, and wound up in these mini writer’s-blocks. Contrast with the early morning writing – it seems to flow 100% more easily.
lol I didn’t get up until 7:45 this morning (but it’s my day off so that’s ok?). On weekdays I set my alarm for 6:00, but I have trouble getting up by 6:30. I guess it’s something I need to work on. I would probably benefit from less Netflix time…
Lazy ass. 😉
Wait til you have kids, Dylan.
Great guest post AC…I’m going to have to go check out your blog. I admit at first I misread the title and thought it read “The incredible benefits of WALKING at 5am” which I love because I’m a fitness nut…but going to sleep and waking on a regular routine is just as important as exercise so it worked out! Glad to know that you have joined the early risers team…now if we can just get people to stop making fun of us for going to bed at 9:)
Thanks, Old School! Maybe I should trying walking instead of sitting on my rear to type nonsense into a computer??? Food for thought… And yeah, the 9PM bed time is so junior high…
I go to bed late and wake up around 6:30 am. Works pretty well for me.
I wouldn’t mind getting up earlier if our schedule aligned. My wife likes to stay up late so it works for us.
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You’ve gotta do what works for you. If you’re having trouble getting shit done though, this is a pretty worthwhile experiment to try.
Love it, Cubert. I’ve been waking up around 6am every day for quite a while; weekends though I normally sleep till 730-8.
With our move out to Victoria, my drive is a bit longer so instead of lounging around for 20-30 minutes in bed, I hop right out and shower. It’s actually been quite a great change to get moving in the morning right away and I enjoy waking up early.
I don’t know that I could swing it on the weekends, though. My wife has insomnia and so weekends offer her some precious sleep time; waking up early to an alarm on the weekends isn’t something I could really do in good conscious, I don’t think.
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Victoria! I know a few peeps here at work who have moved there.
Insomnia sounds like a really awful condition. I hope your wife finds some relief soon.
Waking up at 5am or 6am years ago was great to workout and get so many things done in the morning, I would love to see more people take advantage of it! We no longer have the option, as our entire family is up at 5am and we are out the door by 6:30am (we are educators). We’ve even tried getting up at 4am, but that is just an hour that does not work for us. Luckily though, we tend to find some time in the evenings to get things done, although it’s far less productive than those good old 5am days!
Wow – I couldn’t do 4AM. Gotta draw the line somewhere. Good for you though – Making the most of your day by getting an early start, even if out of necessity!
Lately I wake up… around 7..ish, and then sprint around because I try to make it to work by 8:00-8:30, nice having a flexible work schedule. I’ve definitely been missing my morning relaxation times, I used to wake up early, but not lately. I’ll have to try this, maybe a 10:00 – 6:00 routine.
Absolutely. Start out with what works and if you see the benefits, consider moving the alarm back even more. I went into this “cold turkey” from 6:15 to 5:00. You adjust pretty quickly,
Welcome to the club, good sir!
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Thanks, J. We’re like Bosley’s Wake-up Club for Men (since the women don’t need a club to do what’s best!)
I think I’m going to take your advice and start pushing my morning up by 15 minutes. I have found that it’s just so much easier to be productive in the early morning hours, I think because there are less distractions, both at home and going out. In college, I used to do my grocery shopping when I was finished with work around 6am, and it really took half the time that it does now that I go at night (I think because the roads and the store are less crowded)! Thanks for sharing!
Good luck! I hope this works for you, Sav.
I wake by 5:30 am thanks to my husband’s internal alarm clock but start working my desk job at 7:00 am so my exercise and blogging come in the evenings. I’d much prefer a later time but as you mentioned it can be a plus being on the same schedule as your spouse. 😉
Love that wink. Says it all! 🙂
Great post! It’s funny, I actually decided to reset my sleep schedule yesterday – sleeping too late, too much coffee, etc. I think I’ll set it a bit earlier now! Thanks for the good read!
Thanks Russell! Good luck to you!
I agree about the benefits of blogging in the morning vs the evening. So much easier when you are fresh IMO. Sometimes I’ll start the first 100 or so words at night, get stuck, wake up early and slam the rest home. Makes a big difference!
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The only thing I dread is the approaching cold months. I’ll have to pry myself out of a warm bed into a 62 degree basement office. Guarantee I’ll be cranking the space heater.
I wish it were that easy. There really is such a thing as morning people and night people (though really every person has their own rhythm) and there have been a few studies regarding this. I am definitely a night person. My brain works so much better in the later afternoon into evening than it does in the morning, *no matter how much sleep I have gotten*. My best code and work has pretty much always been done later in the day. So, even though I’ve tried shifting my schedule to an earlier time quite a few times in my life I always end up sliding back.
I actually think that for me I would thrive better under a 28-30 hr day. There was a time back in grad school when I literally lived as if I was on a 28-30 hr day, staying up 20+ hrs and then sleeping a full 8-9 hrs. It was fantastic. Alas, that doesn’t work in the real world 🙂 So what I often do now is that I usually sleep less during the week 5-6 hrs per day and then catch up on sleep one of the days on the weekend.
You sound like the vampire version of Benjamin Franklin. You’ve gotta rock with what gets you to that productivity apex!
I am in the same boat here! Having the 5 am wake-up has been the only way I have found to ensure that I get things done. And my experience is similar–my blog posting goes through the roof when I get up early. Great post!
Thank you! Glad to hear you’ve found similar success with this. Do you also pee less overnight as a result?
Yes! The power of waking early! I enjoy getting up early it helps me start the day off on the right step. If I ride my bike to work I leave just before 6am. This time of year is so nice to ride in the dark so peaceful. My wife on the other hand thinks I’m crazy.
Funny cuz I thought my wife was crazy for doing this first. But then, she hated coffee for years before she met me. I feel like I’ve given her the strength (or the Nescafe) to support her super powers.
Follow the ‘ole Ben Franklin quote, and you’ll do well…;-)
Unfortunately I get horrible sleep. I get called at various times of the night by the hospital for emergencies. The worst is if the call comes in around midnight. I might not be back until 4+am. The following day is a normal full day. And no, I don’t get paid extra for getting called in either! Yet another reason to figure out a way to make the lifestyle easier.
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You got it, man. My step-dad worked the swing shift for nearly 40 years before he retired. Guess what those crazy work hours did for his mood and long term health.
Love it! I am totally a morning person but I’ve been slipping since I started early retirement! When we get settled (just sold and moved out of our house yesterday!) – I need to get back to the 5 am routine. I am way more productive then!
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Good luck! I’m already finding I need to fire up that space heater. The thermostat doesn’t kick in until 6:30!
Cube my man. Really wish I could get myself up that early. I’m too lazy!
Hey – when you put another 10 or 20 years on you, you’ll find it more tenable. 🙂
I’m with you on this. I like getting a jump on the day, especially on the weekends when everything’s quiet.
It helps me conquer a massive to-do list and it feels good to sink into the 8 or 9PM coma.
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