What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning • Hacker News Board

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#21

Post by VectorLock » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:49 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #18

I can't read TFA, but wanted to note that there's an interesting statistic in the book Why We Sleep : Something like 30% of the population are hard-wired to be "night owls" and 20% early risers. The author hypothesized that this may be an evolutionary survival mechanism that allowed bands of humans to always have people who were awake or more likely to wake quickly if threatened after dark or in the early morning. Fo…

I always wondered if my night owl tendencies were nature or nurture (staying up late for inexpensive long distance and calling night-only BBSes) and I've gravitated to a career that embraces that mode (SRE, Operations, on-call positions) .

It seems that society seems to value the 'get up early' more than the 'stay up late' ability.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#22

Post by __abc » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 6:59 PM UTC

Over the past two years of my personal and professional life I've materially stressed slowing down to go fast. That means more down time to contemplate, plan, think, etc.

I still get up insanely early (always been one of those people) but I use that time for me between cooking, exercise, reading, thinking, meditating, etc.

Not sprinting to work (whether it be from home or in the office) has led to less hours "working" but more getting done with higher quality.

Now, I can't all pin it on going slower. It is probably cumulative between that time spent on me, focused on my kids (I take them to school almost every day now), and higher energy/focus time on work.

I've always said you can't schedule creativity (and no matter what your role within Product Development direct/indirect) we are all creative folks solving hard problems. I just don't fill that downtime with staring at my PC and instead invest it on me.

When in office I've even started taking a mid-afternoon nap. That also has had a big effect. I'm kinda rambling at this point, but taking material steps back daily have led to significant improvements in my throughput across the board.

$0.02

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#23

Post by hexo » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:00 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #18

I can't read TFA, but wanted to note that there's an interesting statistic in the book Why We Sleep : Something like 30% of the population are hard-wired to be "night owls" and 20% early risers. The author hypothesized that this may be an evolutionary survival mechanism that allowed bands of humans to always have people who were awake or more likely to wake quickly if threatened after dark or in the early morning. Fo…

I'm unemployable just because of this. I cannot "work" in the morning or when my employer thinks I have to.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#24

Post by jungler » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:05 PM UTC

The most effective thing for my mornings has been motion. I don't "get more work done" in terms of sit and think time, rather, by making the first thing I do be jog a little, maybe pick up a coffee, and relax, then I can face everything else.

The alternative is that I spend the first hour of the day in the way that I spend the last hour of the day, in front of a screen. Which doesn't seem to work well for me.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#25

Post by emiranda » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:05 PM UTC

I've been waking up at 5am for the past 5 months so I can head to the gym (my first telecom meeting starts at 7am). Because no one is ever going to bother me between 5am and 7am, I've been able to consistently got to the gym at least 3x per week (trying to bump it up to 5x per week for the new year).

I started doing this because it was very difficult for me to consistently go to the gym after work. Things come up, I get tired, friends want to hang out, sometimes I just want to relax after work. But getting up and getting my workout done in the morning has many benefits: Being physical in the morning gives me an energy boost and is a great wake up call, I get my workout out of the way and I don't have to think about it the rest of the day, the gym in generally empty compared to the afternoon, helps me control my sleep cadence, and I feel great knowing that I already accomplished something significant so early in the morning (My whole workout usually spans between 1.5 and 2 hours, I do a lot of stretching and like to take my time). I also try my best not to use my phone aside from music and my workout/fitness apps.

Since I've had such great results from this, I'm thinking of trying to switch it up by working on my side project in the morning and attempting to do the gym in the evening.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#26

Post by mikeg8 » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:07 PM UTC

travisjungroth wrote: post #3

throwanem wrote: post #2

I can recommend the practice; for the last few years, I've gone to bed around 10pm every night, and gotten up at five before heading to work around nine. (Adjust to taste depending on your sleep needs; the important point is to give yourself a few hours to yourself in the morning.) In practice, this means moving discretionary time from last thing in the day to first thing, and I think there's great value in that. Aft…

I've heard repeatedly if you have some side project you really care about, do it before work, not after.

Same here. I believe this is due to will power depletion (plenty of studies conclude that will power is finite resource) and after our normal 9-5 drains away our will power, people have a heard time being self-motivated - very true for me at least.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#27

Post by ebiester » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:09 PM UTC

kareemm wrote: post #6

Is it just me or is this article also paywalled for you when you click web => WSJ article? If so, is there another way to read it other than paying for a subscription? I don't read the WSJ often enough to justify subscribing.

If you're willing to pay a small fee, you can sign up for blendle, and WSJ articles are 50 cents a piece through them.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#28

Post by rconti » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:16 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #18

I can't read TFA, but wanted to note that there's an interesting statistic in the book Why We Sleep : Something like 30% of the population are hard-wired to be "night owls" and 20% early risers. The author hypothesized that this may be an evolutionary survival mechanism that allowed bands of humans to always have people who were awake or more likely to wake quickly if threatened after dark or in the early morning. Fo…

I just finished the book, and am putting a lot more focus on my sleep.

One thing it made me realize is, I don't think it's possible for people to know if they're night owls or not, until they're routinely getting 8 hours of sleep a night.

Of course if you're not getting enough sleep you'll find it hard to get up in the morning and thus claim you're a "night owl" and "can't function in the morning".

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#29

Post by rconti » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:17 PM UTC

hexo wrote: post #23

ilamont wrote: post #18

I can't read TFA, but wanted to note that there's an interesting statistic in the book Why We Sleep : Something like 30% of the population are hard-wired to be "night owls" and 20% early risers. The author hypothesized that this may be an evolutionary survival mechanism that allowed bands of humans to always have people who were awake or more likely to wake quickly if threatened after dark or in the early morning. Fo…

I'm unemployable just because of this. I cannot "work" in the morning or when my employer thinks I have to.

Do you get enough sleep to even judge whether you're able to wake up in the AM?

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#30

Post by mcqueenjordan » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:17 PM UTC

If it works for Jeff Bezos, it's probably good enough for me.

> He wakes up every morning naturally, without the aid of an alarm clock.

> "I like to putter in the morning," Bezos told a gathering of Economic Club of Washington, DC. "So I like to read the newspaper. I like to have coffee."