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Waking up at 5am to code

mattgreer.org

101–110 of 202 posts

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#101
post #83
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? My brain is semi-toast until about the middle of the day.

Maybe due to over use of caffeine?

I'm the same way, and my friends had the same reaction as you. They suggested that if I cut out caffeine and sugar then my body's own natural energy would resurface, and I'd stop being so groggy until the mid-afternoon.

So, I listened to them, and for 9 months I consumed no stimulants at all. After 9 months of this experiment, I was -- and I know the story isn't supposed to work this way, but it did -- consistently groggier and crankier than I had ever been before. So I went back to caffeine and have had no second thoughts about it since.

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#102
One thing that he fails to mention is that this only works if you live with a partner, as he does, since you're guaranteed some company throughout the day.

Otherwise it's going to be pretty damn lonely, since you'll be in bed by 10 pm when most socializing starts.

You can't go to the movies, go to a bar, go dancing, go on a date, or even watch a grown ups movie on tv.

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#103

I would love to see a simple service that groups people who are willing to commit to getting up at the same time each day in order to hold each other accountable. There doesn't need to be anything significant - maybe it's just a matching service, letting people figure out for themselves how they can "check in" to confirm they are up and working at 6am (or whatever time is chosen). I know that I definitely can commit…

That reminds me of a web app where you check in your work of the day, and the app tells you by week how well you did. Makes you build yourself objectives and stick to them. Not totally what you're asking for, but in the meantime maybe it would be enough ? I tried to find it but can't seem to use the right keywords, sorry.

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#104
post #23

My wife is a surgeon. I'm up at 5am with her, drive her to work, then sit down and start working myself around 5:30. I find that I'm fantastically productive from then until about 9 or 10am. I take a long lunch break (and go running or xc-skiing depending on how much snow is on the ground); aside from that I don't have any trouble going straight through the afternoon, though my afternoons are less productive (I usual…

OT: Why do surgeons start work at 5 am?

they do it because of the patient who were not allowed to eat several hours before

    The reason why surgery is scheduled so early in the morning is 
    because you will need to have an empty stomach for about 6-8 hours 
    before your procedure. This ensures that your stomach is empty of 
    any contents for general anesthesia. This way, if you get nauseated 
    after surgery, you can try to throw up, but nothing will come out. 
    With no stomach contents, you will not accidentally swallow stuff into 
    your windpipe, or lungs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5407499

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#105
post #40

Could someone please expound upon the term "Kanban board", as used in this article? I am not understanding the connection between Kanban and what the author is describing, though I would like to.

Exactly. I just spent 20 minutes reading the Wikipedia article on Kanban but I don't see what sticky notes have to do with JIT manufacturing...

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#106
I wake up at 4.30 AM but code between 7 AM and 11 AM. So what do i do between 4.30 AM and 7 AM. I meditate, do a goal review and do my blog / book writing work.

I wrote about this on my blog "Daily Routine of a 4 Hour Programmer" http://www.jayonsoftware.com/home/2012/1/9/daily-routine-of-... if any one is interested.

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#107
post #3

This sounds horrible... and like it would ruin my productivity towards the end of my work day. How about waking up early to exercise?

i wake up at 5am on weekdays to go to the gym. i'm on the 520am bart train, get to the gym at 6am, workout till 730am, at the office shortly after 8am before anyone else shows up.

the days i do this (as opposed to the couple days per week i sleep in later to take my son to school) i'm far more productive and content than the other days.

i'm hooked.

i sleep in on the weekends, but never sleep more than 7.5 or 8 hours anymore. i can wake at 5am without an alarm, though i usually set it as a backup. but i'm almost always awake at 4:57 anyway, so i get up.

no problem.

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#108
post #92

A lot of commenters have talked about the pros of this routine, and there are many. Few interruptions, working while your mind is fresh, working within a regimen, etc. However, if you don't have an equivalent amount of discipline on at night to get enough rest, you will quickly burn yourself out. I did this routine for a lot of the second half of 2011, and since I'm a night owl by nature (going to bed at 12 midnight…

Cannot agree more. Well said.

Re: Waking up at 5am to code

#110
post #44

Mornings are great. Yesterday I woke up at 4 and saw that Facebook Hacker Cup is on. I finished all the problems before my work day started - how awesome is that to start your day? One thing I don't understand is how people can focus on a couple of projects simultaneously. This year I've worked a lot with javascript and backbone, and I have a folder with ~4 open source projects I wrote that I'm not going to publish.…

This might be controversial, but have you considered opening an anonymous/throwaway github account and publishing there? I mean put them up, make an announcement, and then feel free to ignore any social pressure to work on them, at least that way the code is out there where somebody else could pick it up and improve it. Just seems like a weird reason to not release code you intended to be open source.

Actually never thought about. I recently wrote Verdict and published it as a gist. It was horrible! People asked me for help! And I created a full repo and a website instead of working. http://radagaisus.github.com/verdict/
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