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Waking up early, 10 tips that worked for me

rodrigohaenggi.com

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Re: Waking up early, 10 tips that worked for me

#111

Post by StuffMaster »

vishaldpatel wrote: post #101

Something that has worked for me is to have an alarm that I actually like waking up to. Shitty alarms make for the most annoying things in the world when you're trying to sleep. But something nice... we all have our preferences... I like wind chimes, or progressive music - stuff that picks up, rather than starting off with a bang.

I found a morning talk radio show that I liked, and set it to a low volume. Sometimes I actually listened to it while sleeping! Awake or asleep, it caused my brain to wake up a bit.

Re: Waking up early, 10 tips that worked for me

#112

Post by loeg »

I've been experimenting with waking up at 5am to go running. So far, it's been great. I feel much more productive when I have some time to myself at work in the morning.

The hardest thing is coping with friends whose schedules are offset so much from mine. For me, waking up this early means I need to go to bed around 8-9pm. So, I don't wake up this early every day. For those with trouble sleeping so early, I find melatonin useful for sleeping earlier.

Re: Waking up early, 10 tips that worked for me

#113

Post by prawn »

petercooper wrote: post #18

The most important step is to get up. It's the best approach when sane-me wakes up first, but usually a totally different personality wakes up first. It can justify almost anything in its effort to stay in bed. Kinda creepy actually, it's what I'd imagine having a multiple personality disorder is like. It's not even a voice , I am not "me" when I wake up :-)

I've read about people scheduling their laptops/phones to read them messages foreseeing any excuse and trying to argue against it.

"You think another 30 minutes will be fine, but remember how you always regret that afterwards? Remember how you spend the rest of each day wishing you'd got up 30 minutes earlier? Do you want to be that pathetic, regretful person again today?"

Of course, Sleep Self would probably reply "Hell yes, bed is awesome!"

Re: Waking up early, 10 tips that worked for me

#114

Post by j_baker »

whyenot wrote: post #93
j_baker wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I put my alarm clock across the room so that I have to get up out of bed to shut it off. Negative reinforcement works!

I tried this too, but then I started getting up while I was still mostly asleep , walking across the room to turn off the alarm, and then going back to bed again. I even tried putting the alarm in a closet, but I'd still get up and turn it off. What worked for me was (1) going to bed at a reasonable hour and being sure I got 8 full hours of sleep, (2) giving up coffee, and (3) going running every morning (I lived nex…

Clearly getting out of bed isn't all the work in waking up, but it's a good start. If done in addition to the other things you mention, it's helpful. Getting up just seems to get your juices flowing better, at least based on anecdotal evidence.

Re: Waking up early, 10 tips that worked for me

#115

Post by kolev »

pangram wrote: post #99
kolev wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This math doesn't work - you're gonna wake up early to have more productive hours, but you'll waste the gain by exercising.

Presumably, if you exercise then you'll have more days total in which to be productive (that is, you'll live longer)!

Working out won't make you healthier. In fact, boosting your metabolism and gaining muscle mass is the sure way to getting cancer sooner.

Re: Waking up early, 10 tips that worked for me

#116

Post by eliben »

richieb wrote: post #76
eliben wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you comparing the amount of attention cats need with the amount children need (particularly infants & toddlers)? You are so going to have a wakeup call one day :)

Hmmm.,... two kids, eight cats..... Kids are easier.

What age are the kids?

Re: Waking up early, 10 tips that worked for me

#117

Post by tobych »

Periodic wrote: post #43
andyking wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that the most banal things on the radio suddenly become endlessly fascinating when the alternative is getting out of bed. "This advert for conservatories? Oh, I'll just stay in bed until the end of the commercials.. ooh, I've not heard this Rihanna song for a few hours, just one more song.."

I believe just-woke-up me learned a different version of mathematics. When I set the alarm the night before I can budget my time appropriately. 30 minutes to get where I need to go, 15 minutes for morning chores, 20 minutes for breakfast, etc. I'll add an extra 10 minutes for unpredictability, set my alarm, and go to sleep. Then when I wake up, I can hit that snooze button because apparently 60 - 9 minutes is plenty…

I realized this about me too, the other day. I'm completely unrealistic about schedule for the first half-an-hour or so after I wake up. So I try to get as much done the evening before so there's less risk of that unrealism trashing my morning.

Re: Waking up early, 10 tips that worked for me

#118

Post by cowkingdeluxe »

dhugiaskmak wrote: post #94
cowkingdeluxe wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Green tea has a lot less caffeine than black tea.

This is not necessarily true. In particular: "2. Black and green tea manufactured from leaf from the same bushes on the same day will have virtually the same caffeine levels (within +/- 0.3%)" http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and...

Didn't know that, I stand corrected. Thanks!

Re: Waking up early, 10 tips that worked for me

#119

Post by EvilTerran »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #110
EvilTerran wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... when your alarm goes off the next day, just get out of bed ... Just get the hell out of bed ... It's just self discipline." http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2003/10/07/just_is_a_fourletter... http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?JustIsaDangerousWord http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2003/08/cant_you_just_... Or, for a more specific counterpoint, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3828794

Um, yeah. Whatever. We're talking about getting out of bed without procrastinating. If it's difficult, you either haven't had enough sleep or you're being lazy. Getting enough sleep may be difficult, but it's typically not an insurmountable problem. Being lazy is even easier to fix.

"Being lazy is even easier to fix."

Really? Please, do describe your fix for laziness, if it's so easy.

Saying "just be less lazy" is exactly the same as saying "just exert more willpower", and neither is even remotely useful to people whose problems you're belittling as being "just laziness / poor willpower". No therapist would say that to any client for any problem, as they know it would, at best, be completely useless. It's an insult - "you're lazy / weak-willed!" - masquerading as advice.

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