How I became a morning person • Hacker News Board

Re: How I became a morning person

#31

Post by TheOtherHobbes » Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 12:12 AM UTC

sergiotapia wrote: post #8

In all my years as a software developer the morning hours were just absolutely perfect for me to get the hard stuff out of the way. I reserve afternoons for the drudge work, but in the morning I have much better cognitive ability. Better yet, if you work from home you can wake up at 6am, start your workload early and you have the entire afternoon off for whatever you need, it's a sweet system!

Exact opposite here - more or less severe brain fog until the sun sets. Then I can start getting things done.

Re: How I became a morning person

#32

Post by petke » Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 12:15 AM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #26

jaggederest wrote: post #16

There are still only the same number of hours in the day, though. You're making pretty fundamental alterations to your habits in order to 'reclaim' time that isn't really lost.

That's what I really had trouble with. There have been times in my life when I've been exceptionally motivated: pet projects, new girlfriend, etc. I'll wear out, get to bed at 8pm, wake up early and keep working or go to the gym. But I'm also really productive between midnight and 4am. That's where I got my best work done during University and when I quit my job last year and went on a 9 months sabbatical. How about…

For me night time is lazy time. The world is asleep and it doesn't demand anything of me. So I take it easy and dont get much work done. I wake up late and have to play catch up with the world again.

The few times I wake up early I have a head start on the world for once. Feels good.

Re: How I became a morning person

#33

Post by oh_sigh » Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 12:21 AM UTC

jaggederest wrote: post #16

There are still only the same number of hours in the day, though. You're making pretty fundamental alterations to your habits in order to 'reclaim' time that isn't really lost.

Did you read the part about how he wanted to sync his schedule with his wifes schedule, so they could spend more time together?

Re: How I became a morning person

#34

Post by LifeQuestioner » Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 12:23 AM UTC

To him a night owl is up till midnight. To me, midnight is super duper early. I struggle to sleep before 5am. At midnight I wake up and have been known to gut clean the entire house then. Even if i've been awake for over 24 hours i wake up at night. I cycle around my sleeping pattern often, i'll get up at 3am. I'll try and get it slowly to 5am wake up, then 7am - normal time. I can usually keep it there for about a week then my sleeping goes back to normal. No matter what I do, what time i woke up or went to sleep I still struggle to function before 2pm.

Camping and being in the outdoors with natural light definitely helps, but it still never solves the problem for me, i'm always the last one to sleep and wake up.

Re: How I became a morning person

#35

Post by athenot » Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 12:26 AM UTC

radicalbyte wrote: post #3

Having kids did it for me.

Same here, though the point remains. I've been trying to make the most of the time when my child is still asleep. Bonus is than when she wakes up, I'm less groggy and can better be present for her. But it's still very much a work-in-progress for me. :(

Re: How I became a morning person

#36

Post by kelvin0 » Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 12:26 AM UTC

rhpistole wrote: post #19

Give up coffee, work out regularly, go to bed at the same time every night, get tested for sleep apnea. Changed my life.

This makes perfect sense, why downvotes? It's maybe not for everyone, but keeping a regular and consistent 'beat' works for most things.

Re: How I became a morning person

#37

Post by louprado » Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 12:26 AM UTC

radicalbyte wrote: post #3

Having kids did it for me.

And reaching out to my father did it for me. Earlier this year I had a deadline and asked him to call at 5AM every day for a few weeks. But we since kept it up as an excuse to talk to each other daily. We barely spoke once a year prior to that.

The phone call starts off with him ordering me to enable my speaker phone, then drop and do push-ups and sit-ups while simultaneously reciting a poem/pledge/prayer/mantra.. basically any low IQ task for about 2 minutes. Then we spend another 2 minutes chatting. The call is over in 5 minutes but by then I am wide awake.

Works best if your Dad is a former drill sergeant, in a different time-zone, is retired, and doesn't like to talk much. :)

Re: How I became a morning person

#38

Post by usaphp » Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 12:28 AM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #33

jaggederest wrote: post #16

There are still only the same number of hours in the day, though. You're making pretty fundamental alterations to your habits in order to 'reclaim' time that isn't really lost.

Did you read the part about how he wanted to sync his schedule with his wifes schedule, so they could spend more time together?

If his wife is on morning meetings anyway - what's the point of waking up early for him? They probably see each other after her work anyway, he was awake at that time even when he had a night owl schedule. I don't see how he won any time by shifting his schedule, he still needs to do work, he just does it now while his wife is at work, before he used to work when she was sleeping.

Re: How I became a morning person

#39

Post by usaphp » Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 12:29 AM UTC

iolothebard wrote: post #27

jaggederest wrote: post #16

There are still only the same number of hours in the day, though. You're making pretty fundamental alterations to your habits in order to 'reclaim' time that isn't really lost.

He was referring to time with his spouse, so he was reclaiming time in that regard. Some time is more valuable than other time.

His wife is at work in the morning anyway, not sure how waking up early makes up for that?

Re: How I became a morning person

#40

Post by andthat » Sun, Dec 13, 2015, 12:35 AM UTC

mafuyu wrote: post #12

I've been thinking about buying a light therapy box[0] and adding an esp8266 or similar to connect it to my home network. I could position it above my bed and have my phone's alarm trip it on. It would be interesting to see if it gave me a motivation boost throughout the day in addition to helping me wake up. [0]: http://www.amazon.com/Verilux-VT20WW1-HappyLight-Intensity-I...

I use Philips Hue and am very pleased with it. You can schedule it to lower the lights at night and raise them in the morning. Sometimes it wakes me without the alarm.