Get Up!
Posted by John Draper | Filed under Life Lessons
Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
Ever heard that old saying?
I’ve worked with more than 75 couples on the show so far, and I’m amazed at the number of people who want to sleep in. These aren’t teenagers whose brains just aren’t tuned to the morning. We’re talking adults. People who have jobs (or should). People who have children. People who can’t find the time to manage their money properly. Whazzup with that?
I love getting up early. I get so much more done. This morning I made a mess of potatoes in my crock pot – mixed with garlic, onions, oregano, the zest and juice of a lemon and a little paprika – while I sipped my tea. Later I’ll throw some of the chicken I marinated on the grill. Hey, 7 a.m. and dinner’s ready!
Most days I’m awake by 4 a.m. Yeah, I’m nuts, but it’s a hold-over from when the kids were really little and I was up early to write. And it comes in handy when I have to drive three hours for an 8:00 a.m. shoot. I hate, hate, hate traffic and I’ll leave early from home to avoid it, picking up a newspaper and a cup of tea or doing some web stuff at the other end with my extra time.
When I don’t have to be anywhere, I read. It’s my time. I get to bed nice and early, so I’m not an insomniac. Just an early riser. I’m usually up by 5, either doing stuff around the house, processing a family’s finances or writing. No yelling kids. No phones ringing. No one breathing down my neck. By 6 I’m in the kitchen getting the kids’ stuff ready for school.
The Dalai Lama is a get-things-done kinda guy. I bet he gets up early. He says, ”Everyday, think as you wake up, ‘today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’ “
I’m willing to bet there isn’t a single really successful person out there who sleeps past 7 a.m. (If you’re a shift-worker, don’t write me back.) And they don’t start by jumping out of bed, late as usual because they hit the snooze button. They don’t rush out of the house and arrive at work all rumpled and foggy. No, they probably have a ritual that lets them set the tone for their day, and it probably starts the night before when they look over the next day to see what’s what. They’ve set their goals, and they know just what it’ll take to get through the next day successfully.
If you want to get up earlier, like everything else, it takes a plan. Start slowly. Wake up just 15-30 minutes earlier than usual for a few days. Then wake up 15 minutes earlier than that until you hit your goal time.
Getting up earlier means you may have to get to sleep earlier. If you stay up till one in the morning watching TV, playing video games or surfing the net, you’re going to have to cut back to get to bed at a decent hour. Don’t just climb into bed and lie there struggling to get to sleep. Read. Listen to a story on tape. Meditate. In no time at all, you’ll be fast asleep.
Move your alarm clock away from your bed so you have to get up to turn it off. I never hear my alarm clock because I’m always awake before it goes off. I learned this when I was quite young; if I tell myself what time I want to wake up before I go to sleep, my body just does the right thing. No jolt. No panic.
Since you’re out of bed to turn off your alarm anyway, might as well head to the shower. If you get back into that bed – particularly when it’s cold outside – you’re sunk.
Make sure you set yourself a task to do first thing so that you aren’t getting up and then wondering around what to do until your brain kicks into gear. Life is so busy, you won’t have any trouble finding something. Just make a mental note of the first thing you have to do after you’ve cleaned yourself up.
I often find myself driving east, heading home, when the sun is rising, and I find it exhilarating watching the sky change colour. It’s a gift. And one we often take for granted. Make a date with me to get up tomorrow morning and watch the sun come up.
July 18, 2008 at 9:55 am
Another great post Gail (naturally)! I think it is meant for me. I have always been a bed hugger. Much less now that I have a child (No more sleeping until noon). However, I think I could still do better. Actually, many times I have thought that my day would go better if I just got up a bit earlier but when the alarm rings I just hate it. My husband is a pop out of bed kind of person (It kills me) and I’m so not but I really am going to try to do better because you are right. I really, really love the quote from the Dalai Lama. I’m going to print it off and put it in my purse so that I can read it each day. Thank you , thank you again.
July 18, 2008 at 10:17 am
I smiled when I read your blurb about the crockpot. I have two, and I love them because dinner is always healthy and easy to manage while working full time. Not to mention, a whole lot cheaper than eating out.
As for waking up, I prefer to be up early and get a lot of things done right off the bat. I have found myself having done all my chores by 11am and saying, wow and now I have the whole day for fun!
Have a great weekend!
July 18, 2008 at 10:42 am
I’m an early riser too – though not *as* early as you! I like to wake up and go to work early for a nice refreshing swim before heading to the office.
And if I don’t go swimming, I use the morning as “me” time to surf the internet/read/relax before the day begins. Then I leave the house early and am at work at least 15 minutes early, sometimes up to 30 (depends on transit that day) – then I get to sit at my desk and enjoy time before I have to open things up and “start” the day!
Even weekends I’m up early – “sleeping in” is 8 – 8:30 to my body!
I’m with Jean – I like to have the rest of the day to do anything, instead of lament over things that need to be done – get it done early and there’s nothing hanging over your head.
July 18, 2008 at 10:59 am
Lovely post Gail. I agree that the early morning is the most beautiful and peaceful time of day. Like Emma I find it the perfect time to get in some activity. I struggled with rising really early for a long time. I found this article really helpful – http://zenhabits.net/2007/01/how-i-became-early-riser/ I’m happy to say that a few months ago, I retired my alarm clock to the basement and now also just tell myself when I want to get up in the morning – and it works! I was at the Y on a spin bike this morning at 6:15am
July 18, 2008 at 11:50 am
I’m pretty good at getting up when I’m supposed to, although not as early as you Gail! I can tell you, though, that I am very much looking forward to staying in bed past 7am tomorrow because it’s my first full day off in a month! It’s easy to get up in the mornings here during the summer because it’s light 21 hours out of every day, but I tell you, when winter is in full force, it’s dark 14 hours out of every day and the temperature sinks to -40C…it’s H-A-R-D to get out of a very warm bed and face your day. I like my jobs though, so am up at 5:30 on Sundays to work regardless of the temperature.
Besides, it’s in the darkest, coldest parts of winter that you see the most beautiful Northern Lights.
July 18, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Wow, stereotype much? Normally I love ya, Gail, but this post is way off base. So if you get up early, you’re using that time productively (cooking, writing, reading), but if you stay up late you’re wasting time (TV, internet).
For those of us with naturally different circadian rhythms, late nights are as productive as early mornings. I get my best writing, home projects, and cooking done late at night. It’s when I study, read, exercise, meditate…. all of those things that you morally superior early risers do in the mornings. And yes, I get to work on time, and well-groomed. But no, I don’t have to get up before 8am to do that.
It’s what you do with your waking hours that count – not when those waking hours are. Just because you don’t SEE productive late-nighters (cuz you’re asleep!) doesn’t mean we aren’t out there.
July 18, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Touché Kim. But this blog wasn’t really meant for you productive late-night folks. It’s meant for the people who stay up late doing diddly-squat and then complain that they can’t get up in the morning… and I’ve met a lot of them. As you correctly say, it’s how you use your time. I have found, however, that many of the people who have time management issues aren’t late-nighters who are doing laundry, getting tomorrow’s meals ready or finishing important projects. And when people tell me how they don’t have time to take care of their financial matters, but they do have time to watch TV until one in the morning, I think, “Hmmmm.” So for all the productive late-nighters out there, keep up the rhythm that works for you. For all the people who can’t find five minutes to balance their accounts book AND can’t get out of bed in the morning for work, this blog’s for you! g
July 18, 2008 at 2:00 pm
You and my hubby would get along GREAT! He is asleep quite early and up at 4AM too. My friends never call the house after dinner because they know we are heading to bed soon. It seems silly because our school-age kids and us grown-ups go to bed at the same time!
(I USED to jog or swim before the kids woke up…. but now that hubby leaves for work by 5am — well I just can’t get up early enough to do that, and I can’t leave the kids alone while I go for a jog either.)
My mom says even as a baby I loved my sleep. And even as a teen, the late night scene was terrible to me. I am LOVING the enforced early bedtime, BUT I don’t feel compelled to get up before 7 am. I get so much done while I sleep (don’t laugh)! I am taking time to heal, rejuvenate, center my mind and clear any anxiety. I can’t tell you how many times that I “slept on” a problem to wake with a clear and simple solution! My husband says I am very “pro-active” and friends say I am lucky, I think that has a lot to do with my full night’s sleep.
Those lazy people that stay up late to watch brain-dead TV and then sleep to a late hour have a different life than me… a very unappealing one. But not all nocturnal folks are that way, I have friends doing their best freelance writing, organizing and being productive well into the wee hours. That would *KILL* me, but they seem quite fulfilled so I can’t critisize.
July 18, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I have to agree with the crowd saying this is the first “swing and a miss” blog post I’ve ever read here… considering the track record that’s still a legacy that falls somewhere between awe-inspiring and miraculous.
The post itself is regarding the morning hours, and while I’m not an incurable sleepyhead, your description of what you accomplish in the morning isn’t that appealing to me. Getting dinner ready at 7am doesn’t seem any more beneficial than getting it ready at 6pm if you’re eating it at 7pm. Beating the traffic makes sense, but then it sounds like you spend the time just wasting the time in the same manner as the late to bed crowd, once you skip the assumption that morning=informative newspaper and TV reading and evening=time wasting TV and video game playing.
And while you mention in the comments that this doesn’t apply to people who are productive in the evening, NONE of the advice is about improving personal time productivity, just how to get used to getting up earlier. It sounds to me like it’s not important that these couples get up earlier, rather it’s important they apply the same principles of responsibility and organization you teach them about finances to time. Budget your time the same way you do your finances, make sure the “fixed time expenditures” like work and soccer practices are scheduled, then make a point of scheduling the more variable things like financial planning or pet projects. I’d like to thrown in a comparison to using the jars, but Jim Croce never did tell me how to save time in a bottle…
And on a side note, when it comes to personal productivity, people are different. I myself am like an ant. I like to work at a steady, continuous pace and keep busy, I try to avoid panic rushes and boring downtime. A friend of mine is more like a lion. He’ll sit around for a while, then go absolutely flat out on a task, no matter what the task is… then sit around a while. He gets just as much done as I do, just in a different way.
July 18, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Gail, I really enjoyed this post! I have been sleeping in this summer with the kids on their break but I notice that I am not getting as much done as I usually do. Before the break I was getting up much earlier and getting so much more accomplished. Thanks for sharing your thoughts today, this is EXACTLY what I wanted to hear!
July 18, 2008 at 7:43 pm
whew!!! you can’t please ‘em all.
sadly, i side with ‘them all’. although maybe just wording is the issue. i understood that you were talking about lazy people in general. whether they are lazy in the AM or the PM, really it makes no difference, so why poke at the night hawks? i’m not one of them, but being a mom and shift worker, my sleep is so buggered i wouldn’t know. some of us are blessed with the ability to live happily on 6 hours sleep while others need much much more to function well.
when i sleep to my best, my daytime hours are more productive. ie in four hours i can get 5 hours worth of stuff done or if i’ve slept poorly, in 4 hours i can get 2 hours worth of stuff done.
really it’s all just lazy people and their excuses, it has nothing to do with sleep. they’re just lazy. i know people who sleep till noon every saturday and they have their shit together. they afford themselves the luxury (and ironically, since we are on a budgeting website, the personal pleasure of sleeping in is cheaper than shopping, eating out, going to the movies). it’s a cheap way to enjoy and reward yourself for hard work!!!
so providing you have your shit together, keep your $ in your entertainment jar for a rainy day and sleep away!!!
July 18, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I LOVE sleeping and sleeping in… and while it’s nice to be up really early, being productive or just enjoying the quiet time, it’s just not worth it to me. Sleeping just feels too good.
Periodically, I try to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier (gradually over a few days), but I always feel like crap if I get up before my critical time (around 6:15 a.m.), no matter how much sleep I got – anyone find the same thing? Similarly, I have a time that I know I need to leave the house by in order to get to work (either biking or catching the bus) on time, but if I leave a little later one day and am still on time, I tend to use that time as my new standard – anyone else?
July 18, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I get what Gail was saying, but I am just not a morning person. I wish I were it would make my life easier. My alarm starts going off at 6:05 on week days and it goes off every 5 minutes untill at least 6:20 (it doesn’t matter where the alarm clock is in the room). It doesn’t in theory take me long to get ready for work but my whole day goes smoother if I just go through my morning at a snails pace. My goal in life is to get 7 hours of sleep (the minimum amount of sleep I require to be completely functional all day long) because my body physically doesn’t like going to bed untill at least 11. I have been know to lay in bed for hours reading or listening to the calmest music I can find. To top it off I have always been this way. It took my mother an entire year to get me to go to bed by 9:00 before I started elementary school. When I was in high school my most productive time for homework was 11 pm or later. So as a result on the weekends even when I go to bed at my normal time I can easily sleep untill 10am.
July 19, 2008 at 8:24 am
Well, Gail, I understand exactly what you mean! Now, normally, my working hours have me at work until 9 p.m. during the week. I’m still up, most mornings, at 5 a.m. with the rest of my household. Now, that said, I’m also a night rhythm person. I remember many a time when I’d wake up at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. and clean my entire apartment (except for the bedroom, in the good ole days) while listening to music. To this day, I do my best cleaning while having an audio book on the speakers. I’ve had to adjust my schedule so that I’m both a morning and night person, lately though.
With my youngest child having just been diagnosed with Autism, I have a lot of paper work and organization that needs to be taken care of when I’m not at work. Plus, my work hours involve being up fairly late and still cognitive when my body is saying, “Hey, shouldn’t we be going to bed now?” I’m naturally a night owl, but I can’t do my banking at night, and with my schedule, I can’t be asleep during the day. So, I am productive when I’m productive and as long as I’m getting enough sleep that I’m not groggy and tired, so let it be.
However, for those sounding off (and they have the right to their opinion), I think you’ve already stated, fairly clearly, that the point is not when you do what you do, or even taking that leisure time to do whatever; it’s not WHEN you do it! It’s when you stay up all night doing, don’t get to work on time, never balance your checkbook, and whine that there aren’t enough hours in a day to get things done. And, frankly, I’ve heard people use the excuse that there aren’t enough hours in a day to do everything they need to do, as they sat down playing video games for the fifth straight hour in a row because “My guild is doing a run” or something of that nature.
July 19, 2008 at 10:06 am
Thank you for sharing the Dali Lama quote Gail. I bought a daily desk top calendar of his quotes and I’ve really enjoyed reading his wisdom each day.
I totally get what your saying. People make time for mindless TV and video games, web-surfing etc, but don’t take time for the things that should be a priority in life. Doesn’t matter the time of day that is most productive for a person, it’s that they find/make the time to be more organized.
(I also like making supper early in the day, that way my housework is over with and I can focus on my son or other priorities).
July 19, 2008 at 10:44 am
I feel it doesn’t matter what time you get up and what time you go to bed as long as you are productive during your waking hours – whatever they might be. For me in bed by 11 and up at 7 is what my body functions best at. As long as you have your priorities straight and complete all your daily tasks before you veg out in front of the TV than what time you get up or go to bed is irrelevant.
July 20, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I’m a late worker and a late riser — if you stick me in a darkened room and didn’t provide me with visual cues, I’d rapidly turn night into day. There’s not much I can do about this, any more than there’s much I can do about my basic weight, my height or my hair colour. I’d love to be a natural early riser the same way I’d love to be 5′ 10″, have a 19 BMI or be a blonde. Sadly, I ‘m squat, plump and brown.
I get up three hours before I leave the house because I literally cannot do much of anything in the morning: it takes me three hours to shower, cook and eat breakfast, pack a lunch and drink enough coffee to be awake. The argument that the morning is the clearest time of day is, sadly, not the case for me.
My father, who is now pushing 80, is still capable of sleeping till noon, so I think this is one of those genetic things.
July 22, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I’d love to be an early riser.
I have two kids. I work full time from 7:30 – 3:30 each day in a sales job. Then I go home and work on my writing career (two books coming out in 2009 plus over 200 articles published). Since I have a family to care for, I don’t always write when they are up, preferring to spend time with them… consequently, sometimes I write until after midnight.
When the alarm goes off at 5:45 am… you bet your sweet bibbybabkas that I WANT TO SLEEP IN!