Question from a reader about waking earlier --
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Sebastian,
1. It was my pleasure to write this review for you.
2. This might sound silly, but my question is what do you do to get up early in the morning? What's the first thing you think, and what makes you snap out of the "I'll sleep 10 more minutes" (if you ever feel that at all) and move up your ass and start doing things? That's what I'm currently struggling with.
Thanks again,
Andrei
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Andrei,
Thanks for the review of Ikigai.
My thinking on the topic of waking early has evolved a bit. I think, first and foremost, that if you're underslept, this can make it all very difficult.
I have, through lots of my life, been a "mind over matter" kind of person who just de-prioritized sleep and brute-forced myself to wake early. That's fine for even weeks at a time, but eventually the cognitive hit swamps the gains you get from the extra hour or two.
To that end, the most successful way I wake up early is to get great sleep far in advance of whatever time I set my alarm. So if I want to wake up no later than 5AM, I'll go to bed around 7PM the night before, and set an alarm for 5AM.
That means that most of the time, if I'm going well, I'll actually wind up awake between 2AM and 4AM, which is 7 to 9 hours of sleep.
As an aside, sleeping around dinnertime, avoiding the nighttime crush and peak times when everyone is off work, and waking early is marvelous for productivity if you can do it. And this isn't just for entrepreneurs; I know some talented people in the corporate world who go home and crash out to sleep immediately after work, and then wake very early for their training or creative projects.
But the point is about waking early -- and if I'm depleted or need the extra sleep, maybe I'll get the full 10 hours from 7PM to 5AM.
If I'm sick, I might even budget 12 hours or 14 hours... and I figure, if my body sleeps that long, I probably needed it.
Also helpful --
*A better diet that doesn't generate withdrawal symptoms; that is, no simple processed carbohydrates, especially before bed. Ideally high protein with high fiber for the last meal of the day (at least, that's for me... do your own research; there's probably alternative hypotheses for best end of day meals).
*Exercise, of course, is good for health and makes you fall asleep faster.
*Light-proof your room, get great sheets, get the temperature right for you. Invest a bit of time and thinking into building a good bedroom for sleeping. It's really, really worth it.
*Sometimes I take melatonin supplements, since all the artificial light and modern world means our melatonin is artificially low. Gwern's article is a good primer on it.
*In the ideal world, I'd cycle off the computer and any glowing screens a few hours before I slept, but in practice I've had a hard time adopting that habit. It's great when I (rarely) do it, though.
Final thought: Unless I'm traveling or something unusual is happening, I follow basically the exact same routine every time I wake up. I always set my phone/alarm in the same place, next to my computer, and immediately fire up my computer and start filling out my start of day time tracking sheet. My phone/alarm is also relatively quite a walk from; I can't turn it off without getting up and walking to it at my desk. Beyond that, I don't think or debate about whether I wake up; I just start my routine every day.
And I think this last point helps, yes, but higher sleep quality and letting your body determine your sleep needs with a broader window is probably more important than wakeup routine long-term.
Let me know how it goes, and I'd love to hear the experiences/routines/thoughts of other early risers in the comments.
SM