I have seen much material about early waking in numerous articles spread throughout the interconnected network that we call the Internet, and so I would like to discuss some points about it in a different fashion, or break it down into what it actually entails.
Why Early Waking Is A Popular Concept
One of the big reasons it that you can’t put down early waking. If someone tells you they wake up early to feel or be more productive, you have no reason to attack them in some way. It is a category of activity that is very protected from criticism. We feel that a person waking early is going against the natural instinct of not doing so, and so they are putting out effort and diligence.
Early Waking Isn’t Meaningful To Some
When analyzing a process, it is always good to look at it with different perspectives to check its validity. One example that comes to mind is of certain folks who work an 8-hour shift, for example, from 4 AM to 12 PM. Early waking doesn’t really mean much to them. This tells us that it is not so much about waking at a certain time, so then it must be about one of the other two issue.
It Is A Win Against All Others Who Wake Up Later
One is that early waking involves waking up earlier than the majority of people in your time zone. This makes sense. This is a successful entity because it is a competitive one. It is like telling all the people in your time zone that you beat them to the day, and already have a lead by the time they wake up. This is a mental victory when it occurs because we are competitive by nature. Early waking actually means waking up “early” in comparison to others. If everyone woke up at 5 AM, it wouldn’t be “early waking” any more.
The Environment You Rise To Is Different
The other concept relates to the way the day is shaped in relation to how we function. A person who gets up at 6 as opposed to 7 has an extra early hour of dark and quiet and cooler weather, so that can certainly have an impact on their productivity.
Good Luck Finding A “Rising Late” Article
Also, you will rarely ever hear about late waking, as that is associated with laziness, and no one wants to be associated with laziness, including the lazy. There is no benefit known to being associated with any form of lack of effort. This can color the reality-based nature of messages you may read about early waking, so it is good to keep it in mind.
The Early Start Is A Victory Of Sorts
One item about early waking that has a large impact is that you feel like you started the day with a win. You set a goal to wake up early, which takes some effort because the mind does not generally want to, and so when you do, you are 1/1 for the day. Starting the day off with a win has a huge impact. This relates to my article that talked about how 70% of teams that score the first goal in a World Cup game win the match. That early victory of waking up early favors the likelihood of a successful day.
In summary, “waking early” often means either waking up earlier than others, or waking up while things are quieter or darker or colder. There is the competitive aspect and there is the environmental aspect.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Armen,
I’m known for sure as an early riser. Most days I”m by 6am. That’s partially driven by surf conditions, but I usually spend about 2 hours working in the morning. Iv’e been up for an hour and I’ve problably commented on about 10 blogs, written a few blog posts, and I’ll be editing podcasts shortly. The thing with getting up early in the morning is it gives you a chance to get all the real work done before the noise starts. I’m a big believer in waking early even if it means taking a nap later in the day. There was recently an article about morning people ruling the world somewhere (don’t remember), but I think it’s definitely something worthwhile.
Twitter: Armen
July 29, 2010 at 10:59 am
Hi Srinivas.
I can think of a few early risers off the top of my head now, including you, Oscar, Celestine, Farnoosh, and Steven Aitchison. This is a cool trend. I think that is a good feature that you are driven by surf conditions. Our sports that we like drive us well. I am driven towards certain nightly habits due to basketball and it is great.
I see that your main reason for early waking is environmentally related, as opposed to the more competitive end. I like quiet cool and darker time as well at times. Morning folks probably due run most of society.
Hi Armen,
I love that you wrote this article. I have been a bit baffled by preponderance of ‘early rising’ posts. Regardless of whether I rise “early” or “late” I make it a habit to be in command of mind and never at the effect of the world-voice. I sense a trend that can be counterproductive. People get so wrapped up in finding the next secret that will change their life (or the next book, or blog, diet etc. etc.) that they do not get at the root of the matter. They end up bouncing around like a ping-pong ball instead of truly learning to know themselves.
Twitter: Armen
July 30, 2010 at 8:00 am
Hi Rob.
I hear you there. Glad to hear we are on the same page here. While I am not putting down the articles because there are definitely benefits to be had from the process, it’s good to detail what it means to do such waking and what the actual benefits can be. If I am using water instead of window-washing fluid on my vehicle’s front window, I want to know what the different effects will be. The same is true with early rising or eating some certain diet or so on.
Nice ping-pong ball image that feels accurate.
Hi Armen, good article! It’s been a while since I’ve visit, sorry for that! Summertime you know, lots to early rise to and get out and do, NOT on the computer. Anyway, I to am an early riser and supporter of it. However, I’ve taken a more scientific aspect to learning about it from years of sleep study and alertness levels in the mind and though I won’t get into it here, all that research promotes in fact, better health as the mind is naturally in sync with daylight to a large degree. Your alert levels, the UV lights to your retina, are all deeply connected with your internal biological clock and being consistent with sleep hours will automatically shift a person to become more of an early riser, believe it or not. Anyway, thanks for the article and continued great blog posts every time I visit!!
Twitter: Armen
July 30, 2010 at 8:03 am
Hi Mike.
Thanks about the article. That is just fine about when you have the inclination to read material here. I will add you to my mental list of early risers I know of.
It is good to hear these valid points you bring up how consistent sleeping at similar hours will end up leading to early rising, so that is a plus. I can’t think of someone who doesn’t want to be more alert.
Sometimes consistency sounds like the easy thing, but it requires diligence that is of our own doing, and that can be the difficult part.
Good to hear from you.
Hi Armen,
I’ve been getting up early all my life which began on the family farm! I’ve never quit. Today it was raining (first time since April) in the desert. I decided to sit in the backyard in it…what happens a double rainbow appears. I wonder how many slept through the wonder and joy.
Twitter: Armen
July 30, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Hi Tess.
I like this habit that you have set up from long ago. When you have a good habit like that, it gives you a life of benefits. It is sort of like an armor upgrade in a video game, because that armor upgrade protects you somewhat for many battles throughout the game.
That is cool that you saw a double rainbow. Many missed it and don’t know what they missed.
Twitter: aflourishinglif
July 30, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Hi Armen,
If it makes people happy to wake up early, I am all in favor of it. I do want to mention that our society is generally known to be sleep-deprived. If we don’t get enough sleep, no matter how early we wake up and how productive we want to be, we will drag ourselves through the day or drink coffee so we don’t.
I’m a fan of being enlivened by what we choose to do, of letting happiness guide, of setting the conditions so creativity can thrive. I wonder if elderly people facing the end of their lives wish they had set the alarm an hour earlier in their younger days.
Twitter: Armen
July 30, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Hi Gail.
I will keep that in mind that much of society is sleep-deprived. I guess it makes sense intuitively. From obligations to distractions, sleep gets slightly lowered on the priority pole.
I can agree about that dragging through the day. For those rare times that I end up sleeping awkwardly late and get up at my regular time, the rest of my day isn’t enjoyable at all.
That is a good point you bring up about how elderly people view that. We might as well try it to see how it impacts our day and effectiveness. It is better to be disappointed than not know“
Gail for the win.
Twitter: doitordont
August 1, 2010 at 4:27 am
I’m an early riser by nature… it’s natural for me to be more productive early in the AM. My wife, however, will sleep until noon! Yet her natural productivity period tends to be in the evening hours (she’ll stay awake till 2, 3 or 4am). We’ll both get everything done… just in different periods in the day! I actually like this as my energy starts to decline… she is there to take over and keep things moving!
Twitter: Armen
August 1, 2010 at 10:47 am
Hi Chris.
That is very cool. I think it is in the nature of most people. Your wife sure stays up real late. It is good that you are fine with her time usage and she is fine with yours, because some folks lose productivity simply because others don’t support their timing plans. Some ‘get it’.
It looks like you two mesh well“
I wake up early for one reason only. It allows me to get off work earlier so I can spend more daylight hours with my family. If I weren’t able to leave work earlier, I likely wouldn’t get up at 5:30am, which is pretty much proven by my weekend schedule of laying in bed until my daughter wakes me up.
Eric | Eden Journal´s last [type] ..Upgrade Reality by Dirk “Diggy” de Bruin
Twitter: Armen
August 1, 2010 at 10:48 am
Hi Eric.
It is great to have a straightforward reason for doing something. Many don’t have complete reasons for what they do, and so they end up doing things at 50% capacity instead of full because their motivation dies down during the process due to lack of direction.
Hi Armen,
While this is true that I feel a sense of pride for being an early riser, I must admit that it is not all good. As Gail mentioned, for me this often comes along with sleep deprivation and not being able to just roll over and keep sleeping. There is a drive to DO DO DO that I really honestly wish that sometimes would just go away for a bit.
Amy Putkonen´s last [type] ..Monopoly on FourSquare
Twitter: Armen
August 6, 2010 at 11:37 am
Hi Amy.
It sure is not all good when sleep is lost to feel like you have waken up early. It doesn’t make sense, and so early waking requires early sleeping, which is not so bad at all. Sleeping early is only hard when a bit too much is desired to be done in the late evening.
Interesting note there on that do do do point. It sure is much more expressed by some.
Hi Armen,
I think Rob White makes a good point, its what you do while awake that is important. There is no point waking early if it means going without sleep. Nothing makes a day seem hard, like trying to get by without enough sleep.
Pleasant dreams.
Twitter: Armen
August 6, 2010 at 11:38 am
Hi Martin.
Good call. The focus can’t be on the early waking, but what it allows for. It is like focusing on the features of a new refrigerator you are getting when you don’t even plan to use half of them.
We have to take purpose into consideration or we end up with clutter or excess features that weigh us down indirectly.
Armen, Live Bold and Bloom’s Barrie did just this, she wrote an article on why early rising is over-rated…..I think it’s rare to see that but she put a good spin to it. No matter, I am an early riser and I’d talk about the benefits til dawn if I had to – in which case it will be really hard to turn around and wake up again so I might just refer them to your article ! Why, thanks for this
! And great to see you being rather prolific lately !!!!
Farnoosh´s last [type] ..Beyond the First 30 Days- Staying Committed to Habits
Twitter: Armen
August 6, 2010 at 11:41 am
Hi Farnoosh.
Good call. It may be over-rated in the general communication sphere. It is good to take rating out of the context and focus on what it provides us. There are times I have woken up quite early and done so much in that early time, and then there are times I have woken up early and not gotten much done at all. There is more to it than just the time, but the early period can be of help to many.
Are any of you who already wake up early unusually successful in your lives?
Twitter: Armen
August 11, 2010 at 6:08 am
Hi John.
As I am not a consistent early waker, I can’t speak for the rest of the folks here, but if anyone wants to chime in about their success due to it, feel free“
I can say that I feel great when I do it.
Armen,
I am so glad you wrote about this. I am not early riser, I have been late nighter instead but now with my 1 year old waking up at nights, I hardly rise early, unless kids are up. I am in “late riser” and going to admit it, even if that makes me look “Lazy”. I know I am not, so it will not matter what people say to me.
How about you? Late or early riser?
Preeti @ Heart and Mind´s last [type] ..101 changes- Change 6 – Read a book Benefits of reading
Twitter: Armen
August 11, 2010 at 6:09 am
Hi Preeti.
Late rising makes sense to me. The term doesn’t exactly sound as valid as early rising, but I understand what you mean. I like that you don’t care what people say to you about it. They usually don’t understand your situation anyway.
I am either a regular or occasionally early one. I like colder weather so I sure like the early time of the day.