Productivity - Waking up early in the morning
You probably heard this before or read about it in a blog somewhere. A lot of people recommend waking up in the morning because it gives your day a boost. Well, I actually started doing this for the past 3 weeks and I will describe my experience about it. I won't go over all the general benefits of waking up early because you can find that all over the Internet (I will leave some links at the end of the post).
Productivity
As the title says, productivity is one of the first motivation to wake up early in the morning. I work a lot on side projects and I am in need of some productive coding sessions when I'm home. Before, I used to go to sleep at around 1-2am and wake up just in time to make some food and get to work in time. I was procrastinating a lot during my evening coding sessions.
Typically I was "working" from 7-8pm to around 12am. I say "working" because half of the time I was scrolling through Facebook, watching Youtube videos and many other things that were not classified as productive.
So how does waking up early affect productivity? In my experience, I found out that after work, my brain was quite tired. My concentration levels were not as high as during the day and that's why I found it so easy to drift into procrastination. At 5:30am in the morning I have an unpolluted fresh mind that helps me to be productive.
Longer Days
Theoretically, the days are not longer for me but if I wake up early, I'm under the impression that they actually are. Before, I used to sleep after 1am and wake up at around 7am. Now I go to sleep at 11pm and wake up around 5:30am. The amount of hours I sleep is about the same.
The problem is with not valuing the time properly. If I procrastinate I later thing that was all a waste of time when I could have been doing some more important stuff. Doing something I'm later grateful of, make my day more meaningful and I feel like I achieved a lot in a day hence the 'length' seems longer.
Quality time - Quiet time
I feel like I own the world when I wake up early! I feel super excited to get on with my things and enjoy the morning silence while doing so. Currently, I live in a shared flat and even if my flatmates are quiet, I still feel their presence in the house. Early morning? Nothing. And I like nothing, I like hearing the wind, the seagulls and people rushing with their cars in the distance.
The morning meal
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it gives you the much needed energy your brain and body needs for facing the day. I started eating a lot in the morning some time ago and I can confirm these benefits. When I get to work my mind is not thinking what will I have during lunch. I'm also really productive and do things much quicker and without mistakes.
Waking up early gives you enough time to pay attention on what you're eating. You can cook something nice. I enjoy cooking and mornings are great for that.
Going to work prepared and in time
Before I started waking up early, I was rushing through making breakfast, having quick shower, ironing clothes and the running to work. Sometimes I was having just a tiny breakfast because I was running out of time. These things affect your mood. I found it better to have plenty of time in the morning to do all these and go to work relaxed.
Now that I wake up early I even have time to plan my day out. What exactly I will concentrate on at work, what will I do when I get back home, and so on. This saves me time later on and make me more confident.
Conclusion
Waking up early is one of the best decisions I took lately. I feel good that I finally have time to concentrate on my own projects and be productive at work at the same time. I want to experiment some more with this and I will give you updates through emails so feel free to subscribe at the bottom of the page. One thing I want to try soon is to go running for about 20 minutes as soon as I wake up.
If you think your not productive enough during the day, I recommend you try waking up early and see if that boosts your productivity.
Promised links:
This is Why Productive People Always Wake Up So Early