Tainted Wisdom

Throughout my life, I’ve never met an unsuccessful person who always woke up early, even on weekends. The people who don’t succeed are usually the ones that like to sleep in. They are the ones who will sleep until 9:00am or noon if given the choice. They are often the ones who are complaining about not being able to sleep enough, or how tired, fatigued, or whatever they are. In college, I woke up at 5:00am every morning, took a quick shower, and was studying at my desk by 5:15am. My friend Jim slept until noon because he could get away with it. He’d schedule his classes so he never had to be in class before 1:00pm. I graduated in 3 years. He took nearly 7. The first words out of Jim’s mouth always pertained to his lack of sleep.

“Hi Jim,” I’d say.

“Hey,” he’d reply.

“How goes it?”

“I didn’t get enough sleep last night…[insert another 5 minutes of boring sleep details, even though the bastard had slept until noon. Add to this something about not being able to fall asleep…]”

“That’s too bad.”

“Yeah, how are you?”

“I got up early and studied for a test, wrote a paper, went to the gym, and then went to class.”

“I don’t know how you do it. You did all that already and I just woke up.”

“It’s easy. When my alarm goes off, I get out of bed and take a shower.”

Jim didn’t believe it was so easy. I believe he had so much trouble falling asleep and sleeping because he was obsessed with whether he had gotten, or would get, enough sleep. His obsession just made things worse. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe his mind was too active when his head hit the pillow. Drinking a glass or two of wine before bed, or taking a sleeping pill, could easily have solved his problem.

Bottom line: Go to bed on schedule and get up at 5:00am. You know how much sleep you need. If you need 7 hours, go to bed at 10:00pm and get up at 5:00am. If you don’t manage to sleep the full 7 hours, due to insomnia, anxiety, or whatever, too bad. Get up at 5:00am anyway. Eventually you’ll adjust. Drink a cup of coffee to wake up. Don’t bitch and moan about how little sleep you’ve had. No one wants to hear it. Tough it out. Before you go to bed the next time, pop a sleeping pill or drink a few glasses of wine. You’ll be fine. You’ll adjust to your new schedule with perseverance.

I’m sorry I can’t make Step Two more complex, but only redundant: Set the alarm for 5:00am. Don’t hit the snooze button when it rings. No matter how agonizing it is to abandon your warm blankets, you just need to put your feet on the floor and stand the hell up. These instructions are no more difficult than reaching down to pick up a quarter in the street. When the alarm goes off, put your feet on the floor and stand the hell up. There is no telekinesis involved.

You may still be asking the question: “But why get up at 5:00am every day?”

The answer is simple. When you rise early, you are giving yourself more time to do more with your life. I can’t answer what you should do with this time. I believe we each have a subjective, self-defined purpose. You have to decide what yours is. Mine is writing. So, in my case, by getting up at 5:00am, I give myself 3 hours to write each day. Everyone else is in bed and can’t bother me. On the other hand, if I plan to sleep in and write my next chapter after work, there are too many potential obstacles to navigate, like having to work late, dealing with family or social obligations, or being less motivated because working all day is an energy drain. 

5:00am can be a holy time if you seize it. By being an early bird, and assuming you don’t have to be at work until 8:00pm, you are giving yourself as much as 900 hours per year to devote to your sole, self-defined purpose, whatever you choose it to be. 

As far as taking a shower right after the alarm rings, I recommend it because it helps reset you. I’ve had a lot of nonproductive 5:00am to 8:00am’s because I didn’t first shower. For some reason, by being unwashed and undressed, I end up sitting around in my underwear, surfing porn instead of writing.

Go set your clock for 5:00am!