I recently read
this
post about a guy who did a “3am Experiment” and how he was never a morning
person and he decided to start waking up at 3am every day. I read it and thought “this guy is nuts! This is just crazy!” But me being the chronic over-sleeper and
non-morning person that I am, I’ve been needing to make a change, and nothing
has seemed to work. So then I decided,
it’s so crazy, it just might work! And
while I might be crazy, I’m also not a complete idiot, so I decided 4am was
plenty early enough, and 3am would just be overkill. Over the next couple weeks, I’m going to be
chronicling my experiences with this and sharing them with you.
Why on earth would I
want to do this?! I’m sure most of
the other early risers out there completely get it, but my fellow night owls are
thinking this is complete and utter insanity!
My key reasons for doing this:
- I envy
morning people.
- (Hopefully)
be more productive! While I have a
feeling it will be rough getting started, if I’m successful, this will be
giving me so much more uninterrupted time to get things done! Laundry, crafts, baking, working out, work,
cleaning, you name it! Currently, I try
to cram all these things into weekends, meaning my time is very
unbalanced. Most of my friends live at
least a few hours away, so to spend time with any of them is an all day
event. So if I want to spend a few hours
with them on a Saturday, then that’s an entire day that I can’t do any laundry
or other general maintenance cleaning type stuff around the house. And since I enjoy spending time with my
friends, sometimes I will go a couple weekends of just doing the absolute bare
minimum until it all piles up, and then I have to spend an entire weekend doing
nothing but cleaning and laundry and boring stuff! If I am doing a little bit of that every
morning, then I will have so much more free time to do the things I enjoy on
the weekends!
- Sanity
has never been an option for me.
- I need a
change. My current routine is not
really working for me. A gradual change
hasn’t really worked for me, so I’m shooting for something more drastic!
Why on earth am I
blogging about this?
- I am hoping it will help keep me accountable!
- For those of you who know me and think this is
utterly insane because I rarely wake up more than 10 minutes before I need to walk
out the door and I always set 10 alarms each morning, this could be pretty
entertaining.
- This worked for that
other guy, maybe it will work for me, and if it does, maybe some of you
will want to try it.
The plan:
For the next 2 weeks, I’ll wake up every day at 4am –
including weekends. I currently go to
bed between 11 & 12, and wake up around 7 each weekday, (I need to leave my
house by 7:15, so you can see where this is a problem) which means I need to be
going to bed by 9pm… Which seems even crazier than waking up at 4! The “
3am
Experiment” goes much more in depth about all the things he did that made
it work for him, but since I am not him and therefore the exact same things
will not work for me, if you decide to try this, read his posts, read my post,
and then think about which of these will work for you! His list consisted of the 7 items outlined
below, but the comments next to it are how I think it will apply to me:
Plan Your Morning the
Night Before – This makes sense! I am always
much more productive when I have a very, very specific to-do list! This also helps because I can do some prep
work the night before when necessary. If
I know I am going to do a load of laundry, I know I need to sort it the night
before and make sure no one else’s clothes are in the washer or dryer (I don’t
live alone). If I know I am going to go
for a run instead of doing a cardio DVD, then I should set out weather
appropriate work-out clothes instead of just shorts and a T-shirt which works
fine inside. When I plan my morning, I
set an alarm on my phone for the time to start each task. This serves a dual purpose of 1) reminding me
when to stop one task and start another to help me stay on track and 2) serve
as extra alarms in case I oversleep.
Have Something to Look Forward To – This will be KEY for me! Based on past experiences, I’ve always had an
easier time getting up in the morning when it’s for volunteering, going to
visit friends, etc. as opposed to going to work or class (when I was still in
school). Don’t get me wrong, there are a
lot of things about my job I enjoy, but it’s not exactly exciting to get up at
the crack of dawn, drive 45 minutes, then sit at a desk for most of the
day. My current “something to look
forward to” is a lot of craft projects and some baking. I’ve also been trying to get back into the
habit of working out regularly, which once I get into the groove of things will
be something I look forward to.
No Snooze, Ever
– This one does not seem feasible to me.
For one thing, I’m not exactly a “snooze” person so much as a “multiple
alarms” person, because I can’t rely on myself to actually hit the snooze
button instead of the off button. For
now, I am trying a 3:45 alarm, a 4:00 alarm, followed by reminder alarms for
each task in the morning.
Change Alarm Sounds – I’ve always done this, and it rarely seems to help. I’m continuing to do it, but it’s not really
a change for me.
Hard to Reach Alarm – This is useless for me. I get
up, walk across the room, turn off the alarm, and lay back down. Never once has this worked for me, and I’ve
been trying this one since I was about 10 and in the top bunk of a bunk bed…
still didn’t work.
Routines Create a Habit – This one is big! I am hoping to
follow the same general routine each morning, and just vary the type of work
out or type of “fun activity”. The
routine I have come up with is:
3:45 – wake up!
4:00 – Actually get out of
bed and get dressed
4:05 – put a load of
laundry (already sorted the night before) into the washing machine
4:10-4:45 – Fun
activity! - This is my “something to
look forward to” Today’s item was “make
blankets”; I’ve been sewing some receiving blankets for a friend who just had a
baby. Which to me, is fun! One day next week I will also bake fresh
muffins. For you, this might be working
on a puzzle, writing, reading the paper, or cooking a fancy breakfast. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it
is motivating to you! Ideally, this does
not include super sedentary or non-stimulating activities like watching TV or
video games, but maybe those will still work for you!
4:45 – Switch laundry into
dryer
4:50-5:20 – Work
out! Today’s activity was a cardio
kickbox DVD that I like. When the
weather warms up a bit, I might go for a run instead!
5:20-5:30 – short break – I
always need a few minutes after a workout to catch my breath and “recover” I typically eat a protein bar for breakfast,
so in this time I will eat a protein bar and hydrate after my workout
5:30-6:00 Shower and get
dressed. I enjoy taking longer showers,
so this is incentive to stay on track through the morning… If I am running
late, I only have time for a quick shower.
6:00-6:15 – hang and fold
clean laundry. Honestly, I have never
timed myself on this and have no idea, but I figure this should work
6:15-7:00 – Dry hair, finish
getting ready. The downside to long
thick hair… a good 30+ minutes to dry it.
7:00 – Drive to work!
The
night before, I get home from work at 6, and have to go to bed at 9. This gives me 3 hours to eat dinner, clean up
the kitchen, and do any prep for the following morning (sort laundry, etc.) and
have some general relaxation time for TV, reading, etc. that I don’t like to do
in the mornings for fear that I will fall asleep.
Know Your Body – basically, this is just knowing how much
sleep you need each night and what is realistic for you. I knew that 3am was NOT going to work for me
and I didn’t need it to! 4am was a bit
more realistic for me. I typically get
about 7 hours of sleep each night, which is how I came up with my 9pm bedtime.
I’ll be trying to post at least some sort of update each
day, so check back for more updates if you’re interested!
