What Time Do You Wake Up?
Most mornings, my alarm is set for 5:30 AM, and I typically roll out of bed after hitting snooze once or twice.
On a good day, I can get a bit of surfing in, and a decent blog entry written, prior to hopping in the shower. If I’ve got a lot of photos to process from a big event, I usually wake up closer to 5:30 to get everything done (images processed in Photoshop, videos edited and converted, etc).
I’m nocturnal by nature, but over the past few years I’ve discovered that I’ve become a morning person more out of necessity than preference. I tend to be able to carve out a bit more time in the mornings, and the regular interruptions of the day (phone, email, meetings) can’t get to me.
5+ years ago, I’d wake up, stumble into the shower, skip breakfast and grab a coffee on my way to work (typically late). There was no actual morning routine save the slow dragging of my carcass into my place of employ.
Now though? I feel I’ve got a bit of a groove down, although when I get off-sync, it tends to cause problems. For the most part, mornings are a way for me to slowly wake up, mentally. And to get a few blog-specific tasks done.
An old professor of mine, Scott Russell Sanders once told me that he wakes up by writing. Which actually floors me. Sure, I write blog posts early in the AM… but he’s talking about honest-to-goodness writing. Thinking about his morning routine still amazes me, to this day.
So I’m curious to ask…for all of you out there reading this: What time do you wake up? What are your morning routines?
Is toothpaste the most complicated task most mornings? Are you some kind of crazy-productive powerhouse in the pre-dawn? Or are your nights so jam-packed with excitement and activity that you need every precious minute of sleep the morning will afford you?
PS: My worry with posts like this is that I’ll pose a question, and nobody will respond. I’m honestly interested to hear when (and how) most of you out there start your days.
PPS: To be more precise, I guess my actual worry is that nobody will respond because nobody is reading this. :|
I have never, never been a morning person. I’ve tried to be. I love the idea of it. But the intoxicating vapors of sweet darkness and promise of a cush bed always lull me back, no matter the agenda. Plus my brain’s typically at its dumbest levels until about 10 or 11 am.Back in older freelancing days I was highly nocturnal and felt that midnight was my creative peak hour. I love working or art-making in the wee hours. I do feel that clock shifting as I get older in that the wee hours are more like 1-2am as opposed to 4-5am. And it is easier to get up for work than it ever was for school.But all that said, my morning routine usually consists of about 5+ rounds of hitting SNOOZE and getting cleaned up/teeth brushed more or less in a daze. The daze persists through the train ride until coffee time at work, similar to what you described for your old routine!
Allison (August 12, 2008 at 9:55 am)I too have a snooze problem. However, I have always been a “morning person” – or at least capable of such. I am physically and mentally able to pop out of bed and get going, usually regardless of the amount of sleep the night before (unless it’s under 4 hours!) So lately it’s been waking up early and hitting snooze a lot. Last month i was consistently up at 6am and i like that better in general – I tend to feel more alert and have a better outlook on the day if i do that. So… I’m looking to join you in your attack on the pre-dawn.
ben (August 12, 2008 at 10:40 am)I think the last time I was a morning person was as a child when I woke up bright and early for Saturday morning cartoons. It was uncanny how early I would get up to catch all those great television shows. But ever since then to get up and function so bright and early is way too tough for me. For some reason early mornings are not in my chemical make-up. If I stayed up late the previous night and woke up early I could function the same as if I went to bed early and woke up at the same time.I usually start the morning with hitting the snooze button as many times as it will allow me. I use my morning shower to help nudge the sleepies out of my brain. After the shower I brush my teeth, fall into some clothes and then I’m out the door. But this only completes the task of physically waking up, mentally is another story. This I need to work on.
Justin (August 12, 2008 at 11:06 am)I’m a morning person honestly…but I still don’t get outta bed till about 30min before i gotta be catching the train to work. That is about it. Since moving to chicago (during weekdays before work at least) I don’t usually get up early for anything special other than a shower.On weekends I wake up early and read blogs and sip coffee etc etc… I enjoy waking up early yet still hear my mom yelling about me sleeping in and ‘wasting the whole day’ when i was in high school on the weekends. :)
TJ Mapes (August 12, 2008 at 11:42 am)I used to be a night owl and hate mornings. However, I now kind of enjoy both equally (which tends to make the rest of the day a little difficult).I also find that the later I stay up, the harder it is for me to stay asleep. I can easily fall asleep early and sleep late. But if I go to bed at say 2am (with my alarm set for say 7am) I might toss and turn all night and end up waking up at like 5am…Just lying there, dreading the alarm. It’s almost like anxiety caused by the fact that I know I’m getting a horrible night sleep.Anyway, I hate rushing. So, I usually roll out of bed around 7am, shower, make some tea and oatmeal, drink/eat that while I listen to some music and play around on the internet a little bit.It only takes me like 10 minutes to bike to work, so I jump on my bike around 8:45 or so, check to make sure I remembered to put my pants on and I’m off…
Brian Leli (August 12, 2008 at 3:43 pm)check to put pants on ::writes note to self::that’s a much better idea!
g (August 12, 2008 at 6:21 pm)During the week, I’m definitely a morning person. I get up between 4-5 am. On the weekends, I will sleep in a bit more and get up around 6-7. I get tons more done in the morning and a bonus for the weekends is that places like Jewel are DEAD at that time.
Jen (August 13, 2008 at 8:15 am)I used to be such a night owl…but those days are over. I’m not a morning person either, so I guess I’m at my best mid-day.I have 2 alarms set – one for 6:30 and the other for 6:40. I turn off the 6:30 alarm after it sounds, and snooze the 6:40 alarm once…so I’m usually hitting the shower around 6:50am.Clothes, dry hair, make lunch, and start walking to the train at 7:28 sharp. I do my makeup on the train and eat lunch at work to save time.
Margaret (August 13, 2008 at 8:37 am)Most mornings, I struggle with getting out of bed–I’ll often set the alarm quite early (for me) for 5:30 or 6:00 with the best of intentions: do my weight training, cook a nice breakfast, etc. Then my alarm will go off and I’ll reset and reset and reset until I barely have enough time to run a toothbrush and take the dog out before I’m dashing off to work. I don’t really wake up until 10 or 11 most mornings, and I also have a hard time getting to bed before midnight–my brain doesn’t want to shut off until later.
Mellzah (August 14, 2008 at 4:01 pm)Ever since my daughter was born, I’ve been forced to wake up between 7:00 and 7:30. After almost four years of this, I can no longer sleep past 7:30, no matter how late I went to bed. It’s both a blessing and a curse.
jim f. (August 15, 2008 at 7:05 pm)Like Ben, I can usually wake up if need be (given that I get at least 4 hours). If there’s something important (like a meeting, or a presentation, or a class I need to teach), my body would jolt awake on its own. Under 4 hours though, waking up becomes a crapshoot.As a kid I used to love waking up early for cartoons on Saturdays. I remember being awake in my bed, and yelling out “Mom, can I get up now? Is it time to get up yet?” until she finally succombed to my incessant questions.As an adult (and back when I was single), I’d wake up early on Saturdays… partly to catch cartoons, and partly to ensure that I was up and actively wasting my day. I had this weird thing where, no matter how tired I was, I wanted to make sure I was up on the weekends so that I could fuck off properly, and make sure I was up so I could do nothing at all.A few years ago, I got into watching Disney’s Recess and Jackie Chan Adventures on Saturdays. But anymore… there’s just not enough good cartoons to pull me out of bed. Weekend mornings are different, as I’ll most likely sleep in until 9 or 10.
avoision (August 15, 2008 at 8:21 pm)I used to be a night-owl and sleep in late. But ever since I started working the 9-5, I have an 11pm bedtime and a 7:30am wakeup time. I always seem to struggle to get out of bed, but the morning shower always pep’s me up for the trek downtown.I think I have always needed my eight hours of sleep. (I truly need nine hrs. to be at my best.) But I think as long as I stick to a schedule nowadays I’m fine, for the most part.P.S. I fee like an old lady when I get sleepy at 11pm. :|
liz (August 19, 2008 at 9:39 am)