I have recently, with the lock down slipped back into some very old; almost genetic; bad habits, the worst being a total night owl and it has to stop.
But that's easier said than done as I'm one of those people who have to work hard in order to get up early... In this post, let me explain why and at the end I'll share two key strategies I use to make myself get up and stay up early.
As a Night Owl Child & Teen
I have always been a night owl, always, I have been told as a young child I would be up all night long and this continued into my teens as I discovered computers... With only one machine in the house, which was time shared between myself, Brother and Father, I would of course join them, but "that boring stuff" of programming, was something I did alone at night in to the very small hours.
My Dad worked shifts, his rising and sleeping being all over the place, my Mother didn't have any set pattern for sleep she let us sleep. Only when we stayed with my Grandad did he make me to wake and rise with him.
So it was that as I hit college, at home the family bought a PC and I began to learn Pascal, oh the hours flew by. The Borland Turbo Pascal compiler having that all enchanting count of lines as it chewed through your code.
University Slumber
Then as I entered University I had a predilection for the wee small hours and any lecture scheduled before 11am was a dire circumstance, and I couldn't help it. But I recall that the faculty appeared to identify with their charges.
First Dawn Chorus
The first time in my life I then had to revert to a morning schedule was for work, the all important money, the fortune (not) that could be earned. My first IT role started at 7am everyday and often ran until 7pm. Though only payed for the hours between 9 and 5 (sneaky of them).
It was however just over an hour from my bed to work, and I had to get up, clean up after our dogs and then get myself ready, so an alarm prior to 6am was the norm. For two years regular as clockwork, up at 6am out and gone. In this role I traveled a good slice of the globe too, and always found as long as I kept my sleeping schedule I could cope.
Being young was of course a boon.
Slipping
In my twenties, having left my first expansive role, I made the hideous mistake of living within walking distance of the office but driving to it in my brand new car, an utter destruction of any chance to wake before plonking myself behind a keyboard all day. Something I was somewhat suffering from of late during lockdown.
Slipped
The worst this got was after leaving this second role, being head hunted no less, I joined a company which again demanded just over an hours drive from my bed and my failing to get back into the swing of getting up early.
I didn't stay long, my concentration was all over and besides I found a National level gaming team and World of Warcraft taking far too much of my time to worry about work.
An Average Decade
Through my remaining twenties and thirties I was variously an early or late riser, finally settling on a routine which suited the flexible hours and schedule of the role I held. But was decidedly late to bed and late to rise.
Starting Early and Promotion
After ten years of starting later and heading to the twilight years of my thirties I started to rise earlier, this was partly driven by a desire to do more with my day; as it had slipped into rise and work, return and vegetate before the black mirror.
The horses, and their needing to be tended to in the morning, my wife's health not allowing her to rise early.
And then I got promoted, so I had to be there before other folks and be on hand throughout their day, so I started to rise earlier, from an 8am start I began to ebb towards 7am then 6am, so that I was in the office for longer hours, but got huge slices of work done before the main body of folks arrived to query and take their direction off of me. Similarly however I was working late in to the evenings and then also spending time with the Mrs, so I did suffer a little and weekends were the time in which I collected on my sleep debt.
Sleep Disorder
It wasn't sustainable and I have actually developed a sleep disorder because of that and other factors from my life style.
Lockdown
As the lockdown bit, for the first time in my life working solidly from home, put my bed closer to my desk than ever before.... literally feet... and you know what... it was dire.
I began working til first midnight, then 1am, then 2am... finally at 3am... and then rising zombie like on or before 9 to start the next days meetings.
Something had to change.
Strategies for Reverting
The first of two prime strategies I employed are going to bed earlier, this was to be pretty strict, no reading in bed, no laptop in bed, no notebooks.... Bed was for sleep and nothing more.
The second is a pint of water, set beside my bed, the first thing to do is get up on the alarm, never hit that cursed sleep button, sit up and drink that water.
With these two and a lot of will power have broken the spell of lockdown doldrums.
One key part of this time in a morning is to do something for myself, especially during the lockdown, whether that's a coffee looking at the garden, a walk from the car to the office or even twenty minutes playing a game or reading an article or two.
Do nothing related to the day ahead in that time, make it something you want to do, either something exciting or interesting or simply plainly different to the day about to dawn.
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