Me: “I’m gonna try waking up at 4-30 AM for 21 days starting tomorrow!!!”
My wife: “Whatever you do, don’t disturb my sleep”
Me: “Ok. Noted”
-End of conversation
Her indifferent response put a stop to the speech I was prepared to give on Why/How I’m planning on doing this.
No factor, here I am posting about it Anyways.
The Why?
Over the last few months, I’ve taken on a lot of things at once and was struggling to balance my time effectively.
Then , I recalled this video that I stumbled upon a few months ago.
Inspired by Mr. Terminator’s idea, I came up with a plan to make the most out of my 24 hours a day.
The How
I categorized the things I’m supposed to do daily, based on their urgency and importance.The result was the following four categories/quadrants.
| Urgent and Important Work and Family time | Not Urgent but Important Exercise, Studying, Reading |
| Urgent but not Important Anything that demands your time but of little use to your long term well being | Not urgent , Not Important Everything else…. |
Making of the Plan
Looking at this table, It made sense that I should spend as much time as I can on the first row. Also, as little time as possible on the second row. There’s no value addition there.
The Plan
Step 1
Set an alarm for 4-30 AM every day for the next 21 days. Take a screenshot of my clock once I’m awake.This helps me hold myself accountable (Inspired by Jocko Willink’s twitter feed)
Why 21 days? Well, they say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. And I would love to be able to wake up at 4-30 AM just out of habit.
Note: I started this on July 1st and was supposed to end on the 21st, but I missed my 4-30 AM alarm on two occasions during a vacation I took (Read : 3 Days trip to South Goa) , so extended till 23rd.
Step 2
Follow the below routine
| 4:30 – 6 am | Study ( for an upcoming exam ) |
| 6 – 7:30 am | Workout |
| 7:30 – 8 am | Help Wifey with the chores |
| 9:30am – 6 pm | Work ( prepared a work related daily routine ) |
| 7 – 8 pm | Read at least 25 pages of a non-fiction book |
Step 3
Review your day.
If you completed all 5 tasks,cross out the day on your calendar – Day well spent, Job well done!!!
If you missed out on one task, compensate by doubling down on any other task.For example, didn’t workout? Read 50 pages instead of 25 for the day. – Good job !!!
Missed more than one task? – Not Ideal, but do what you can and try to complete at least 3 tasks for the day. Mark a “*” for each task completed on the calendar.
Zero tasks done? – You just wasted a day of your limited life on earth!!!
This is what my calendar looked like for the past 23 days.
Even though I missed a few days, this exercise taught me many seemingly obvious lessons to which I never gave much thought earlier.
Here are the 5 lessons I learned from waking up at 4-30 AM.
1.At 4-30 AM, It’s just You vs the Task
Studying and working out were the most mentally draining activities for me. My decision to schedule them at 4-30 AM worked well because, at that time there’s no
- Whatsapp / Social media notifications
- Calls/Text messages
- Traffic
- Crowd at the Gym
Basically, there’s nothing to distract you from the task at hand. As a result, you can get a lot done in a lot less time.
And there’s no excuse to miss them, because you have nothing else going on so early in the morning.
It’s just you vs the task !!! (and the soothing sound of a 4-40 AM prayer from the nearby mosque)
2.Energetic Morning halfs
On the first day of waking up at 4-30, I did my studying, finished my workout, filled gas in my car, brought a few groceries and medicines, had a haircut done and was back home by 7-45 AM.
I sometimes used to wake up at this time. Felt awesome.
You would think that all of this would exhaust you completely by then. I felt the same and was worried about how my work would be affected by this.
But … .I felt much more energetic in the mornings. As soon as I finished my workouts, I was more alert, felt sharp and laser focused for the first half of the day.
Thinking back, I used to feel a bit groggy when I was waking up at 7-8 AM earlier. Not anymore!!!
3.Quality Sleep
I was getting just 5-6 hours of sleep on average. It’s tough to get your 7-8 hours of recommended sleep, as that would mean you have to go to bed by 8-30 PM. That’s not so practical.
But this had an unexpected positive side effect, I slept Deeeeep….
By around 9 PM, I was so tired that just the thought of my bed would make my eyes heavy and mind numb.
Prior to this, I was a light sleeper, it took me at least an hour to get to sleep. Also, I was waking up at the slightest sounds.
Now, I slept within 5 minutes of hitting the bed and the only thing I remember next is my morning alarm going off.
4.Better Decisions
“Good work begets good work”- Old proverb
By evening, When you look back at your day and realize that you have given it your best , attacked it with everything you got. You feel good!!!
You start to want to have this feeling. It gets easier to repeat this process the next day. You know that good feeling at the end. And when you don’t feel like working out , reading , or studying, You’re gonna push through by doing just one thing at a time.
Imagine that you did 70% of your daily routine, I guarantee you’re gonna try to finish the remaining 30% . No matter how tired/busy you are. You did so much already, might as well finish it strong.
Having said that, I did miss 3-4 days where I didn’t do everything as planned( The vacation in between put my plan in jeopardy). But once I got back on track, It felt natural and smooth again.
5.No time for the “ Not Urgent, Not Important” stuff
Guess what I didn’t do these 21 days?
- Late night movies
- Watching endless youtube videos
- Binge watching tv series
- Scrolling through social media feeds for hours
- Not much of eating out ( I did swiggy it a few times but the frequency reduced drastically)
And the best part? I didn’t miss any of those. I just didn’t have the energy or time.
The spare time on weekends/holidays was spent sleeping. I did sleep during the afternoon on weekends to make up for the lost hours.
What I could’ve done better?
I was crushing it every day and getting things done at a fast pace. But there IS a fault in my seemingly bulletproof plan (Its my design after all)
Family time
Around 6 PM, the grogginess hits me. By the time I’m back home from work, I was drained, red-eyed , and was walking around like a zombie waiting for bedtime. ( description based on actual feedback from my mom and wife ).
I took this plan so seriously that I was waking up/sleeping early even on my vacation. Ended up getting a few weird looks from the hotel staff. After all, I was the only one using their gym at 6 AM.
Now that I think about it, should’ve toned it down a bit.
As a result, couldn’t spend any quality time with my family and It was my fault entirely . I should’ve planned something in the evenings or cut back on any other stuff to make room here.
Summary
To summarize, waking up at 4-30 does get a lot done and is definitely useful when you plan to take on multiple goals at a time.
However, ensure that you don’t take it too far in one direction and lose your work/life balance.
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References
- Discipline Equals Freedom : Field Manual – Jocko Willink
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey
