Over the past few months I have read a lot of material on the benefits of waking up earlier in the morning. The general idea is that the pre-morning rush is quiet, peaceful and affords less distractions, thereby allowing you to concentrate on the things that are important to you, whether that be meditating, studying, working, exercising – the possibilities are endless.
I’m curious as to whether this method really enables someone to start their day off right: productive and calm. So, I am going to start waking up at 5 o’clock to evaluate the results for myself and write about my findings.
But first, a quick run down of what I’ve read and what I expect to achieve.
Many a person has claimed that one of the most constructive aspects of waking up earlier is the chance to take a breath and decide what your goals are for the day. By planning out your day before it has even started you are able to be more goal orientated and get more done. Writing down the things you wish to achieve that day could also be beneficial as it frees up your mind and takes away the stress of having to memorize your to-do list, that’s not to mention it’s the perfect way to avoid that annoying moment of knowing that you have something important to do but being unable to remember what it was.
Another advantage of waking up earlier is being able to have a good breakfast, in place of a piece of bread with some jam because “that’s all you have time to make”, or worse no breakfast at all. The early start provides you with a bit of extra time to really think about what you want to eat and make a tasty and nutritious meal.
Thirdly, we have the productivity factor. This is perhaps the main reason why people decide to start getting up earlier in the first place. For a lot of us the late nights aren’t productive; by the time you get to 9, 10 or 11 o’clock, you’re tired and unmotivated and as a result the majority of us use this time to watch TV or YouTube videos that do not enrich our lives in any way! Whereas, the mornings are when you have the most energy, after a good night’s sleep, so why not wake up a bit earlier so that you can put that energy to good use?
The example that people generally give is exercise. In the afternoon or evening, after a full day at work or school, exercise is the last thing you want to do and consequently you decide to skip a workout session. But imagine if you had more time in the morning to use your morning energy to work out before you even truly started your day.
Alternatively, this bout of energy could be put towards studying or reading or drawing or any other passion that you might have!
The last aspect that I am going to comment on is the quiet. How easy it must be to concentrate on whatever you are doing when there are no other noises or people to distract you. At this time in the morning most people are still in bed, and so there is no external noise, no one is messaging you or calling you, there’s nothing on TV and out of respect for your neighbours you’re unable to do certain activities (like hoover or listen to music).
So, I am going to start waking up at 5 o’clock every morning. With my added 3 hours of time I am going to try to plan out my day, have a healthy breakfast, do 30 minutes of exercise, get myself showered and ready for the day and finally spend an hour on some form of academic activity (study, essays, class prep, etc.).
Once I have thoroughly evaluated the effects of my early start to the day, I will write about my experience and decide whether it is beneficial for me and if I want to carry on with this routine!