The Productive Night Owl
I have had some trouble sleeping lately and I feel like I have been progressively staying up later and later like I used to when I was back in school and doing way more freelance work, I really think that the problem is my mattress. The call of my full time job requires me to wake up pretty consistently “early” in the day to fill in my 9-5 time slot which has some wiggle room and sometimes longer hours. So I spend a lot of my evenings catching up on any personal work and projects such as my daily photography, Instagram posts, photoguides.net, and this blog as well.
I have always been a night owl, but I feel that at times it can be a redundant and ineffective means of productivity. I am not saying that I haven’t done some of my best work at three in the morning, but there are those few days where I wake up before the sun rises, prepare myself for the day in a gradual manner and provide myself with a sense of sustainability. Whether its with breakfast and a cup of coffee, watching the sun rise, hacking out some awesome edits, or doing all of those at the same time, there is a ripple effect that begins to emerge. It provides you with this massive amount of energy for the day with charisma and happiness. When I am constantly staying up late, waking up heading out the door within minutes with no meal, and constantly trying to catch up the rest of the morning, I feel like I am slowly getting less productive and lose ambition at times.
When was the last time you woke up 3 hours before work started?
It’s not easy waking up at 5AM. I used to wake up at 4AM for work all the time for about a year and a half when I was in school. I would work 5AM until about 10AM or 1PM, depending on the day, and then I would go to class. It felt pretty damn good to get an 8 hour work shift done before heading to class and working on projects. I was working in a produce department, so my creative energy wasn’t always as drained as it is with my current job. Today, I am in creative thought nearly 16 hours of the day which is a blessing and curse. If you want to boost your daily productivity, items such as Free Productivity Templates might be of great help.
Why has waking early and changing my habits suddenly become a mission?
For the sake of the moment in which I was immersed with revelation, I am going to quote my Instagram post from which this mission was established.
I’m not sure why I didn’t edit these sunrise photos until now, but I think I am starting understand why. With the new year now upon us, many of us have given ourselves resolutions to improve our well being. I’ll be honest and say I wish I would have have it more thought. Yeah you could just say I was lazy and late to the resolution party, but perhaps life needs to reveal itself in its own mysterious ways. Sometimes it’s revealed through people, through events, through places, and maybe even a painting or photograph. This photograph made me realize how amazing the morning really is. It is the birth of a new day. The sun rises to provide us light and color. I can’t even imagine how many sunrises I have missed. They reveal to us a sense of renewal and a fresh start and I feel like I need some of that maybe not to wipe my slate clean, but to keep me going as strong and hopefully more courageous than I have been this last year. So my mission is to seek out the sunrise and find out what I need to do, where I need to be and who I need to be.
Besides from all the touchy feely stuff that I spoke of in my Instagram post, why else would I want to start waking up at 5AM?
- I really want to see the sunrise more often because it really is awesome.
- I want to be able to free up my evenings to concentrate on my friendships with others and not be confined to my work at night.
- I don’t want to run out the door when I wake up and feel like I am playing catch up it just stresses me out.
- I want to see if it really will make me productive and healthy overall. You never know until you try.
- The morning light is most excellent for photography.
- I just want to feel like I have energy to take on the day when I go to work.
Some Tips for Waking Up Early Everyday
- Stay consistent with waking up at the same time. It takes about 3 weeks for a habit to set in and our bodies just love to find a groove.
- Go to bed at a decent hour.
- If you are having trouble being tired enough to sleep, do something about that. It’s easy to be lazy, but a good workout can help that.
- Get yourself excited for tomorrow. I love waking up excited for a new day.
- Drink some water during the day and when you wake up in the morning. It tastes great and keeps you hydrated to sleep better.
- Drink some coffee in the morning. It tastes greater!
- Make sure you are getting quality sleep. Sometimes a trip to the doctor can help you diagnose a sleep problem, as I said before, in my case my mattress is killing me, I clearly need to get another one from the labor day mattress sales 2019
- Remember why you are waking up early. In the long run its for your own benefit and that’s a good thing.
Here are some more photographs from that morning sunrise as well. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do and find some inspiration to start your days early and fresh!
You make me feel so lazy. Honestly though, I have always loved the mornings, though I am often too tired or worried about the day’s work to enjoy them lately. I have made a resolution of my own, to make at least one blog post per month for the entire year. I enjoy writing, and I always have at least one post idea running around in my head, but I find my motivation is often lacking.
We all could say we are lazy, but I will also be honest and say you are by no means a lazy person. You are raising a wonderful family and busy being the best dad and husband you can be. None of us are perfect and I have so much respect for you not only as an older cousin, but as a cool dad I can respect. I look up to you and will probably seek out your guidance in the future if I ever become a father myself.
You are too kind. I say I feel lazy because your posts make me think of all the things I could be doing, and would enjoy doing, but just don’t do. It is a reminder to myself that I still have things to strive for. I have plenty of good reasons not to do more than I am doing, but even better reasons to continue to strive for self improvement. I am reminded of a quote form an interview with the group Jars of Clay, “We are people in process till the day that we die.” Here’s to moving the process forward in the new year!
Wow, I really love that quote actually. I mean I know we are always learning, but I like the way he describes it. We are in constant process. It just rings true with me. I feel like I analyze myself all the time and process everything I do to strive for greatness.