For Your Consideration: Should You Wake Up Early?

By Lev Novak

Every Wednesday, we consider something you so you don’t have to. Disagree? Do the opposite. You’re an adult.

Should you wake up early?

That’s a question that people have discussed for generations- by which I mean, the generations around you have told you exactly what to do. Your parents want you to walk up earlier. Younger cousins want you to wake up earlier. Grandparents think you should stop listening to that flim-flam rap music.

They all think you should. But should you?

Look: I’m not going to lecture you. Waking up early is hard– way harder than it sounds. That’s because, while it sounds easy, it’s deceptively complicated. Waking up early requires a few key things; a reason to wake up early, purpose in the wake-up and, of course, the night before.

A reason to wake up early is the most important part. You can’t wake up early just because you feel like you’re “supposed to”. There’s no “supposed to”- maybe you’re a night person- I spent years going to bed at 3 AM and waking up at Noon (hi, haters) very happily and productively. I get that totally. If you try to force yourself awake early for no reason, guess what? You’ll hate it. It’ll feel pointless.

So what you need is a reason, and not a one-time reason; waking up early for a flight is a thing you have to do. Waking up earlier as a concept is about a change, and there has to be a reason: wanting to exercise (really deeply wanting to,) feeling lonely and listless at night (sunlight is going to help, as will being awake when other people are too) and, lastly, wanting better sleep.

For me, I’ve started waking up earlier because I want to go to bed earlier, and waiting in bed at 2:30 AM, awake and bored after an hour and a half of Netflix is the worst. It’s purgatory. I want to be asleep when I sleep, and since I can’t force myself to sleep earlier, I wake up earlier. I chug some coffee, start my day, and then at bedtime I’m actually tired. It’s awesome.

So to review: you need a purposeful wake-up.

No, that’s not the same as the reason. A purposeful wake-up means bolting out of bed. Because if you wake up an hour and a half early, and you spend forty-eight minutes half-snoozing (but too afraid to fully fall asleep) then you’re in trouble. Especially with an earlier wake-up, you can’t waste your profits on dozing. You need to snap and get moving, or else, guess what? You’re going to fall back asleep. Because, deep down, you know you can.

Don’t do what you can. Do what you want.

Lastly- and this is the tricky part- you have to plan the night before. You have to be willing to give up late night internet browsing and killing time late at night. You have to be ready to go “yup, it’s sleep-time” when you’re body is sleepy. And if you’re a person who doesn’t have a lot of free time- I’m going to be honest here- that isn’t worth it. Lots of great things happen when you might otherwise be sleepy- hanging out, parties, relaxing, watching Breaking Bad and even homework. Waking up early is great, but not at the expense of doing what you’d otherwise do at night. Skipping a party to wake up early just to wake up isn’t “productive”- it’s a waste.

So, to review: waking up early…might not be worth it. It’s only worth it if you have a reason, and only if you have enough free time that you can spare your tired-hours to sleep. But if you hit all three of these notes- if you’ve done everything you wanted to do that night and you really want to do something, then it might be worth it to set that early alarm. Just be sure to get started instantly. Otherwise, you won’t be jogging- you’ll be the guy napping in your jogging shirts.

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