Waking up early in the morning is not a recipe for efficiency

Advice to wake up early and change your life is everywhere. From ex-monks to ex-marines to prolific VC’s, everyone is chiming into the benefits of waking up early. The efficiency! The focus! You are practically guaranteed to be turned into a super being for waking up before the day is even a day.

I have always been a finicky sleeper. There was a period of my life when I suffered from proper insomnia. Sleeping pills made me feel exceptionally drowsy so I decided to take an alternative approach to sleeping and spent years studying it, for selfish reasons to be able to help myself. While I’m still a light sleeper, I got rid of insomnia for good. Here are the most important things that I learned about sleep:

• Our current “normal” sleeping cycle is not normal at all. Humans used to sleep for hundreds of years following very different patterns. For example, in medieval Europe, farmers would go to sleep with the sun, but then wake around 11 pm, went for visits, prayed, do light chores, or just caught up with the events of the day. This has been a sleeping pattern for millennia all over the world. You can read more about it here:  https://en.as.com/en/2022/02/07/latest_news/1644236416_837276.html
• We are individuals with different circadian rhythms and sensitivities to sleep. What works for one person, might work very differently for another. If I wake up at 4 am, I will only be sleepy and my day is practically ruined. Yes, I’ve tried it for months, never got used to it, and felt miserable the whole time.
• Telling people that waking up at 4 am (or 5 am or any specific time really) comes from a place of incredible privilege. What if you are a night shift worker? You are doomed to a life of poor performance because your shift ends at 6 am? Or if you have a toddler at home who doesn’t sleep well at night? Or taking care of someone who requires frequent care during the night?

Tips for good sleep

Instead of waking up at the crack of dawn, I found the following to be the most useful hacks for a good sleep and a productive day:

• Monitor your sleeping patterns for about a month and have a sleep diary. Not all sleep is made the same. After some time, you will be able to see the pattern of what kind of hours and sleeping habits give you the best rest.
• Pay attention to your sleeping environment. Some people are lucky and can fall asleep on the pile of rocks while music is blasting around them. Others need ultimate peace and quiet. Experiment with bedding types, smells, air temperature, and sounds. Find your best fit.
• Create a going-to-sleep ritual. This will signal to your body that the time to sleep is coming. I try to stay away from electronics for at least 30 minutes before sleep time and won’t eat any meals for at least 4 hours before going to sleep. When in bed, I write a diary entry about the day that has passed and any to-do lists for tomorrow. That helps me calm my mind and worry less. Experiment with different things that would work for you.
• On the other side of the coin, create a powerful morning or rather wake-up time ritual. Depending on your preferences, it can last anything between 5 minutes to an hour, it really depends on you. What I do recommend is to try to incorporate practices that will not only wake up your physical energy, like movement but also your mental and spiritual energy. I do a one-page morning diary and 5 minutes of morning meditation. Sometimes, I only look at the sea and palm trees through my window, soaking the world around me. Just looking at nature and having a deep inhale of the warm coffee or tea smell can already do wonders.
• Don’t read your emails first thing when you wake up. Only when you are finished with your ritual and feel that your energies are ready for the day, turn your focus to digital.

I’m not saying that waking up at 4 am will not work for everyone. If you test different approaches and it works for you, that’s fantastic! But if early mornings are impossible for you or they just leave you tired for the rest of the day, don’t force yourself to do it because it works for someone else. Take time, learn more about yourself, and do what works best for you. I hope that the practices in this article give you a good start.

Nikolina Finska is a seasoned leader, with two decade of experience. She is available for consulting and workshops in empathic leadership, company culture and operations for aligned organizations. For availability and prices please send an inquiry to info@nikolinawork.com