{"id":742,"date":"2019-04-17T08:29:07","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T08:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joshfrom.nz\/?p=742"},"modified":"2019-04-17T09:09:39","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T09:09:39","slug":"6am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshfrom.nz\/index.php\/2019\/04\/17\/6am\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows 95 and 6 am Wake Ups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was super tired one morning and joked with Katie that I felt like Windows 95.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you remember the loading screen? The one with the flag, the loading bar, and what felt like an eternity before the computer finally decided to come alive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt so slow and foggy waking up for the day. It was how I felt most mornings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Late nights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For what feels like forever I have not been a morning person. I am a night owl, I\u2019m always one of the last people to be up, talking, watching, reading, thinking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t always like that though. When I was a kid I would wake up super early, bright and cheerfully ready to face the day (much like my 6-year-old does now)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew it was related to the fact that I stay up late most nights but I was stuck in a cycle. I would procrastinate a job until the last minute, freak out about a looming deadline and stay up late to get it done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My body clock adjusted to this routine, expecting midnight to be about the time my body starts to wind down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Interview and an Email <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have wanted to be a morning person for a long time now, but whatever I seemed to try didn\u2019t work. Around the same time I was interviewing Geoff<\/a>, I got emailed this from Matt D’Avella<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve struggled to wake up early before I suggest keeping it simple & waking up 1 hour before you normally do. If you want some advice on how to wake up early watch this video<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The double whammy of inspiration from Geoff and Matt\u2019s video gave me the motivation I needed to give it another crack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took on Matt’s challenge and set the goal to wake up at 6 am for the month of March. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the last 47 days (it’s have carried on) I have achieved this for all except a couple of days. For example, when I was travelling back to NZ and landed in Auckland at 1 am I gave myself a treat,<\/g> and slept in until 7:30 \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Made The Difference? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

No screens after 9 – I feel like this was the biggest contributor to getting to sleep at a reasonable hour. It\u2019s like when you go camping, it gets dark really early, and because there isn\u2019t an excess of fake light, you get tired and go to sleep early. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My wife Katie wanted to make sure I point out there have been plenty of times where I have still used a screen after 9 pm \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this is true, what I have found is that I have set an ideal time. Drawn a line in the sand. This has given me something to aim for, so if it’s 9:30 and I am still on a screen I think “crap, I need to get off this” and start winding down. This may sound simple but previously I would easily sit on a screen until 11 or 12. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plan the next day and put my clothes out – it’s mental preparation for the next day. This means when I wake I don\u2019t have to make decisions about what I should do, I don\u2019t waste mental energy going around in circles and my wife is happy that I don’t wake her up by turning the light on and rummaging around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just start getting ready and attack the task on the list I already decided was \u201cmost important\u201d for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phone on the shelf, not the bedside table. This helped on both sides of the sleep equation. Its<\/g> pretty obvious why. At night I can’t pick it up out of boredom to have quick look at whats<\/g> changed in the last 2 mins on instragram, and in the morning I have to quickly get out of bed to turn the alarm off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So What Does a Morning Look Like? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How has this impacted my days\/weeks? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am usually at the office or a cafe around 7 am. Before I open my emails, I pick a task that I need to tackle and dedicate 30 mins. Again similar to Geoff<\/a>, I am finding the time in the morning is becoming crucial to my day’s success. In 1 hour of morning time, I can achieve the same as I would in 2 – 3 hours of afternoon time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am finding the no screens from 9 pm rule means I am going to bed earlier for a start, I just get to a point where I start to feel tired (and bored) and decide oh well it\u2019s time for bed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am actually falling asleep a lot faster as well. I used to toss and turn for ages, sometimes lying in bed thinking for hours. I attempt to read a couple of pages of a book before drifting off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest impact is that I feel like I am getting a headstart on the day. It used to feel like I was playing catch up. Sleep till 8, wake up, rush off to a meeting (because everyone I work with had already started their work day) and then be on the back foot for the rest of the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this headstart, I feel like I am getting more done, by having that first productive morning hour it leads to me knocking off more jobs throughout the day,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Closing Note on Changing Habits, <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I really like how Matt encourages you to do one thing at a time, change 1 habit per month and over the year that adds up to 12 habits changed. It has come up a number of times in the material he puts out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It makes sense, yet for some reason, we have these flashes of inspiration and try to overhaul our entire life in one go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only tackle one thing at a time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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