Waking up at 4am

You've probably seen a title like this everywhere on the Internet.

And I too, have constantly searched for the recipe for success when it comes to maximizing my productivity.

You hear it over and over, "waking up at 4am changed my life" or "why someone who wakes up at 4am is more successful". About a year ago, I naturally took the bait because I wanted to be successful. It lasted about 3 days...

Here's what a lot of those articles/videos/blogs miss when it comes to some "productivity strategy", including waking up at 4am. The "productivity strategy" is just that, a strategy. Or a way I like to think of it, an enabler. Waking up so early in the morning enables a person to perform, work in quiet without distraction, or just get started on something before other obligations. So as you would imagine, waking up before the sun comes up is not the miracle you've been looking for, unless you make it one.

A little context: A few weeks ago, I had a moment where I said to myself, "I'm tired of being stuck". Ever since leaving college and getting on my feet in the "real world", I would waste evenings and weekends binge watching TV or playing video games. I felt that I deserved this time though because I worked hard during the day for 8 - 10 hours. But the feeling of "not getting anything accomplished" really kept creeping in on me. Especially because, as a software engineer, I want to build things and more importantly I want to build my passion projects that I've dreamed up. Occasionally, I would find myself starting something only to leave it after a week or two later. What was I doing wrong? Why am I letting go of the things that I want to do, to then go do things that make me guilty for not doing the original things I wanted to do?? (sorry that was a mouthful). So in order to overcome this cycle I would find myself in, month after month. I made a commitment to myself that I would finish building something. But I had to ask myself, how on earth will I stick with it when I know I've repeated the same cycle so many times?

Enter the Big Change. It's no secret, we will stick with our habits that are comfortable and are, in our mind, providing reward. Playing video games for hours after work sounds pretty relaxing/rewarding, instead of sitting at my desk to then write more code. So I thought to myself, how could I convince my brain to forsake the easy route, get started, and most importantly stick to my new project? The answer for me, was shifting when I was supposed to work on my project. I decided that I was going to wake up everyday at 4am to contribute work to my project.

I'm weeks into this "productivity strategy" and it's absolutely working. (I will soon be sharing the prototype of my big idea here on IH soon). I've written more code and seen more progress on my project than I've ever seen before (outside of my day job of course).

If you're interested here's how it works for me:

1. Every night before going to bed or at some point in the day, I write out what I plan on accomplishing on my project in the morning
2. Maybe not as easy as we think, but GO TO BED EARLY!
3. When I wake up, I drink a glass of water, start coffee up, and then I do the dishes. These three tasks, one a little more difficult than the previous, create repetition and a nice sense of accomplishment. Once these have been accomplished, I'm ready to sit down at my desk and work

I fully acknowledge that this will not work for every person out there, because we are all wired differently. I was just lucky to find out that I can be hyper-productive in the early morning hours. So that's what I'll leave you with: Give it a shot, you might be surprised or even better, realize that these "productivity strategies" are not the tools themselves, but rather an enabler that gives opportunity to using those tools to build something.

Thanks for taking the time to read and I wish you all the very best!