Opinion: You wake up at what time?

Everyone has heard of, and/or sarcastically uses the same old cliches for waking up early.

“The early bird catches the worm”, “Up before the enemy”, and so on and so forth. But for the most parts cliches are a way to dumb down the reality that lies beneath them.

I am one of those “psychopaths” that follows these mottos to no end. On weekdays I wake up between 4-4:30am and on weekends the usual time I rise is about 6-6:30am.

So why do it?

In order to have enough time in a day. Period.

A majority of the population has the same old schedule, get up around 7, maybe have a snack for breakfast and head out from there. Get to work between 8-9am and work the same schedule as everyone else.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and most people are content with that sort of schedule.

For me, when I’m on everyone else time it means I have a lack of time for myself. Lack of time to accomplish things I need to get done, lack of time to give my full attention to large tasks that need uninterrupted attention, lack of time to accomplish personal goals.

You may think there’s plenty of time post work to accomplish a ton and I can’t disagree. But let me ask you, how many times have you told yourself “tomorrow after work I’ll go to the gym, I’ll go run errands, I’m gonna spend my entire evening working on (insert project here), etc.” only to get off work and find yourself far too mentally and/or physically taxed to where motivation is lacking? I have been there as well.

This concept also applies to weekends.

Earlier I told you my crazy ass wakes up around 6-6:30am on weekends and for the same reasons. Waking up before the crack allows me to accomplish a lot during the weekend. I’m able to get a morning workout in before accomplishing personal goals, or I can get out of the house and up to the mountains for a hike before the crowds roll in. Have you seen a sunrise from an alpine lake? I can take a road trip without fear of hitting traffic or take a full day trip to Vancouver or Portland or the coast from Seattle without having to pay for a hotel.

To me the benefits are endless and always worth it.

So what’s holding you back?