As far as I knew, I had always been a night owl. In high school, I woke up as late as I possibly could to catch up on sleep. Then I’d stay up till 1 or 2 a.m. to finish all my work and study for exams, repeating the process. On weekends, I’d even sleep in till 11 a.m. some days, but continue to feel exhausted and sleepy throughout the day. I continued this pattern in college, sleeping as late as possible after picking late classes as often as I could, and then pulling all-nighters at Du Bois. Though I thought this was the right course of action for me, I still felt tired and sleep-deprived, and barely had the motivation to stay up at night unless I drank at least six cups of coffee in a row.
One good thing about quarantine was that I had all that time to really figure myself out. My classes went from a strict schedule to a “make it if you can. I know times are tough.” I took advantage of this, often choosing to watch lectures later on as much as possible. And then one day, I stumbled across a productivity video by youtuber Jem, where she started a routine of waking up at 5 a.m. every day to see how it benefitted her. To me, who had been associating 1 a.m. with prime study time since high school, this seemed completely crazy. But it was quarantine. What did I have to lose? Might as well give it a shot and see how it makes me feel. Here’s what happened.
It did wonders for my concentration and focus.
Turns out, I am a morning person. I just never knew because I flew with the norm and forced myself to stay up and sleep in, which is what all my friends were doing. Waking up at 5 a.m. was difficult at first, but I forced myself to make my bed, hydrate, do some stretches and gentle yoga, make a to-do list, and then start accomplishing things one by one. More often than not, the meat of all my work was finished by about noon. I was surprisingly much more focused in the morning. There was a quiet calmness to the atmosphere in my house that helped me hyper-concentrate, and it seemed like I was much more inspired to work. More information stayed in my head, and I crammed less, knowing I had the entire day still lying ahead of me.
Knowing that it helped me this much, here are some tips I gathered throughout quarantine on how to make the best of your early bird experience.
- Make a task list.
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The night before, write down everything you need to accomplish tomorrow. I started out with the easiest tasks in the morning to get myself out of that post-sleep haze and into work mode. I slowly worked my way up the difficulty ladder, and before I knew it, more things were crossed off the task list than not.
- Light exercise in the morning.
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For me, taking a one mile jog as soon as I woke up was not my thing. However, 30 minutes of stretches and light yoga in my room was just the thing I needed to get my body awake and moving. It not only motivated me to get started on my work, it gave me a little bit of exercise right away!
- Sleep earlier at night.
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The earlier you sleep, the easier it will be to wake up in the morning. I’m not saying knock out at 8 p.m.. For me, I set a goal to be asleep before 11:30 p.m. each night—even during finals week. It was tough, but definitely manageable.
- Soak in natural light.
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My window faces east, so opening up the window and letting in some natural lighting was really helpful. As soon as my alarm rang, I’d make it a point to open the curtains up and sit in front of the window, getting some Vitamin D and taking some time to look out at my surroundings. Instead of hitting snooze and messing up your sleep cycle even more, this is a great way to get yourself sitting up. The hardest part of waking up in the morning truly is just getting out of bed.
Since waking up early each morning, my productivity has soared. I got so much accomplished and even got the evening to spend time with family/friends and take some time for myself. I didn’t have to spend it cramming and freaking out over how late I’d have to stay up that day in order to get things done. I also definitely felt more energized throughout the day. I would consistently get at least 7-8 hours of sleep a day and also accomplish more in the first half of the day, which encouraged me to keep working to complete my goals so I could have some time to myself later on. Lastly, becoming an early bird led to a crazy sense of self-discipline. My biological clock now wakes me up at around 7:30 a.m. without an alarm, and I usually get up and do something productive or something that makes me feel good, which is always the goal.
So you never know. Maybe you’ve been staying up all night to study and maybe it’s even been working for you so far.
But there’s no harm in trying out something completely new, see if it changes the way you think and act.
Like I said before, what’s there to lose?
There’s so much to gain!