Readers know that I’m a morning person. Here’s my piece on the allure of very early mornings.
I’ve written lots about finding time that way and sometimes about how I can struggle with it.
Still it’s my go-to way of finding time for work and for fitness.
If I’ve got a big thing due the next day staying up late to finish it doesn’t occur to me. Instead, I go to bed early and set the alarm at 4 or 5 as needed, even 3 rather than staying up late.
I admire celebrities who are very early risers. How does The Rock, for example, find time to work out? He gets up super early. My Rock app alarm time gives me the option of getting up at Rock Time. I can get set my alarm for whatever time he chooses. Usually that’s at 330 am.
I reported on my week with the Rock Clock here.
Now Mark Wahlberg has one upped the Rock, sharing his sleep and workout and prayer schedule with the world. He gets up even earlier at 2:30 am. He’s in bed by 7:30 pm.
Here’s a plea to save Mark Wahlberg from this schedule.
Can you imagine going to bed at 7:30 and rising at 2:30? He does it he says to get the exercise out of the way before his family wakes up.
For Wahlberg and the Rock looking fit is part of their job. They need those muscles and those visible abs.
I’m an academic dean. There’s no merit pay for muscles in my role. But still I’m fascinated by the super successful extreme early risers.
My mother’s theory, at least I think it’s my mother’s, is that nothing good happens in the evening. Usually it’s a time to sit around and relax. Few people write or workout in the evening. Instead, so this theory goes, we eat cookies and watch television.
(Note to friends who are super productive night owls. I see you. I know you. And I know it’s not true for all people. That’s why I attributed the view to my mother. Sorry mom. I know night owls who struggle with trying to fit into society’s norms around work and schedules.)
But for people like me who are “Alive, Alert, Awake, Enthusiastic” in the morning, the evenings can be a sink hole of inactivity.
We likely need some of that down time, true. But how much?
As far as getting to your goals, it’s wasted time. But I’m never tempted to turn on Netflix in the morning. The most procrastinate-y stuff I get up to is dog walking and house cleaning.
So the morning, the early morning, feels like the best time to exercise.
How about you?
