1 week of early-birding begins!

Background

My partner recently read an article about the improvements to life a 5am start time can have. The article argues that our best excuses for not accomplishing things are lack of time, but that we waste so much of it in the evening watching television or scrolling on our phones. Instead, if we rise early, we can get work done, be productive, learn a skill, etc. So my partner and I are committing to one full week of “early birding” to try it out.

I have a few counter-arguments to toss at the article, first:

1. So I want to first point out that 5am wake-ups are not for everybody, and switching over can be jarring. Maintaining a good sleep schedule is hard and necessary. The sleep hierarchy of importance is something like
   • consistency
   • hours slept
   • actual schedule
2. The time “wasted” in the evening is just as critical to our brain’s function as sleep: we must let our brain’s rest for them to continue productively. Extreme brain-paces are hard to maintain; rest is good. (Am I arguing that the best form of that rest is Netflix or Instagram? No. I prefer a combo of Netflix, music, books, video games, talking, walks, etc., on some kind of rotation. But the rest is critical.)
3. Just because I get up early, doesn’t mean I am going to be productive. I could shunt all my non-productive habits to the morning. (Thankfully, though, I haven’t.)

On to the main event.

Day 1

Well, we slept until 6am today, because my partner does not have 6am yoga to get to. And 5 is really tough when I don’t have class until 11:15am.

Nevertheless, here’s what I accomplished this morning:

• unpacked from Fall Break vacation
• clipped my fingernails
• showered
• did my morning “screen time” (mostly vi.stackexchange.com)
• checked emails
• updated my lists of stuff
• filed a bug report
• wrote a few lines of code
• wrote this article

All before 9:45am.

I have plans to deal with some podcasts and readings this morning in the time remaining. See everyone tomorrow, bright and early!

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