What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

I started doing this because it was very difficult for me to consistently go to the gym after work. Things come up, I get tired, friends want to hang out, sometimes I just want to relax after work. But getting up and getting my workout done in the morning has many benefits: Being physical in the morning gives me an energy boost and is a great wake up call, I get my workout out of the way and I don't have to think about it the rest of the day, the gym in generally empty compared to the afternoon, helps me control my sleep cadence, and I feel great knowing that I already accomplished something significant so early in the morning (My whole workout usually spans between 1.5 and 2 hours, I do a lot of stretching and like to take my time). I also try my best not to use my phone aside from music and my workout/fitness apps.

Since I've had such great results from this, I'm thinking of trying to switch it up by working on my side project in the morning and attempting to do the gym in the evening.

In practice, this means moving discretionary time from last thing in the day to first thing, and I think there's great value in that. After all, the things we do with our discretionary time - don't we do them because they matter to us? Certainly I do! And I've found that starting my day with them, when I can approach them with a fresh mind, both improves my ability to pursue those avocations, and gives me a better platform on which to begin a day of work than scrambling to do everything at the last minute has ever done.

For the natural night owls (I am one) the power of a slow morning is just the way we roll. I am so much more productive at 9pm than 9am, and have reworked my daily schedule accordingly.

The past 2.5+ years have been: wake up, stretch and pranayama for 20 minutes, meditate for 30 minutes, make tea/coffee, write for 30-40 minutes, shower and then off to work. (I've moved the reading to the evenings before bed.) All in it's about 2 hours from waking up until out the door to walk to work.

My work days now start even more focused -- previously I'd just be sitting at my desk being only semi productive, waiting for the coffee to kick in. It's worth giving it a try for a couple months to see how it works for you.

In Vancouver I can wake up at 7am, go to the gym in my building or the nearby community centre, read, do some shores, have a lazy breakfast and still walk or take a short bike ride into work at 10am.

I can't imagine throwing all that free time away just to sit in traffic.

> He wakes up every morning naturally, without the aid of an alarm clock.

> "I like to putter in the morning," Bezos told a gathering of Economic Club of Washington, DC. "So I like to read the newspaper. I like to have coffee."

The last hour of a day is hardly the finest. If you move it to the morning, you'll get to enjoy your day in three parts, not two: morning/body/mind/soul, afternoon/work, evening/play.

I still get up insanely early (always been one of those people) but I use that time for me between cooking, exercise, reading, thinking, meditating, etc.

Not sprinting to work (whether it be from home or in the office) has led to less hours "working" but more getting done with higher quality.

Now, I can't all pin it on going slower. It is probably cumulative between that time spent on me, focused on my kids (I take them to school almost every day now), and higher energy/focus time on work.

I've always said you can't schedule creativity (and no matter what your role within Product Development direct/indirect) we are all creative folks solving hard problems. I just don't fill that downtime with staring at my PC and instead invest it on me.

When in office I've even started taking a mid-afternoon nap. That also has had a big effect. I'm kinda rambling at this point, but taking material steps back daily have led to significant improvements in my throughput across the board.

$0.02

At one extreme, I once attended a week and a half meditation retreat in which you're up at 4, meditating for about 11 hours every day and the whole thing is silent. I felt such heightened moral and mental clarity by the fifth and sixth days that I began sleeping less, sometimes lying awake until 2 or 3am (and up at 4), but felt full of energy each day.

At the other extreme, carrying on in a big city, I indulge in vices, deviate from my notion of perfect morality, exaggerate in conversations, eat meat, engage in reactive behavior with others, fail to keep up a meditation routine etc., and I end up sleeping 7-8 hours like clockwork.

I have a twofold theory 1. Internal monologue creates excess pathways in the brain that need to be pruned, creating the need to sleep. Decreasing the amount and degree of our internal monologue (sometimes called 'being present') decreases the amount of these pathways and thus the sleep we need. 2. Failure to act rightly/morally/virtuously creates the need to sleep. The more our daily actions are in line with our sense of right action, right morality, the less sleep we will need. The deeper theory here is that immoral acts cause neurological agitation that creates toxins in the brain that sleep flushes away.

My theory is supported by my understanding of sleep as having the function of 'flushing toxins' from the brain and 'pruning' neurological pathways that the brain determines not useful, such as a thought you had that day in your internal monologue. Immoral acts tend to nag at us, even if only a little act and a little bit, creating anxious internal monologue, compounding the need for sleep.

The alternative is that I spend the first hour of the day in the way that I spend the last hour of the day, in front of a screen. Which doesn't seem to work well for me.

No tech after 930pm (read books, Kindle is OK) No tech until I’m at the gym around 630 the next morning (checking phone first thing in the morning is a pit of disaster) Bath, meditate, journal. Work at 930am.

If I'm going to be at work by 9AM then I have to rush around to do everything. I've cut my morning activities down to do so but I'd like an extra hour or so every morning. An hour and a half would be ideal so I could get the gym out of the way.

But It doesnt look like that will happen anytime soon.

Honestly the deciding factor was that I couldn't stomach the idea of getting up two hours earlier every day. My mornings are long, drawn out affairs where I have ~3 hours to hang out with my kids, listen to the radio, do some chores, and generally prepare myself for the day. Having had that for the past several years, the idea of giving it up was just too much for me.

My conclusion is that it is a waste of mental energy which is very evident on days you are feeling under the weather etc. These days it is all about a gradual wake up, having a nutritious breakfast and spending time with my dog (walking) before I leave for work commute.

I use it to foster an attitude of work-life balance. When you wake up in the morning in order to go to work, work is the focus. When you wake up and hours later go to work, it's just that thing that sucks up a lot of the middle of your day. I stay way saner and less burnt out due to this habit.

So since I started doing this, my life has changed