What do HN readers do to get motivated and start the day awesomely when working on a startup?
Full disclosure: I'm asking because we want to make our startup's alarm clock app better. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chaoscollective.warmly
But in periods when I've really had trouble with getting up, the core problem hasn't been physically awakening my brain, it's been that as soon as I woke up I knew there was just boring miserable shit all day to look forward to, so I was likely to just snooze.
In those periods, I discovered that the only effective way to get my brain going enough to understand the rational course of action (getting up & showered), was to have something fun within reach -- my computer, usually.
So I'd wake up at the first ring of my phone alarm, then flip up my laptop and read some Reddit or whatever.
If I really needed an exceptionally effective alarm clock, I'd want something that maybe starts talking for five minutes about something interesting, or prompts me with some captivating question, or shows me a gallery of cool pictures, or something.
Money, glory, and fun actually get me out of bed.
- It is quiet. Most of my coworkers get in between 9:30 and 10:00, so if I'm here at 8:30, I get a solid hour to handle the administrivia part of my job - emails, daily task sorting, etc.
- I get to leave earlier. I like to have my afternoons, so if I'm in early, I get to take off early. This is not set in stone solid, and I can always take off if I absolutely have to (or work from home), but for the day to day, if I'm in at 8:30, I'm out at 4:30, and that lets me have time to handle my personal stuff, beat traffic, run errands, anything.
I find it's also much easier to get out of bed when you know what you need to accomplish and what's on your agenda for the day. A sense of urgency is a great motivator.
I'll have to try socks next time :)
She uses some sort of fitness wrist-thing to wake up - maybe a Jawbone? I love it, because there's no more harsh alarm noise - no noise at all, usually, although sometimes I can hear it buzz a wee bit.
Additional motivators:
1. Light - Before bed I open all the curtains
2. Tasks - I lay out all my tasks the night before. Less stress thinking about all the things I have to do. Wunderlist everything and then stop stressing.
3. Fun First - I try to put a fun task at the top of the list each morning. Makes it fun to get up.
4. Alarm not near bed - Having the alarm away from the bed I have to get up to turn it off. Once I'm up and moving I rarely feel the need to get back into bed.
I guess it comes down to trying to plan logically the day before vs. being too tired to care when the alarm goes off. Reminds me of the extreme where your alarm starts sending money to a political party you don't like if you hit snooze. :)
What got me out of bed was the thought of what he'd watch after the first video.
It's interesting now that I think about it because I used to be totally a night person not too long ago.
I like challenges, like workouts, in the morning as well. If I overcome stuff in the morning, before I start my day, chances are I will have a productive day.
* Looking forward to spending time with my children ( post work, or all day on weekends )
* Known exactly what I have to accomplish that day ( task breakdown )
* Exercise, I really enjoy known that I'll have time to workout, this goes with having a schedule.
* Interesting problems to solve at work ( related to task breakdown I suppose )
If not, are there other ways you wake up that put you in a productive mindset?
Since recently, a recorded motivational message: http://blog.wojt.eu/post/51792538207/get-your-custom-motivat...
http://veenix.blogspot.com/2005/10/alarm-clocks-are-bad-how-...
On one level it's great, but at the same time it's often distracting relative to sitting down and being productive.
I haven't used an alarm in five years, ever since I stopped staying up late on weeknights.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid...
+1 for having Back in Black on vinyl.
I'm not joking. Slam one of those right after you wake up and you'll have a really productive first few hours of your day and over time will start to look forward to getting out of bed because of the near-instant high it gives you.
I find that the small gap between in-bed and out-of-bed is the crux of getting up.
Once I'm up and about I'm generally OK, but those moments of pain when I open my eyes to see it's time to get up and do stuff are the killer.
It contains the same caffeine as a cup of coffee, but costs $3USD instead of $0.10.
Once I hit a certain savings threshold, I quit my job because I know the whole (my bank account) is greater than the sum of its parts (putting up with horrible software shops)
Then...I do it all over again.
I think the saying you're looking for is actually "the ends don't justify the means".