My comments are still busted but I’m going to carry on regardless.
Last week I told you of my plan to wake up early and use the quiet hours to get some work done at a time when I can concentrate, i.e. when I’m not disturbed by the hubbub of daily life.
Photo: guillotine86
The first week hasn’t been a riotous success. It’s been a pretty mixed bag really.
One evening I got to bed at 10pm and set my alarm for 4am. I woke at 1am and got up. I worked through to 4.30am and couldn’t keep my eyes open so I went back to bed until 7am. Not great.
The next day I got to bed at 8.30pm and didn’t get up until 6.30am – I slept too long and that made me feel lazy.
On Sunday morning I slept through until 7.30am which is outrageous because all the children were wide awake and chattering away (for chattering, read fighting).
I managed a 5am start and also a 5.30am start but I didn’t feel I had enough time to take the benefit from it.
Before my comments section broke, I saw one from Mark McClure, who directed me to a post on Steve Pavlina’s blog. I didn’t manage to save the link and I can’t even access the comment through the admin panel, so I just read all of Steve’s articles on ‘rising early’.
Based on what I’d read, last night (Sunday night) I went to bed at 8.30pm, set my alarm for 4am and fell asleep around 9pm.
I had a bad night dealing with the children who were waking for various reasons including needing the toilet and nightmares….. and maybe nightmares about needing the toilet?
At 3.55am I woke up without prompt, swung my feet onto the carpet and started my day. I wasn’t going to allow the bad night to keep me from starting a new week on the best terms. And what a productive day I’ve had! It’s been great.
Principal amongst the achievements, I managed to exercise and write about it.
What made it even sweeter is that I had time to make scrambled eggs for my breakfast.
An added bonus was that there was no morning rush to get the children ready for school. It was just calm bliss.
I don’t know how the rest of the week will pan out but I’m declaring 4am as my non-negotiable getting up time. Well OK, everything’s negotiable, but I’d like to get into the habit of waking at this time everyday and see how much faster I can press ahead with my plans to take over the world.
Only kidding. I’ll happily settle for taking over just my life at the moment. 
I’ll let you know when the comments are back up and running but while they’re offline maybe you’d prefer to catch my posts through free updates in your feed reader. Free!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Dave – sorry to hear about the comments. All 1100 of the wee blighters – at least you’re learning about the dark backside (!) of running a blog and the attendant tables/databases.
This will stand you in good stead when you one day outsource all those tasks…
Regarding Steve Pavlina… yes, you can probably track down his getting up early posts from a search on his site. I read about his experiments with ‘polyphasic sleep’ and I’m glad it was him and not me – of course you’ve got children to do that one for you
BTW – I can’t remember if I mentioned this before here but since your readers pearls of wisdom have been zapped anyway… I’ll mention it again.
Ever thought of positioning your blog as a potential book in waiting.
http://www.visitnorthumberland.com/site/wife-in-the-north/wife-in-the-north
http://www.wifeinthenorth.com/
Judith is a very talented writer but she started with a very simple set of blog postings and took it from there.
Even if yours doesn’t flow into a book it may lead you to other paths and ventures – plus the subject material is all around you 24 x 7 !!
Some food for thought – keep writing, I always have a chuckle when I stop by here to see your latest wordsmithing.
regards
Sounds SO familiar. My kids rarely sleep through the night, and I try to get up early, but sometimes I am just getting into a sound sleep at 4AM! It’s a vicious cycle. Sometimes I think I should just give it up and hire a sitter so I can work nights!
Good for you for sticking to your goal.
Hi Mark,
I’m chuckling away at the idea of outsourcing the blogging backend stuff. Right now I’d settle for outsourcing my house cleaning. Maybe that’s a good starting point?
I didn’t get as far a Steve’s polyphasic sleep experiment. I heard him give a brief description on a video the other day. Sleeping twenty minutes at a time is not something I could do, and it can’t have been that great for him because he isn’t still doing it! I’ll probably read it though because it might give me a better idea of what our bodies and brain will tolerate.
Tara Cain actually mentioned Wife In The North to me a couple of months ago but I put it out of my mind as fanciful (for me not for her). The truth is that I don’t really consider myself a writer. I have real difficulty accepting it as anything more than a future possibility – but maybe I need to change my mind set?
I’m grateful for the reminder though because it prompted me to go and have another read.
I wouldn’t completely discount any outcome for myself and the possibilities to which you allude are precisely the reason I came to this medium.
Seeing this was a brilliant way for me to return to the comment section. Thanks Mark!!!
Jamie,
That’s the same for me. If I sleep past 4, I’m stuffed. There’s little chance of me getting out of bed.
I knew my kids would do it. They’re now aware that I’m getting up earlier even though I’m quiet, and they get up earlier too and steal all my time. Bloody typical. I thought kids needed 10 to 12 hours slee? Mine seem to get by on much less. Fuggers!
I’ve done so much night work in my time that I can’t stand the idea anymore. Mind you, I’m sure getting up at 4 still counts.
It makes that children’s Benadryl seems VERY appealing.
HA! My kids can get by on 3-4 hours of sleep for days. I think they are defective.
You’re not alone, Dave. I think it’s a conspiracy to drive us insane. It works.
Now I’m tempted to change in my cup of tea for a cup of Benadryl.
Oh wait. You meant for them, not for me?
LMAO
Well, technically either one would work. As long as you don’t mind if they tear the house down while you’re sleeping.
I’ve considered duct taping them in bed, but somehow I think that’s illegal.
Illegal????
Crikey! Where are the scissors?!