

Alarm Clock Myth - How to wake up early - ashishb4u
http://ashishlive.blogspot.in/2013/02/alarm-clock-myth-how-to-wake-up-early.html

======
ColinWright
Another piece of alleged universal wisdom where one person mistakes their own
personal experience in their own personal domain for a universal truth.

Suppose I go to bed at some time before midnight, having set my alarm for a
"drop dead" time of 06:30. Suppose now I wake at 05:30. Do I proactively
switch off the alarm and rise?

What about if I wake at 05:00? Or 04:30? Or 02:00?

Where is the cut-off? Where is the wisdom that solves all my problems,
enabling me not to have to make any decisions?

I'm really tired of people telling me what to do and how to run my life based
on their "epiphany" about their pico-universe, ignoring the immense and
fantastic diversity of life outside their own experience.

~~~
pretoriusB
> _What about if I wake at 05:00? Or 04:30? Or 02:00?_

Then go back to sleep, dummy. Does he have to spell it out for you?

> _Where is the wisdom that solves all my problems, enabling me not to have to
> make any decisions?_

That's called being dead. Until then try to take advice for what it is: a
recipe that you can try and adjust to taste.

~~~
ColinWright
So this post amounts to say:

 _Here's a suggestion: wake up, look at the clock. Now make a decision about
whether it's time to get up, then take action based on that._

This is new? This is news? This is helpful? This is of deep interest?

None of the above - it was a waste of time.

But it's not just this one thing. I see so many people intent on sharing their
personal revelations that it's now impossible to find genuine insights that
are more widely applicable than that one person's experience. This is the age
of crowd-sourced "wisdom", where everyone thinks their own discoveries will
apply universally. Anecdote over data, experience over research.

However, I am going to learn something from it. There's a lesson that I'm
taking away for my own personal growth and edification. I'll share it here
with you in case you want to learn from it as well: some stuff on HN (and
other sites) is a complete waste of time. Be ruthless about what you read -
you only have one life to spend. Time spent cannot be regained.

 _Edited to remove some snark and tidy up._

~~~
pretoriusB
> _So I still have to wake, look at the clock, make a decision about whether
> it's time to get up, then take action based on that._

Yes, no magic unicorns and fairies spreading pixie dust to wake you up at just
the right moment, I'm afraid.

The indecipherable to you message of the story is: don't go back to sleep if
you happen to wake up shortly before the alarm clock. Just wake up.

Now, if you woke yourself up at 3:00, as you ask in your previous comment,
that doesn't fall on the "shortly" period before a 6:30 way, so by all means
go back to sleep. I mean, Oh, those hard decisions...

> _But it's not just this one thing. I see so many people intent on sharing
> their personal revelations that it's now impossible to find genuine insights
> that are more widely applicable than that one person's experience. This is
> the age of crowd-sourced "wisdom", where everyone thinks their own
> discoveries will apply universally. Anecdote over data, experience over
> research._

I think that what you write above ONLY APPLIES TO YOU. Perhaps you should do
some more research into the matter, instead of shoving your personal anecdotes
on to us.

~~~
ColinWright
_> The indecipherable to you message of the story is: don't go back to sleep
if you happen to wake up shortly before the alarm clock. Just wake up._

Yes, I actually got that. Of course, it took reading the whole article to
realize that it was telling me that, so I'm left wondering why it was posted
to HN.

 _> > But it's not just this one thing. I see so many people intent on sharing
their personal revelations that it's now impossible to find genuine insights
that are more widely applicable than that one person's experience. This is the
age of crowd-sourced "wisdom", where everyone thinks their own discoveries
will apply universally. Anecdote over data, experience over research._

 _> I think that what you write above ONLY APPLIES TO YOU. Perhaps you should
do some more research into the matter, instead of shoving your personal
anecdotes on to us._

OK, so I'll start my research. Has this blog post taught you anything? Was
this worth the time you spent reading it? I'll go ask a few more people, and
if I get statistically significant results I might post about it.

------
hkdobrev
If only there was a way to go to bed early instead of reading HN, I might be
able to wake up before my alarm.

------
josso
What if I wake up 2 hours before the alarm clock goes off? I can live with 15
or 30 minutes but any more and I most likely will go to sleep again. Where is
the cut-off from too-early to perfect morning routine?

~~~
peteretep
What would your best-guess be on the answer to this question?

------
snarfy
When I was in high school I had a digital radio alarm clock. I had my alarm
set at 6am. There was a time over the course of a month, where every single
day, I would wake up at 5:59, and as my hand was reaching over to disable it,
the alarm would go off mid-slap. It was at this point I realized how good our
internal clocks are (to the second?), and I haven't used an alarm clock since.
The trick is going to bed on time. Also, mental exercise is far more tiring
than physical exercise. If you can't sleep you aren't working your brain hard
enough.

------
goldfeld
This is spot on. For me the key is in getting up earlier than ever you would
need according to daily pressures. Right now I'm getting up around 4am, and
since I adapted to it (I take melatonin so that's really easy) I don't need an
alarm clock anymore. Sometimes I wake up naturally before that, sometimes
later. But it's healthy, my body gets a gentle start, and I'm never late (on
days I oversleep so hard that I feel sorry for myself it turns out it's 6:30am
or something) if duty calls. And as a programmer I love getting some good work
done on side projects before I head off to work my 9-to-5.

Granted I need to hit bed around 8pm at most (since I really like to get up
even earlier around 3am), and I'm still trying to puzzle out how that's gonna
work with my social life. My day job kinda gets in the way of otherwise being
able to do a siesta and then sleep less at night. But for February I took the
plunge of sleeping at the same time everyday, and that means a full month
without nightlife, to cement a good habit. Carnival season 'round here makes
that easier, since there is beer and parades a-plenty as early as morning.

------
drKarl
What about those alarms that simulate sunrise with a gradual light, and so you
wake up slowly, and not in a sudden annoying noise?

~~~
lucraft
I started using one of these this year, and it's working well, but not in the
way I expected.

I expected that: the light would wake me up, and it would be nicer than an
alarm.

In actuality: I wake up often in the early morning anyway, and normally I roll
over and go to sleep. If I happen to wake up in the 20 minutes when the light
is rising, I don't go back to sleep, I just get up instead.

Result: the light isn't "waking me up", but I awaken "naturally" most days
because of the light anyway.

------
BruceIV
The article makes sense - the only thing I'd add is "go to sleep at a
consistent time at night, and you'll wake up at a consistent time in the
morning" (also, avoid caffeine, it throws your sleep schedule off like mad)

------
tzury
Here is my routine:

I get up every morning between 4:00 to 4:15 while my phone is set to 04:20.

This way, I walk into the office around 05:15 and start my day.

I usually leave between 18:00 to 18:30, get home within 30 minutes.

That leaves about 3+ hours to be with the family, kids + wife, before going to
sleep around 22:30.

On crazy times, I wake up even earlier (naturally or setting earlier alarm
clock).

I prefer getting up earlier than going to sleep later. That is, my actual
deadline is the sleep time, not the wake time.

~~~
3pt14159
You sir, work too much!

I was once victim of it myself; but rest assured that it _is_ possible to work
less than fifteen hours a day. I've currently managed to get it down to about
ten hours a day, with the occasional burst up to twelve. On a really bad week,
I'll work Sunday as well, but that doesn't usually happen much any more.

You already have step one done: Getting up early. Although I'm afraid you may
have overdid it a bit. Step two: living close to work seems like it is in
order as well. Children == exercise (usually) and I will assume you have
nicely prepared meals at home.

This leads me to believe the problem is the work itself. Do you have enough
people that you trust to be competent in your absence? Have you taken time to
get them up to the level that when they come to you it is usually to address
an unforeseen obstacle? Do they report problems and recommendations in the
same breath?

Let me tell you of the glory of getting back to a ten hour work day: Glorious!
Magical. Liberating. A most worthy goal.

~~~
tzury
Within the first year(s) of a startup, you end up almost every day, with more
open tasks than you have started. That is the way it is right here right now.

So, I cannot just stop thinking about chores/tasks/goals at a certain point of
a day. If I will quit early, I will be "bothered" at home or when hanging with
friends.

------
gokfar
This advice falls under the general pattern of addressing a relatable problem
and offering a solution that validates the reader's intuition without
explaining how to make the behavior habitual. Stating what I want to achieve
(waking up before my alarm) doesn't help me achieve it.

The author claims to have 'given a lot of thought' to other products. What
products? Is pure reason the right approach for deriving solutions to
behavioral problems?

~~~
flatfilefan
"Stating what I want to achieve (waking up before my alarm) doesn't help me
achieve it." Actually it may work exactly this way. There are many different
psychological techniques that amount to doing just that. One of them is to
make your wish the last thought before you go asleep. It doesn't work just the
next day but it does work if you apply it repeatedly. Just be careful about
what you wish, as it will come true and you have to be prepared.

------
rgbrenner
I've been getting up at 4:30 for years. Here's the secret: go to bed earlier.
Unless there's a deadline, I'm in bed by 10-10:30.

grounding breaking stuff right?

~~~
rtpg
not to be a curmudgeon but doesn't that conflict with your social life? I know
I'd have some problems doing that.

Also 6 hours a day doesn't seem very healthy. Would think you would aim more
for 7 or 8 hours.

~~~
snarfy
Contrarily, doesn't your social life conflict with your sleep schedule? One is
going to suffer. It depends on what you value more. I have nearly the exact
schedule as rgbrenner. I've learned to make sleep a priority. If I stay out
until 1, I'm still going to wake up at 4:30 and be tired that next day. But I
don't go out until 1 everyday.

Also, probably most important, is that I'm nearly 40. I'm more focused on
projects than people at this point. I wake up early because I have something I
want to work on. When I was younger, I was waking up late because I was
staying out late chasing girls.

~~~
rtpg
Well my sleep schedule doesn't require me to wake up at 4:30, I usually don't
need to wake up until 7.

Where I live now, public transportation pretty much shuts down after midnight
anyways though, so most times I can get home before 1 AM, which will give me a
serviceable amount of sleep, at least until a day off.

------
seanmcdirmid
My mind works well in the morning, so I'm motivated to wake up as early as the
local coffee shop opens...so in Asia I wake up around 6AM (since nothing opens
until 7) while in the states I can wake up much earlier (~5AM). Having
something to look forward to in the morning (coding!) creates a natural alarm.

------
rotten
I haven't used an alarm clock in many years. I look at the time before I fall
asleep and decide what time I want to wake up, and I do.

It doesn't matter how late I went to bed, nor how early I have to get up. I
just have to decide before I fall asleep when I want to wake up.

------
jkat
My advice: sleep in a room that faces sunrise and don't use blinds.

I've noticed a world of difference between waking up naturally at 7:00 and
waking up via alarm clock at 7:00.]

~~~
ColinWright
As a data point for you, for some people (such as myself) that would mean in
Summer getting up at 04:00, in Winter, 09:00.

------
matthiasb
To wake early, go to bed early. Dead simple!

------
pfanner
>How many times have this happened that you woke up half an hour before you
were supposed to [...]

never, lol.

------
hamburglar
In our next issue: The Homelessness Myth - Just get a house!

