
Don’t listen productivity gurus: why waking up at 6am won’t make you successful - aytekin
https://medium.com/swlh/dont-listen-to-those-productivity-gurus-why-waking-up-at-6am-won-t-make-you-successful-b3c77921d9fd
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buahahaha
Author says don't follow a morning routine, but then mentions they have a
morning routine (breakfast/trainer).

Author says don't focus on the morning being your peak time, you should find
the time of the day that is the peak time for yourself. Ignore the fact that
their good breakfast and work out helps power their peak times.
Inconsequential.

Okay, but that's why those morning routines have you do the rote/everyday
stuff quickly in a short window, so you can have longer peak times during the
day. Notice in their long list of things blogger says you should do is none of
the real work you get paid to do.

Granted, you don't have to wake up at 6am; but if you're going to have a
routine that you do every day, that you should optimize such that it doesn't
get interrupted by work messages and e-mails or other responsibilities, when's
it going to be?

It's going to be early in the morning.

The author is making the exact point they're attempting to refute. You should
have a morning routine, it should be filled with things that are good for you
and harder to schedule during the day, you should optimize the specifics to
what makes you feel good, and doing it will make you more productive as a
result. Great.

I'm glad the author took the time out of their day to correct all those other
incorrect bloggers who didn't know what they were talking about.

~~~
gregjwild
I think you're missing the point: 4:30am may be the right time for some, but
that may be absolutely the wrong time for most. And it's not to do with
finding a distraction free window. It's down to - as the article highlights -
your body rhythm.

For instance, if I wake up at 6am I will spend hours in an awful state of
catatonia. Often, I don't get over it the whole day. It's equivalent to how I
felt when I suffered with depression. So, screw that.

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jeremyshaw
I wrote a satirical piece about all the "advice" given on Medium.

[https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-be-productive-according-to-
ev...](https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-be-productive-according-to-every-medium-
writer-dd437133188)

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mabynogy
A guru saying the other gurus are wrong. Let people wake up when the want or
can.

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olliej
A lot of productivity gurus and life coach-style authors are simply the
survivor on bias (or whatever it is called, brain is blanking). Basically they
did X, and they are successful, so they recommend doing what they did as a
path to success. Of course as xkcd said, a lottery winner could logically
follow the same pattern by recommending people buy lottery tickets.

~~~
philipodonnell
Survivorship bias, but you were close. :-) Its more to do with the people that
weren't successful not being around any more.

~~~
olliej
So close!

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thewizardofaus
Interesting read. I always find the peak hours concept cool. I generally wake
up at 7am each morning. My peak hours are usually 10am, 3pm and 8pm. I love
how peak hours are different for everybody.

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austinjp
Find what routine works for you, sharpen the saw, take down time.

This is great and needs to be said more often to counter the prevailing
message of "get up early and do as much as you can".

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coll_throwaway
This is super impractical. Although we'd all like to be able to set our own
schedules there are deadlines to meet, meetings to attend and relationships to
tend to. When everyone around you is working the 9-5 you've got to meet them
halfway. Waking up early, eating healthful meals and exercising are good ways
to do that.

And by the way, this talk about "prime time" is insane. You can get into flow
whenever if you block out distraction, buckle down and are actually good at
what you do.

~~~
tluyben2
> You can get into flow whenever if you block out distraction, buckle down and
> are actually good at what you do.

Indeed, which is the reason I find it insane you would have to get up at 6 for
it. I like to go to bed at 2-3 am and get up at 10; works fine, always has.

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jds375
Much of the content of that article is talked about in depth in Why We
Sleep[1] (and much more)

[1] - [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-
sleep](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-sleep)

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internet_user
I have known this for years. This is why the earliest I've ever been up is
10am.

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Karishma1234
I know a couple how has been doing this for last 20 years. husband has been
doing this for last 30 years. Both of them are the worst under-achievers I
know.

~~~
tluyben2
And ofcourse for any anecdote there are many pointing to the opposite: I know
many people who do this and who are over achievers and very successful. Like
the author himself by the way.

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king_nothing
Felix Dennis called it “point at the sky” cargo-cult success modeling. Even
so, Walmart C suite and veeps were notorious about whom could arrive the
earliest and appear to work the most. OTOH, 37signals would say “fire the
workaholics.”

