Why I Wake Up Early

Throughout my undergraduate degree, I would set my alarm for the time that I needed to be up. 10am lecture = 9am alarm. This reassured me that I was as well-rested as I could be and would therefore have the most productive day possible. My firmly held belief was that if I was sleep deprived, how could I possibly get any work done? This continued throughout the entirety of my undergraduate degree as I was none the wiser.

After graduating I got a full-time job which involved me starting work at 7am. Initially this was a huge shock to the system – how on earth could I get up at 6am every day and be rested enough for full day’s work at 7am? Despite being tough initially, I was surprised at how quickly I fell into a good routine of going to sleep and waking up at the same time each day. It made it easier to both fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning.

The problem then was my days off – initially, I craved the lie-ins and made the most of my days off by sleeping in as long as possible. However, this would disrupt the sleep schedule I had established during the week and made Monday morning’s alarm fill me with dread. So, I decided to start getting up early even on my days off and unlocked the potential of these early morning hours.

This is something I have continued to do throughout my second degree, and I find it has been so helpful for my productivity and mindset. I typically wake up around 7am and do all essential jobs straight away – shower, make my bed, brush my teeth. I then sit down with a large cup of coffee and get on with some work. This is usually studying – as I am usually the only one awake, I find this time with the lack of distractions to be the best time to get on with some past paper questions, note-taking or flashcards. I also use this time to write my daily to-do list, finish any outstanding admin tasks and going for a morning run.

I find these precious hours in the morning to genuinely be the most valuable hours of my day, as I feel I can get so much more out of them. I feel a great sense of achievement having ticked off many tasks on my to-do list before lunchtime. It sets the tone for the rest of the day and allows me to fully unwind and relax in the evenings knowing I have had a productive day. 

I’d urge anyone who feels in a productivity slump, with university work or just in general, to try getting up (and going to bed) early. My top tip would be light exposure – when you wake up, make your surroundings as light as possible (ideally with natural light) as light is an important signal for your internal body clock and improves alertness. It takes a decent amount of will-power and determination to do this, especially on your days off, but with enough effort and repetition it becomes routine quickly enough.