Poll Results – What Time Do You Wake Up?

First off, thanks to all of you who contributed to the recent poll on what time you arise in the morning.

The results:

Highest Amount of Votes – 44% arise between 5:00am and 6:00am
2nd Most Votes – 34% arise between 6:00am and 7:00am
3rd Most Votes – 13% arise after 7:00am
4th Most Votes – 6% arise before 5:00am

I don’t think the results are too surprising. I teeter between the 2nd (between 6 and 7) and 3rd (after 7). I’d say on average I wake around 6:45am. I work from home (when I’m not traveling) and typically make some coffee, hang with the family for 20 minutes (if they’re up) and then get my work day started by 7:30 or 7:45. My goal, however, is to arise earlier than this. I’m impressed and jealous when I hear people talk about waking at 5:00am, working out, then getting a head start on their day. I think this is awesome.

My brother wakes up at 4:45am everyday. He starts his day with an intense workout and catches up on some work items. By 6:30am, he has a head start on his day and the confidence that comes from getting after it. I love this. Talk about getting in the zone and having “the edge” throughout your day. Some other successful people you may of heard about that awake early – John Gruden (when he was coaching used to wake at 3:17am everyday – ok, kind of crazy) and Jim Cramer (around 4:00am). I’m sure there are countless others.

One of my big intentions early this year is to wake earlier to get that “edge”. The key is to take this in small steps. It’s not to go from 6:45 to 5:00 in one day. That’s the New Year’s Resolution curse waiting to happen. My plan is to do this in 6 weeks. By Feb 15th, I will be waking by 5:00am everyday (Yep, I just threw that out there). The first step (or Next Action) is to wake everyday this week at 6:30am. Next week, I will move to 6:15. Look for some updates in the coming weeks.

I heard someone say a couple years ago that every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two and every hour of work before noon is worth two. Seems to make sense to me.

As always, would love to hear your thoughts. Have you ever changed your wake schedule? If so, what made you successful? What were your challenges?

Some links on this topic from other writers that may be of interest:

http://zenhabits.net/2007/05/10-benefits-of-rising-early-and-how-to-do-it/ 

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/