Do Early Risers Get More Done?

by Rachel Adnyana

Image courtesy of Greg at  http://www.gdpalmer.com/blog/

Study the habits of the world’s most successful people – prolific novelists, political leaders, CEOs of multi-million dollar companies – and you will find one thing in common: Those people who have achieved great success in business and in life tend to be early risers.

It seems that the phrase “the early bird gets the worm” may well be true once you start to study the early morning habits of these successful people. So, is simply getting up a couple of hours early the key to optimal productivity? Do early risers just get more done?

Famous early risers

Tim Cook, CEO of technology company, Apple, begins every day at 4.30am. He starts his day by sending out business emails and then heads to the gym for 5, before being one of the first to arrive at Apple headquarters in the morning.

John Grisham, lawyer and best-selling author began his career by rising every morning at 5am to start writing. He would get up, shower, head straight out to his office and be at his desk with a cup of coffee, ready write for up to two hours before starting his work as a lawyer.

Disney CEO, Robert Iger, gets up every morning at 4.30am and uses the early morning hours for reading the newspaper, exercising, sending emails and listening to music, before getting to the office at 6am.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is in the office every morning by 6am but still manages time to fit in an early morning workout with his wife before going to work. Perhaps helped along by a cup of his company’s coffee?

Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright did most of his real work between the hours of 4 and 7am. He would start sketching immediately upon waking for several hours and then go back to bed for a morning nap.

Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States, is commonly credited with the quote, “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Every morning he would get up and start his day by thinking, “What good shall I do today?”

The benefits of early rising    

The correlation between getting up early and overall achievement seems to be pretty clear so what is it exactly about the early morning hours that allows you to get more done?

• More time.  Rising before the rest of the household or a few hours before you have to be at your day job is a common strategy for people with busy lives. Many famous authors held down 9-5 jobs while writing their debut novels, rising before the sun to get a few hours of work in before they have to leave for the office.
• Fewer distractions. When the rest of the world is sleeping and the house is calm and quiet, productivity is bound to increase. Many early risers find that they can squeeze a lot more work into the morning hours than they can at any other time of the day.
• Increased creativity. Nobody does their best work when they’re tired and starting work soon after waking takes advantage of your brain being at its most alert.
• Faster commute. If you have a daily commute to get to work, getting up earlier means you will beat the traffic and eliminate wasted time sitting in traffic.
• Improved mental attitude. Getting the majority of your day’s work done before most people have even got out of bed feels incredibly satisfying and will give you a huge mental boost for the rest of the day.
• Less stress. Waking early will allow you more time to get ready in the mornings meaning you are not rushing round at the last minute and getting a stressful start to the day.

What you do counts

If you wake up at 5am but then spend two hours browsing Facebook, it’s not going to do anything for your productivity. However you don’t necessarily have to get right down to work either.

Apart from working, there are several morning activities that seem to be common among early risers and could be a hint to the secret of their success:

• Exercise. Many famous early risers use their morning hours to fit in a workout before arriving at the office. Exercise will also help to improve your mood for the day by releasing endorphins – the “happy hormone”, which will get your day off to the best start.
• Quiet time. Some people use the early morning hours as personal time in which to reflect . They may read the bible or other religious texts, meditate or simply sit quietly with a coffee and watch the sun rise.
• Planning. It makes sense to plan the rest of your day first thing in the morning and many people use this time for and replying to emails, making appointments and goal-setting.
• Reading. Early morning is the ideal time to use SpecificFeeds to read the most important industry news, keep up to date with what’s going on in the world or get some new personal development tips.

Tips for becoming an early riser

The advantages of getting up early are compelling and if you want to enjoy a more productive life, it’s definitely worth trying out this technique to see if it helps you to get more done. But if you see yourself as not being a “morning person” and you have trouble getting out of bed when the alarm clock goes off, how do train yourself to become an early riser?

• Start slowly. If you normally get up at 10am and you set your alarm for 5, you are bound to fail. Try starting with 15-30 minutes before your usual wakeup time and put the time back gradually until you reach the wakeup time that suits your lifestyle best.
• Get enough sleep. Early rising starts with an early bedtime. Cutting back on sleep will not help your productivity unless you’re getting too much of it, which is unlikely for most people.
• Find a good reason for getting up. It’s hard to get the motivation to drag yourself out of bed if you have nothing to look forward to. Try starting your day with an activity that is purely for you, rather than work, such as reading, meditating or praying, going for an early morning jog or even just bribing yourself with an excellent cup of coffee.
• Create a habit. Once you’ve got into the habit of getting up early, it will become second nature. If you can force yourself to get through the first few weeks, you’ll find that it suddenly becomes a lot easier once your body is used to the routine,

Could getting up earlier change your life?

There is some pretty strong evidence to suggest that early risers indeed do get more done, so even if you think you’re a night owl, it may be worth experimenting setting your alarm a little earlier each day and seeing what happens.

Remember that the key to productivity in the early hours is a quieter work environment with fewer distractions, a clearer mind and more positive mental attitude. If you can create these conditions in your own daily routine, you are sure to be on the way to a super productive day.