Waking up at 4 am changed my life!

Getting 48 hours of work done in 24 hours feels amazing.

I’m writing this blog at 5 am!

Hi, my name is Hamza. I work as a Software engineer in India. Here is my story of waking up at 4 am and how it has immensely helped me 10X my productivity.

Before this new lifestyle of a morning bird, I was a night owl. It was not an easy journey to make this transition but it was worthwhile.

Natural Clock

All creatures have a biological clock inside them that tells them when to sleep and when to wake up. For the majority of the living beings on the planet Earth, it is that you go to sleep after sunset and wake up before sunrise.

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This has been the case for 1000s of years until we humans came up with artificial lighting. The natural way of living is the most sustainable lifestyle anyone can have.

Before

Previously, I would typically sleep at 2 am and wake at 11 am, and I was not consistent in this too. Most of the time I would go to bed at 10 pm but from 10 pm till 2 am I’ll be on my phone stuck in mindless scroll on IG.

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Then eventually fall asleep. I would wake up at 11am, rushing through my day. Quickly getting ready for the office and leaving anyhow. In short, life was miserable. I couldn’t get things done. I was lacking the drive and the life was all over the place. ( I know a lot of you can relate to this already)

After

Now forward to today in 2024, I’m off to bed at 8:30 pm and wake up super fresh at 3:50- 4:00 am. I don’t rush into things as I am up, I want to enjoy a slow morning.

1. I get up and do some light stretching.
2. I turn on all the lights in the room
3. I rearrange my bed
4. I prepare myself a cup of tea.
5. I read the news online and catch up with the notifications from last eveninng ( I disconnect from the internet as the sun goes down. I only attend calls post sunset if I receive any. Plus I avoid socializing after sunset. )
6. I read the Quran and my morning Azkaar ( if you are not a Muslim you can consider it as daily meditation and manifestation)
7. I do my laundry to get myself moving and get a bit active physically.
8. I daily check at what time the sunrise happens. My aim is to get ready and finish all personal chores that is related to my body and mind before the sunrise.
9. At sunrise that is 6:07 am today, I sit at my workstation and start working in a quiet environment up until 9 am and I’ll have my breakfast.

Till 11am I’m done with my daily upskilling and 70% of my office work. Now the rest of the day from noon till sunset I take it a bit slow at my pace without any rush.

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The below image if from my journal entry that I made when I started to notice this productivity and I was surprised how I was able to do so much

Journal entry that I made

Evenings

1. At sunset which is at 6:07pm today. I’ll disconnect from all my work, internet and phone.
2. I start winding down things.
3. Now till 8:00pm I’ll be involved in activities that will help me relax and calm down. I even try not to think about work after sunset. Anything after sunset is dedicated to any activity that is not related to work. It should be more has to be your personal well-being.
4. At this point, I thank God for the provision of the day and put my trust in him for the provision of the next day.
5. By 8:00 pm I start with my sleeping routine which is rearranging my bed, showering, brushing, changing clothes, switching lights to night mode, and putting my phone on silent.
6. By 8:40 pm I’m off to bed with my lights turned off. I’m left alone with the silence inside me and the echo of thoughts. ( One benefit of not using a phone or even working right before sleeping is that when you go to bed you don’t have these voices and thoughts bugging you that keep you up late at night)

Few things to keep in Mind

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1. Your Sleep and night is like the big rock in the jar that should be among your top three priorities.
2. The closer your sleeping patterns are to nature, the more sustainable it becomes.
3. It only hurts for the first few days. After that, you will not even notice putting in any effort and you will be on top of the game.
4. We can’t control all the things in life at once but we can try to control one thing that can have the maximum impact. I can confidently say it’s starting your day at 4 am.
5. If you look at super productive people around you. You will find they give importance to their sleep.

TLDR;

1. Effect of waking up at 4 am on my life.
2. Increase in productivity.
3. Better mood.
4. Increase performance at work.
5. Increase in Knowledge and memory. ( Now I can retain things more)
6. Easily able to sleep as soon as I get to bed.

I hope my experience will be of benefit to those who are looking for external validation to take on this lifestyle.

I’ll say “Go for it”. You will not regret it!

Follow for more related life experiences and insights related to productivity, self-vement and tech.

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