Readers tips on how to wake up earlier

My post ‘How I trained myself to get up earlier‘ has been very popular. Lots of comments and a link on Lifehacker. A great thing about blogging is that you learn so much from your readers. Thank you to everyone who emailed, commented, linked and Dugg.

Here are some of the tips from readers both here and in the Digg comments:

• “Improving your ability to nap will do wonders throughout the rest of your day to keep you going.” Daniel / Collegiate Musings.
• “Try having a baby – it really gets you up in the morning (and at 11pm, 1am, 3am, 5am)” Joe.
• “I go to bed when I feel tired, and can’t really do anything more or feel irritable. This has the advantage of self correcting through the week.” Craig McGinty
• John McDermott suggested http://trackslife.com
  
• “I bought an old-fashioned wind-up alarm clock that doesn’t have a Snooze function!” Jill
• “I’ve found that minimizing temperature difference between your bed and bedroom also helps.” Thomas
• “I got a fluorescent shop light and a timer. I set the timer for half an hour before the alarm clock, and put the light where it would illuminate one bedroom wall but I couldn’t see it directly from the bed.” Don Marti.
• “Go to your grocery store beverage aisle and pick up a few cans of Starbucks Italian Roast Iced Coffee. Keep them really cold in the fridge. As sson as the alarm goes off walk straight to the fridge, pop the can and guzzle.” Steve Miller.
• “if you need to wake up early and quickly, look into bright sunlight for about 15 seconds, I think it was. Likewise, if you need to sleep late, shield your eyes from sunlight – perhaps wear a pair of those airline eye covers.” Kent. (I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mean look into the sun – be careful out there, folk).
• From Digg: “I go to bed at 5 or 6 (or 7) am, and wake up around 1 or 2 pm. (11pm to 6am are my best hours for programming).”
• From Digg: “But here’s an old review of a watch that supposedly wakes you up at the best time. http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/sleeptracker_watch”
• From Digg for US readers: “I’m pretty sure google desktop has a text message reminders plugin. I know it’s different from a call but I would think you could make your text messages ring with ringtones anyway. … Note: bitbomb.com is the site which can be used without the plugin”
• From Digg: “This is easy, wake up at 5AM and go running every day. Have someone force you to do it for the first few days if you have to. Your body will quickly acclimate.”

There were some sensible voices against my plan:

• “Do what you want to, but how would you think about being 60 years old, no longer working, and still getting up at 06:00 for no reason?” SPX.
• “With respect, getting up early isn’t really the complicated production many people make it out to be.” Scrapironjaw (cool name!). Some people find it hard – I did. Some find it easy. Your mileage may vary.
• “Don’t try to live on less sleep then your body requests. It’s been proven over and over again to have serious negative effects on your body. Go to bed early.” Michiel.
• From Digg: ” There’s not really any secret to waking up when you need to (consistently) other than just doing it.”

There were a few unpleasant or hostile or comic responses (mainly on Digg). Sometimes all three at the same time. I think a few are worth sharing if only to prove the point that you can’t please all the people all the time.

• From Digg: ” You’re right, though…it’s a dumb article. I was expecting something more than just “wake up earlier”.”
• From Digg: “So he learned to use an alarm clock. Someone give him a banana.”
• From Digg: “Man are you people for f****** real. Why does everybody these days need a list on how do to the most basic of human functions. I am going to blog about how to take a piss and post it. Freakin lame. really.” I loved this comment. Really. Open public comment is a good way to learn humility. Plus his username on Digg is the wonderfully self-descriptive ‘iwankalot’!
• There were also a lot of wholly justifiable comments on Digg about my ironic use of “Web 2.0″ in my description. A lot of people took it literally and some (rightly) object to the use of the term at all. It’s a fair cop, but society’s to blame.

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Related posts:

1. Does anyone Digg anymore?
2. How I trained myself to get up earlier
3. Writing tips, creativity myths and ideology