Remember how I cut back on carpooling? So I could get more hours in at work? And based on the parameters of my life, how I would consider joining a religion if it included a traffic god?
Well, I started out thinking I would continue to go to work at my normal carpool time, which is 7:00 am, and stay past rush hour instead of leaving before it really heats up like we we do when we carpool. That plan failed. The first few days I tried it, the traffic was uncharacteristically shitty on the way home even when I left work at 7 pm. Blow. After a few days in a row of that, I decided to try a different strategy.
For the past week or more, I've been leaving between 6:10 and 6:40 am and it's going well. I am decidedly a morning person. I'm not a morning person in the sense that I just pop awake and feel great -- waking up to the alarm sucks and I sleep late on weekends -- but I'm more alert, focused, and energetic early in the day. I've found that I can be productive when I'm tired early in the day, but it's all over once I get tired in the evening. So if I get to work by 7 am, I can work >8 hours and still leave before the worst of rush hour starts. Super.
Since I'd rather sleep as late as possible, it takes some effort for me to pull this off. I have to pack my lunch the night before, program the coffee maker, make sure my go-cup is clean, and possibly even lay out my clothes. But if I do all that, it works.
I know lots of you parents and other types of super busy people get up at the crack of dawn every day and it's nothing special. I know I'm not a special snowflake, but I think this is important for me to share because it's a change I've been wanting to make for a while. There are a bunch of things in my life that I think I'd prefer a different way, or things that I feel like I'm putting on hold while I'm in school/living the transient life/underpaid/whatever. This was a relatively easy change to make (but who knows how long I'll keep it up!). Maybe I'll work on some others soon.
9 comments:
sounds like this really works for you, great! I also like to sleep late and I think I'd find this difficult. I tend to start late and stay late, but I'm not particularly happy with it... I'll think about changing it. Thanks for sharing!
I often work better in the mornings if I can manage to get out of bed. That's the big problem, I hate getting up early!
There may not be a god of traffic, but there is a patron saint of cars and drivers: St. Frances of Rome. :)
omg, are you kidding? Even though Yo is now waking up at 6am, my having to get up (or at least be awake) that early is still SPECIAL (in that bad sense). 10+ months of parenthood has not yet taught me to be more blase about waking up at the crack of dawn.
Liking my sleep is high on my list of reasons for not having kids ;)
I know what you mean about getting up being hard, but then being alert once you're up. However, in winter, forget it...
Haha! sorry, I'm laughing because you think that we parent types may be more organized in the morning..hehehe. This parent, definetly is NOT. I barely get my but out of bed, run around like a crazy person trying to pack lunches, get dressed etc. I almost forgot my coffee this morning, which would've been BAD. Hmm, laying out clothes in the evening. that is smart idea.
I'm glad you have a schedule that is working for you. These are my Mondays, when I get up at 545am so I can get on the road before traffic sucks too much ass.
You ARE special! Now that I'm on "summer schedule" (i.e., no real responsibilities) , getting in by 9 feels like a struggle.
Hey, good for you! I have found this sort of thing works well for me when I'm motivated to be in by a certain time (i.e. if I have early meetings). It's what I had to do when I was in public school, so it's not that hard to access it as a sort of separate setting on the dial. But keeping it up...I just can't make myself do it with all the setbacks and discouragement.
I guess if I had a grown-up job I'd have to do it every day no matter what, which I essentially equate with turning into my father.
I too work much better in the AM, and also struggle to drag myself out of bed.
In grad school I loved getting to the office 2-3 hours before anyone else would be in. I'd get so much work done during that time. I still do it in my new job (although it's .5 to 1 hour before everyone else gets in).
Post a Comment