It also meant that I was spending an average of 12 hours on campus almost every day. Having a calendar filled with afternoon seminars that ran from 1-5PM that quarter meant that I was sitting in class unfocused, battling severe mid-afternoon slumps when I was expected to be super-attentive and engaged. Waking up early didn’t mean that the quality of my work improved, or that I was healthier, wholler, or happier-it just meant a different alarm time.Īn alarm time that was, as it turned out, incompatible with many of my interests and commitments. I wasn’t successful at generating more productive hours in the day.
But the new schedule didn’t exactly work miracles.
I was able to quickly get bills, paperwork, and annoying emails out of the way, and I postponed such things less. A very pleasant surprise was discovering I had more willpower early in the day to deal with the unpleasant and menial tasks of everyday life. I also bonded with fellow TAs who left their homes at the crack of dawn to beat the traffic-there’s just something about sharing a 7:00AM cup of coffee in a depressing, artificially-lit cubicle. Sure, I did see some gorgeous sunrises in LA and, I admit, I’d seen too few of those in the past. My new schedule almost cost me my friends, relationship, hobbies, and my (other) job. I mean, the early bird gets the worm, right? While it wasn’t my choice, I embraced the opportunity, as I was desperately hoping this change would give me more productive hours in the day. My new schedule meant I would have to get up at 5:30 on the days that I had things to prepare/print out for class and around 6:15 on days that I didn’t.
Then about seven months ago I got a letter saying I was scheduled to teach a daily 8AM class during Spring quarter. I tried multiple times to set my alarm to 5:00AM, but failed to get up every single time. Well-intentioned friends and mentors also kept insisting that waking up at dawn would be the solution to my frequent burnouts and help me manage my workload better. You can follow her on Twitter by media reports that claim early risers are the most successful, productive, and happy among us, I used to feel guilty for being a night owl. Natascha Chtena is a PhD student in Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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