Mitch Joel wrote a post earlier this week in which he talked about how much he liked waking up early. “I’ve learned to embrace, love and be inspired by the quiet of the early morning and the silence of the world,” he wrote.
It was a post that resonated because I have become an early-riser. It doesn’t help that I’m not a good sleeper but I think one of the reasons why waking up seems such a natural thing to do is that the world seems like a different place when everyone else is still sleeping. It’s quieter, the coffee tastes better, there’s more time to read the newspaper and the ideas seem to flow easier.
A key part of how I do business is writing – be it proposals, reports, Web site content, video scripts or blog posts. Most of my blog posts happen during the first cup of coffee in the morning. I don’t know where the ideas come from but I think they have been nestled somewhere in my dreams, and waiting for me to wake up to get them out. Earlier this week, for example, I was coming downstairs in the dark when a great idea for a Sysomos blog post popped up.
The mornings are a great time to share content because it’s a good time to consume content. If you look at my Twitter stream or Facebook updates, most of my activity happens between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. I’m not sure how much of an audience exists at that time of day but it’s the time when the content flows out.
Another great thing about the early-morning is the sense of accomplishment that you have done so much even though it can only be 10 a.m. Sometimes, I do mini-review that shows I have written three blog posts, gone through a bunch of e-mail and sent out some proposals. Not that it lets me cruise for the rest of the day but it means the day has gotten off to a productive start.
One thing I don’t like to do in the morning is talk a lot. When my wife also happens to wake up early, she’s happy to talk about stories in the newspaper she finds interesting. It takes a healthy amount of self-discipline to happily nod in agreement.
Of course, waking up early isn’t for everyone, which explains why a lot of my 6 a.m. e-mails don’t get answered until after 10 a.m. But that’s okay because if everyone woke up early in the morning, it wouldn’t be a quiet or as nice.
