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Waking Up At 4 a.m. Is A Blessing Not A Curse – It’s How The Super Rich Roll

21/7/2016

20 Comments

 
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Thank God I’m alive.
Thank God I live in a safe neighbourhood.
Thank God I live in a cul-de-sac.
Thank God I wake up at freaking 4 a.m.
 
So, I wake up at 4 a.m., as usual, I think I should lie-in today but I don’t, I start walking downstairs for my daily two glasses of warm water with lemon – I’ve been doing that for years.
 
After the first step down I realise something is not right; wait, is the front door open? Like wide open? What the hell?
 
“Harry, our front door is open!” I shout, my heart already racing, flight or flee hormones already on overdrive.
 
“What?” Harry jumps out of bed and we check the house.
 
We know our most precious cargo, the baby, is safe because his cot is in our room.
 
I switch the living room light on and we take stock.
 
Wallet? Check.
Keys to Mercedes 1? Check.
Keys to Mercedes 2? Check.
Computer? Laptop? Check and check.
 
We check that there are no intruders in the house. There aren’t.
 
I obviously tell Harry off for not checking the front door was closed properly before I proceed to drink my water.
 
My heart is still racing.
 
If this had been Malawi, we would have been done for.
 
Indeed, even in England most thieves are opportunists, they see an open door, they go for it. I bet most rapists are opportunists too, the sick b*stards.
 
Anyhow, as I’m sitting in my morning spot chomping on my Caesar salad I decide today is the day I’ll write the blog about why I wake up at 4 a.m. and when it started. 
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​Back in high school you could not have paid me enough to wake up before 6 a.m.
 
I tried the whole wake up at 5 a.m. and go to a classroom to study fad that was going on back then and I couldn’t hack it. It wasn’t for me.
 
I slept superbly well back then. Once I hit the pillow, I was gone until morning – no toilet visits.
 
Things changed at some point in my mid-twenties.
 
Once I get up to use the loo, at 4 a.m.–ish, I frequently just lie there and can’t go back to sleep. Sometimes I’m up at 4 even when I don’t need to visit the loo.
 
The real turning point was when I was pregnant with Chester.
 
When I woke up at 4 a.m. I was so solidly awake that I definitely wouldn’t be able to return to bed. I decided to just embrace it and work. By 8/9 a.m. I’d be tired enough to sleep again.
 
I got so much done during my pregnancy that everyone on a business program I was going through kept asking, how do you do it?
 
I got so many questions and remarks that I wrote this blog: Productivity - How To Do More In One Day Than Most People Do In A Week!
 
Giving birth put paid to that productivity.
 
My sleep cycle then became dictated by Chester and I forgot all about it.
 
He started sleeping through the night at about 12 months but I remained perpetually exhausted because breastfeeding really saps the energy out of you.
 
It wasn’t until two months after he quit breastfeeding that I realized I keep on waking up at 4 a.m. (again) regardless of what time I go to bed.
 
You know what I’ve been doing each time I wake up?
 
I peruse Facebook – only clicking away when I scroll past an interesting news headline.
 
I didn’t feel good about it; not at all.
 
As far as I’m concerned excessive news reading is not only a waste of time, it’s how people shy away from work nowadays. They convince themselves they’re keeping up with current affairs. Meh.
 
Most of the news you read won’t affect your life in any way shape or form. It’s not productive at all.
 
Most days I don’t pick up a newspaper or visit a news site but a cursory scroll down my Facebook page tells me everything I need to know about world events and most of my friends’ lives. BBC Radio 4 and LBC (the only non-Music radio stations I listen to in my car) simply flesh out what I already learnt on Facebook.
 
I digress…
 
One Sunday evening I made a decision to stop complaining about my “insomnia” and just wake up at 4 a.m.
 
I needed to turn what seemed like a curse into a blessing.
 
I now go to bed at 9 p.m. and I rise at 4 a.m. I also have a 30 to 45 minute nap in the afternoon.
 
Once I’ve done it 3 or 4 times in a week it’s easier to have a lie-in without involuntarily waking up at that time.
 
Don’t get me wrong: If I had a job that required me to be up at 4 a.m. I’d hate it. The only reason 4 a.m. feels so good is because it’s my choice to rise at that time and not someone else’s.
 
It was awful when I had a regular job because I’d wake up at 4 a.m., toss and turn for two hours then my alarm clock would go off just as I was nodding off. I often went to work absolutely exhausted because of my weird circadian rhythm.
 
It’s much easier to embrace when you have a flexible work pattern as I do now.
 
Waking up well before everyone else gives me a sense of such peace and control.
 
As it’s summer, as soon as I done drinking my warm water I walk up to our loft room, set the French doors wide open and let the world outside in: the air, the sounds and the breeze.
 
I see the sun rise. I think. I write. I work.
 
Mornings allow one proper “me time”.
 
Before the kids rise and the whatsapps start coming through I get to do exactly what I want.
 
I used to think 4 a.m. was a super weird time to wake up but when Grant Cardone said he does it too, it normalized it for me and today it may well have saved my life!

20 Comments
Klementyna de Sternberg Stojałowska link
21/7/2016 09:58:46 am

Dear Heather,

Thank you for your article. So light and with a thrilling twist. I am glad your open doors were nothing more than, well, open doors.

You make 4am sound attractive. Tempting. Waking up hardly ever comes naturally to me, I need an alarm clock. But habits can be developed. Would you have tried now if 4am hadn't been your rise time already?

Reply
Heather Katsonga-Woodward
22/7/2016 10:12:13 pm

I definitely wouldn't be rising at 4am if it didn't come naturally to me. Although I wake up naturally around then, I set an alarm too to give the day structure. I've always been quite regimented like that.

I'll usually set the alarm for weekdays and at the weekend hope I'll lie in longer which works sometimes but not always. If I sleep until 8.30am that is a major lie in for me.

Reply
janet
3/8/2016 03:53:23 pm

I'm retired. I started to get up at 7am. But, before, I would rise at 4pm because I take public transit. You know what? I felt better rising at 4am, taking a nap around 2, and most hitting the sack at 10pm. Now, I go at 11pm after the news, and one show that I love, I tape it to watch the next day. Gonna follow your habit of drinking 2 glasses of water in the morning (I'm doing hot water). Enjoyed your post, very refreshing and I'm glad no harm was done!

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Denise link
22/7/2016 05:51:38 am

I love how this one starts. Of course I agree with the message too. Thanks for sharing your life and ideas with us.

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Heather Katsonga-Woodward
22/7/2016 10:12:59 pm

Thanks :)

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Daniel Dunga
23/7/2016 11:26:05 am

Am starting tomorrow. I have so much to get done

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Heather
27/7/2016 01:59:32 pm

lol, you have to go to bed early though. It can definitely be done.

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Marilyn Lewis
26/7/2016 02:52:54 pm

Thank God all is well. I really appreciate your article. It gives me some perspective. I find it very hard to rise before 7:00 am. May God Bless and Protect your family and home always.

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Heather
27/7/2016 01:58:58 pm

4am is definitely not for everyone, what time do you go to bed?

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Creisha
26/7/2016 03:55:05 pm

Heather,
Thanks for the post. I too have a set time that I wake every morning. My time is 5:30am but I see that I need to try 4am. I'll start tomorrow.

Reply
ade @ coilsandglory link
26/7/2016 04:39:27 pm

thanks for sharing this heather. I need to just get out of bed on days when i can't go back to bed. I've been struggling with waking up early for years now but can't get it right. but then i figured, how can i wake up at 5am when i go to bed at 1 or even 2am? so my new battle is going to bed before 12 midnight, which has been very tough because i just can't fall asleep before this time :(
thats a cute pic of you and chester :)

coilsandglory.com

Reply
Heather
27/7/2016 02:01:11 pm

Thanks hun, different people have different cycles. You should now work on being effective and productive between 9pm and midnight. Grafting, chasing your dream.

For me, usually, after 9pm all I want to do is just laze, read something light and watch TV.

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belinda
26/7/2016 05:47:14 pm

Heather, you are so inspiring, I love your personality, I have been having the same problem for years (no baby just me) and I have been trying to fit my sleep cycle to so called normal, but I am going to do exactly what you are doing, when I wake up at 4 which happens every day, instead of trying to go back to sleep I am going to work! Glad you and your family are safe, keep sending me your positive thoughts

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Heather
27/7/2016 02:04:23 pm

Thanks Belinda. The struggle is real! This morning I was meant to lie in until 4.30am. I wake up feeling sprightly, thinking my alarm must be about to ring, check my watch, it's 3.58am...lie in postponed :)

Being self-employed definitely makes it easier for me to wake up at 4am because when I get tired in the day I just have a short nap.

Tell me how it goes!

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Charlene
27/7/2016 08:29:11 pm

Hi Heather,
I wake up at 2am or sometimes 4 but I usually get up at 5 am. I'm a Christian so I like to try and pray and then after I'm able to go back to sleep.

Thanks for this article. Bless yoi

Reply
Bliss
30/7/2016 08:51:43 am

I was always a bad sleeper, I struggle before sleep would come to me sometimes it takes hours and any slight sound or movement and am awake, not just awake.. wide Wake. And it will me another set of an hour or more to go back to deep sleep....so I made use of my time awake as well. Studying, working, reading etc.

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Makani
3/8/2016 09:14:51 am

I just weaned my son close to 2 months ago. I've been thinking a lot about coming up with schedules to restructure my life. Funny how we plan so well at our jobs, set targets and meet them and then live mediocre lives at home. Been telling myself lately how I need to give my family my best and that means drawing out plans that will help us live more efficiently and help get things done. I've been living day in day out complaining about everything that's wrong and wishing the right things will come my way. Just realising that I can actually make a choice to get up and do something instead of complain and I can still do another thing for things I have no control over, pray about them! So I'm work in progress against laziness, procrastination and complaining! Thanks for this hope I can get myself out of bed early enough to get my plan started!

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Ciel
3/8/2016 10:09:05 am

Hello Heather

I know the joy of seeing the sun rise and feeling on top of the world as a fellow early birdie.
I wake up at 3am every morning without fail for the last decade. It used to irritate me but now one enjoys & thrives peacefully for those three hours.

Starting with prayer, devotion then read read read. Not Facebook I habe no interest in social media. Waking up and having a fully churning, active & super productive mind from 3am, was the reason I decided to go back to education and do a degree. Loving it but come 1pm my productivity wanes & I am exhausted but do not have the ability to take a siesta. So 7pm on the dot !! I am off to nod-land. How is that possible ? You wonder...My kids and I have not watched television in 9 yrs... They are both on the G&T register... we are teetotal :) The gifted and talented register and I am one proud mama.
Be blessed & well done on all your achievements.

C

Reply
Cecilia Boakye
3/8/2016 03:27:16 pm

Taking inspiration from you. Want to start a cottage industry to help e jobless youth.

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janet
3/8/2016 03:56:58 pm

Starting tomorrow, going back to my rising at 4am habit, will heat up some hot water w/lemon, and sit on my balcony to ponder. Everyone is asleep, no one can see me out there and I will give that time to GOD, for all of my blessings. Thanks so much for the boost!!

Reply



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Heather Katsonga-Woodward, a massive personal finance fanatic.
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