February 24, 2015

"Among the early risers... are Pope Francis, who gets up at 4:30 a.m. to meditate..."

"... novelist John Grisham, who began his habit of rising at 5 a.m. to fit in time to write his first novel; and Apple CEO Tim Cook, who thoughtfully plans his schedule beginning at 4:30 a.m."

From the press release for "12 Qualities of Highly Successful People," which I stumbled across as I googled to find out when Daylight Saving Time begins, which I needed to know because I want the darkness pushed forward so I can get back to rising before dawn.

Darkness Pushing Time begins on March 7th.

23 comments:

Michael K said...

Some of us get up to go to work, not meditate.

Heartless Aztec said...

50 years of rising before dawn to be at the edge of the ocean when the sun first peaks over the horizon. Not that it led to anything successful other than mastery of articulating a surfboard through the peaks and swells. But what a great way to start any day. In my 60's now the pull of the "dawn patrol" still lures... These days the rise before dawn is usually for rendering ships of the Federal Sailing Navy in the gloaming for private clients and museums.

iowan2 said...

Ann disconnect your self from the clock and just go with Gods time.
I find the whole 'what time do you get up?' thing a waste. I rise between 5 and 6, mostly because that's all I've known. Successful people are on both ends of the spectrum. Its not when you are productive, but that you are. My son is like me, son-in-law, the opposite. Both are great caring people. Successful as measured by their peers. What time they get up seems not to be one of those determining factors.

B said...

I get up at 4:30 a.m. to go to the gym. Then I waste the rest of the day because I'm a lazy worker. I may be poor and unambitious, but at least I'm not fat.

campy said...

"Successful people are on both ends of the spectrum. "

Has anybody ever studied failures to see what not to do?

Ann Althouse said...

"Some of us get up to go to work, not meditate."

Isn't that the Pope's work?

By the way, I consider myself to be working whenever I'm thinking... one reason why Governor Doyle's furlough approach to patching up the budget was such a burden... (quite apart from its function in permitting what was impermissible: a pay cut).

Ann Althouse said...

"Ann disconnect your self from the clock and just go with Gods time."

I already do that. I go to bed when I'm tired and I wake up when I wake up. I can't think of the last time I set an alarm. But I like when the rising time happens to be before dawn, because I like seeing the light come up.

Wanting to experience ALL of the light a day has to offer is much more important in the darkest days of the year, however, and on those days, it's easiest to rise before sun-up.

I'm often up at 5. When I wake and look at my iPhone to see the time, I'm always glad to see that it's 5 or almost 5, because I like to get up, but I don't think it's right to get up before 4. I'm a big morning person, and I'm not trying to be an early riser. It's the way I really am. I have to force myself to stay up late enough so that I'm not a complete baby.

So the only forcing that I do, time-wise, is not turning off the light to sleep until at least 9. But that's mostly because I'd hate to wake up at midnight and feel like it's time to start the day.

I know... first sleep, second sleep... I've never quite plunged into that lifestyle.

tim maguire said...

I look forward to day light savings time so I can have a more normal schedule. I hate waking up 4:30 AM, it's hard to go to sleep early enough to not be tired the next day.

JRoberts said...

I have found a lot of satisfaction getting up before 5:30am each day and arriving at my office before dawn. I always try to get about 50% of the items off my task list before my first meeting of the day at 9:00am.

I remember reading about Robert McNamara (when he was President of Ford Motor Company - before he was Sec of Defense). His staff would arrive at the office each morning to find he had already cleared his desk so he could spend more time strategizing. His staff started to come in earlier each day, but finally gave up when they arrived at 6:30am and found McNamara still beat them.

What a work ethic.

Curious George said...

"surfed said...
These days the rise before dawn is usually for rendering ships of the Federal Sailing Navy in the gloaming for private clients and museums."

"Gloaming" is not dawn. It's dusk.

iowan2 said...

Understood Ann. We are close to soul mates in our daily routines. I too am tied to the clock for going to bed, not rising.
Quick anecdote.
Had a successful salesman mention he would be on vacation the next week and not available. I responded by asking if he was looking forward to sleeping in.
He said " oh no! This is MY time. Not company time, I'm not wasting my time in bed."

Heartless Aztec said...

Thanx for the catch and correction Curious - they seem the same to me retired.

Heartless Aztec said...

Addendum to self - never post comments on Althouse before coffee...

Wilbur said...

I'm a morning person and an inveterate early riser. 5:00 is late for me, unless Mrs. Wilbur and I go out clubbing. Then it's 6:00 for me.

Or like my father used to say "You get up early, you got longer to loaf".

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

I get up a bit past 5, because my husband is a teacher and needs to be out the door before 7. Lately, the moment he leaves, I go back to sleep.

Mark Caplan said...

"Pope Francis gets up at 4:30 a.m. to..."

Let's not get all Kierkegaardian. A sleepy publicist at the Vatican miswrote micturate.

FleetUSA said...

I haven't used an alarm clock since retirement and still get up at about 5 a.m. daily.

I guess when we are in our 90's that may change.

Smilin' Jack said...

I get up at least 18 hours before all you lazy slackers.

SeanF said...

First, it starts on the 8th, not the 7th.

Secondly, and more importantly:

Ann Althouse: I go to bed when I'm tired and I wake up when I wake up. I can't think of the last time I set an alarm. But I like when the rising time happens to be before dawn, because I like seeing the light come up.

How, exactly, do you expect the change for DST to affect that?

If you go to bed when you're tired and wake up when you wake up, all DST will do is change what time the external clocks say when you do those things. It's not going to change where the sun is in the sky when you do them.

Ann Althouse said...

"How, exactly, do you expect the change for DST to affect that?"

Because I try not to go to bed overly early. If 8 pm becomes 9 pm...

Ann Althouse said...

My classes end at 4, which will correspond to what is now 5, and that will put me on a different path toward evening.

SeanF said...

Then you determine when to go to bed, and when to wake up, on what the clock says. It's not just "when I'm tired" and "when I wake up."

Well, in a sense it is, but you allow what the clock says to determine when you get tired.

lgv said...

Big deal. I've been woken up by the call to prayer next door to my hotel in Makassar at 4:30 am. They are all just as pious as the pope.