I used to be a major slob! I collected paperwork, piled it into big piles on my desk, in my drawers and if space ran out even on the floor. Usually I knew how to find what I needed pretty easily and fast, but at times it was a real ordeal to find that specific piece of paper. My family still knows me this way, and to be frank sometimes I still work in this fashion…old habits are hard to beat.

At work though, I have turned around completely. It started when I read Getting Things Done and got enthusiastic about the system. I quickly started with step one: Gather the stuff and put it in the inbox. Oh boy, the pile of stuff I compiled onto that tiny inbox…it squeaked under the immense pressure of tasks unfinished. And me too by the way.

The pile of stuff was overwhelming…but the room was tidy! And I liked that. Fast forward in time, and I have adopted many of the habits of GTD. I’m no star in keeping with the system, but the habit of keeping an empty inbox and of archiving instantly are two I cherish. They keep my desk clean (photos at the end of this post) and my work organized. Click to continue »

I don’t need a lot of sleep. On average 5 or 6 hours a night are enough for me to feel rested and awake when I wake up in the morning. There are big advantages to this, as I have a couple of hours a day more than the average person in this world.

I’m a night owl
Well…actually I don’t really know if that’s true. The average time that I hit the bed is around 2 a.m. and that points in the direction of the night owl family, right? Having those extra hours is very valuable to me, but lately I’ve been wondering if they need to be in the wee small hours of the night?

I feel that my sleeping pattern has developed over time, and I’m not sure if I really am a night owl, or that it has become a habit to work at night. And there frankly is only one way to find out…the hard way.

The challenge
So I’ve decided to commit myself to finding out the answer: is it a habit, or is it part of my physiology? So as soon as I get back from holidays end of July, I’m going to start to gradually change my sleeping pattern.

I’m aiming at going to bed between 10 and 11 pm, and waking up between 4 and 5 am. This is going to be a process of gradual change, so I’ll be starting in small steps of 30 minutes every week or two weeks or so, depending on the ease of the transition to the new time.

Why on earth would you put yourself through this?
Well it’s not just an experiment. Being an early bird fits the natural rhythm of my family better. My wife needs 8 to 9 hours of sleep on average, and she hits the bed between 10 and 11 pm. My 9 month old son needs 10 to 12 hours of sleep, and wakes up between 6 and 7 am. So if you put these in a chart and add my time (2 am to 8 am) to it, you can see that this is not an optimal pattern for the family as a whole. I’m missing out on family time, because I’m still in a semi-comatose state early in the morning.

So shifting my sleep to earlier in the night gives me a lot of benefits, without losing my current benefits. It gives me more family time in the morning, more family time in the when going to bed and still have those extra hours in the morning. But that’s still all just the theory…

Resources on sleeping
I’m not the only blogger struggling with the sleep issue, and I have compiled a list of resources I have been reading:

• How to Become an Early Riser @ Steve Pavlina
• How to Become an Early Riser II @ Steve Pavlina
• How to Get Up Right Away When Your Alarm Goes Off @ Steve Pavlina
• How I Became an Early Riser @ Zen Habits
• 10 Benefits of Rising Early @ Zen Habits
• Want to wake up earlier? Remember DIPS @ Scott H Young
• How to be a Highly Productive Night Owl @ Pick the Brain
• 10 Benefits of Staying up Late @ Joey Dehnert’s

Like I said before, I’m going to start this by the end of July. I’ll post short daily posts on what my experiences with rising early are. I never thought this could be, but…I’m looking forward to this!

I’m proud to announce that my very first guest post is a fact. Leo Babauta from Zen Habits has put up a guest post by me on his site. Please check it out:

• How Complicating Your Life Makes Simplifying It Worthwhile

Zen Habits is a very cool fast growing blog, with a lot of good content on achieving goals, changing habits, simplifying and GTD. Check out his Zen To Done (ZTD) productivity system for a good view on habits you need for GTD (or ZTD). If you like it, subscribe to his feed.