Coffee, Time and Pressure

These days I have many things going on. Between my responsibilities here at the paper, my web consulting business and my app development company, time is one thing I never seem to have enough of.

That’s why a few months ago I started getting up earlier in the morning. It gives me a chance to answer emails, finish up the previous nights work and most importantly, to do it all without interruptions. This is sacred time for me. From 6am-8am it’s Devin’s time. No phone ringing, no constantly filling email inbox, no distractions. My wife is still fast asleep as is my son. It’s almost like the whole world slows down just enough for me to be super productive. It’s enough to make me want to wake up even earlier.

Last week I gave it a shot. I set my alarm for 4am, but only after being up way too late the night before. The result was a single day that seemed to drag on forever. While I did get a ton of work done that morning, the rest of the day weighed heavy on me. Conference calls, long drives and mandatory meetings all took their toll. For the next 2 days I slept in until 8am and 8:30am.

The lesson learned here was that I can not find extra time. The time has to come from somewhere and it’s usually the place I need it most, bedtime. I’ve now started to go to bed a bit earlier in favor of my quiet mornings. The work I was producing very late probably wasn’t up to par anyhow. Now I’m getting up around 5:30am or so and it’s been perfect. Just enough time to collect my thoughts, down a few cups of coffee and start my day right…quietly.

The best part of waking up is not Folgers in your cup, it’s having everyone else still fast asleep while you’re getting stuff done…with Folgers in your cup.

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