CITIZEN: Workflows: Early to Rise

Months ago, I got into a groove of waking up 4am and working 3 hours before having to log into work. I found that if I had switched context from the beginning of the day, it was easy for my mind to switch back to it in the evening after finishing work.

What's more, I was able to switch context in the course of the day, if I wanted to. By being engaged with the game project at first light enabled my mind to keep the attention throughout the day.

The problem is the early rise, of course. It's hard to maintain because if something happens to interrupt the routine, and most of it is out of my control, then it's easy to fall back into the usual cycle. Yearly seasons affect the sunrise and sunset times and that affects sleeping habits as well.

Discipline is truly needed.

Though I've been wayward as of late, it is clear to me that early-rise routine is superior to working in the evenings. The main problem was context-switching. After work, I could try to work on the game, but I often could not focus because my mind was still working on the problems of my full-time job (which happens to be vfx programming). By the time I switched focus, I was already either getting ready for dinner, or I had to get dinner ready. Sometimes I would prefer to out and exercise.

If I deferred until after dinner, post-dinner entertainments -- watching TV with my wife -- set me back 1 or 2 hours more. I could work on my game from 9pm until midnight, a good solid 3 hours, but these hours were not the optimal times: by this time I would be mentally tired, completely taken out of game context, and still need to take care of the dishes.

But the hardest part is not just the suboptimal available hours, but the mindset that settles in with this sort of routine. A mental weariness inevitably sets in from having to constantly fight against the context-switch. As a result I become less and less inclined to work on the game: if there is a problem that gives me anxiety, it becomes very easy to give myself an excuse, 'I'll sort it out tomorrow.' But I actually don't sort it out, and this routine of procrastination deepens before I realise I'm actually procrastinating.

I've compared the differences and I've pretty much made up my mind that though I am really an evening person, I objectively get better results when I work on the game in the early morning.

I've taken to write down to myself things I think will help me get back on the wagon.

1. Early morning is dark, so lamp must be ready at the table before bedtime.
2. If drawing, drawing equipment (paper, pens, ruler, board) must be on the table before bedtime.
3. TODO list must be written in advance and placed on the table beforehand. It may not be a literal to-do list, but even as thoughts that need to be thought through more.
4. Decide to wake up the moment I open my eyes to look at the clock*.

* These days I normally wake up at around 5.30am; I open one eye and look at the LED clock across the room. However, if I didn't make a decision the night before to wake up early, I'm normally going to decide that morning to sleep in. If this happens, I wake up at 7am, which is far too late to do anything.

My wife was the one that started this early-morning routine when she came back from S Korea and had to adjust to the time zones. She would wake up at 2-3am, and at some point, I got into it as well. We kept on this for months. But we've fallen back to the usual time now.

There are other challenges, like when to take breakfast. But I think that a 4am is the sweetest spot.