Caffeine pills in the morning. Previously, if there wasn’t something that I absolutely had to get up for in the morning, it would take me several hours to get up from the first time my alarm clock rung. Sleeping 12 hours a day wasn’t unusual. Taking a 100 mg caffeine pill from the moment the clock rings not only helps me get up early, it also makes me feel more energetic and good.
Establishing a morning routine. After waking up, I do a 10-minute run around the block and then take a cold shower. Some Internet browsing while I eat breakfast, then to do whatever I’m supposed to do that day. It doesn’t always work, but it works better than just getting up and thinking “I guess I should start doing something soon”. The combination of running followed by the cold showers also makes me feel great for a while.
Getting up early. If you get up at 7 AM, you can accidentially get stuck online for three hours, after which it’s still only 10 AM and you still have plenty of time to do things. In principle, if you woke up later you could just go to bed later, but my brain refuses to see it that way. 5 PM is on some level still tagged as late, regardless of when I woke up.
Not getting an Internet connection to my apartment. I can still access the ‘net via my phone’s GPRS, but the slowness makes me far less prone to getting stuck in a “check e-mails, Facebook, IRC, e-mails” cycle. The slowness also made ’net browsing more uncomfortable at first, which helped reduce the time wasted online, but I pretty soon got used to that. Regardless, I still find this useful. If I need fast Internet, I go to the library or university.
Making sure I’m social enough. At one point I noted that I need to see people in a fun context every 2-3 days, or I get lethargic. Even if I have a lot of deadlines and it seems like I should really skip anything “unnecessary”, doing so often leads to less getting done. Since then my “social timer” seems to have extended, but I still need to see people somewhat regularly.
Caffeine pills in the morning. Previously, if there wasn’t something that I absolutely had to get up for in the morning, it would take me several hours to get up from the first time my alarm clock rung. Sleeping 12 hours a day wasn’t unusual. Taking a 100 mg caffeine pill from the moment the clock rings not only helps me get up early, it also makes me feel more energetic and good.
Establishing a morning routine. After waking up, I do a 10-minute run around the block and then take a cold shower. Some Internet browsing while I eat breakfast, then to do whatever I’m supposed to do that day. It doesn’t always work, but it works better than just getting up and thinking “I guess I should start doing something soon”. The combination of running followed by the cold showers also makes me feel great for a while.
Getting up early. If you get up at 7 AM, you can accidentially get stuck online for three hours, after which it’s still only 10 AM and you still have plenty of time to do things. In principle, if you woke up later you could just go to bed later, but my brain refuses to see it that way. 5 PM is on some level still tagged as late, regardless of when I woke up.
Not getting an Internet connection to my apartment. I can still access the ‘net via my phone’s GPRS, but the slowness makes me far less prone to getting stuck in a “check e-mails, Facebook, IRC, e-mails” cycle. The slowness also made ’net browsing more uncomfortable at first, which helped reduce the time wasted online, but I pretty soon got used to that. Regardless, I still find this useful. If I need fast Internet, I go to the library or university.
Making sure I’m social enough. At one point I noted that I need to see people in a fun context every 2-3 days, or I get lethargic. Even if I have a lot of deadlines and it seems like I should really skip anything “unnecessary”, doing so often leads to less getting done. Since then my “social timer” seems to have extended, but I still need to see people somewhat regularly.
Spaced repetition software.