My body has a very specific sleep schedule programmed into it at this point. Most nights Lauren goes to bed like a normal human being, and I'm up working until midnight or 1:00 AM, because apparently my brain thinks "quiet house + computer + no dogs barking = peak productivity." Then I usually wake up somewhere between 8:00 and 8:30 AM, which gives me a solid 7 - 8 hours of sleep. Perfect.

But here's the weird part: my bladder acts like an alarm clock and usually wakes me up around 7:00 AM. Most mornings, no big deal. I take care of business, crawl back into bed, and get another hour and a half of glorious sleep. And that sleep is always the best sleep. It's like my brain switches to "dream mode: ultra vivid edition." I remember full conversations, storylines, the whole deal. Sometimes I wake up thinking I should sell tickets to the movie my brain just produced.

But sometimes (like this morning), I get up around 6:50ish, go back to bed, and my brain decides: Nope. We're done sleeping. We have projects. And suddenly I'm laying there fully awake, thinking about work, content ideas, Access projects, website tweaks, video plans... basically everything except sleeping, which is what I was supposedly there to do. I knew it was a mistake to get up. I KNEW it. But I looked at the clock and thought, "Hey, it's basically 7 AM. I'll just grab coffee and be fine."

Narrator voice: He was not fine.

It's almost 10:00 now and I am dragging. The brain fog is real. Today I'm not in "attack the day" mode. Today I'm in "move the mouse enough to convince the universe I'm still alive" mode. I'm just going through the motions like, "Alright... what's the next thing I have to do?" Thank goodness for my task list because without it I'd just be sitting here staring at the screen like an NPC waiting for a side quest.

I know a lot of you are nine-to-fivers (or at least you've got a schedule where you have to be somewhere at a specific time). I've been self-employed since my early 20s (back around 1992), so I've never really been a clock puncher. I work when I can, when the ideas hit, and when the motivation shows up. And if you run your own business, you already know the deal: your mind is basically never "off the clock." It's not like you leave work at work, go home, and return the next morning. Especially when you work from home. Work is always there, hovering in the back of your brain like a browser tab you forgot to close.

And honestly, I love that freedom. I don't have to set an alarm clock, which is glorious because I hate alarm clocks. The only time I ever set one is if I've got to catch a plane or I've got some ridiculous early doctor appointment. (Which is why I schedule just about everything for the afternoon whenever I can.) First thing in the morning is when my brain is sharpest and I'm the most productive, so I try to use that time for the creative stuff: recording videos, writing, building projects, and actually moving the needle. The downside is that it also means my brain sometimes wakes up early and starts working... whether I asked it to or not.

So let me ask you early risers (and fellow night owls who get betrayed by their own bladder): what do you do when this happens? When you wake up too early, you KNOW it's too early, and you KNOW your whole day is going to be powered by cappuccinos and regret... what's your trick? Do you force yourself back to sleep? Read something boring? Count sheep? Meditate? White noise? Or do you just accept your fate and start the day like, "Welp... guess I live here now."

Drop your wisdom below. I clearly need it. 😄

LLAP
RR