Member-only story
How a Night Owl Can Become an Early Bird
You’re not entirely at the mercy of your body’s natural rhythms
An old boss of mine was the most morning-y morning person that ever did morning. Her preferred bedtime was 8 p.m. sharp. She rose before newspaper delivery people and coffee cart operators and, also, the sun. By the time I got to the office each morning, she’d already lived an entire day, and I would spend the entirety of mine trying to catch up.
It was, as you can probably imagine, terrible — especially because I’d always preferred to stay awake late into the night, doing nothing in particular. My mornings were stuffed to the brim with things that needed tackling, overseen by someone who was cheerily baffled as to why anyone would need some time to sip their coffee and let their brain wake up. Soon after I started this job, it became painfully clear that if I wanted to keep up with my boss without dropping from exhaustion, I’d have to make a change.
I tried every trick I could find to turn myself into an early riser. I took melatonin pills. I quit drinking coffee in the afternoon. I forced myself to get into bed every night at 10, turn off my phone, and read for half an hour. I bought an alarm clock that woke me up with a gradually increasing light each morning, like a sunrise.
