The Director of Marketing at Vitalyze Venture Group wakes at 3-5 AM and credits the quiet hours for writing, deep work, and avoiding interruptions. He started the habit from college football and personal training. He suggests shifting your schedule gradually, one or two hours earlier, and warns that the trade-off is less social time.
In this video, I'm going to tell you why I wake up at 3 AM. I've been doing this for a number of years. Why I even started this in the first place. It's insanity, I understand. But how it impacts my life and why waking up earlier can help you as well. I'm the Director of Marketing and Community at Vitalyze Venture Group. I host a podcast called Just Go Grind, interviewing founders and venture capitalists. And I started waking up early in college. I didn't have a choice at the time. I was playing football and we We had morning workouts. I think it started at 4:45 AM. I think the other group was at 5:15 AM. We had spring practice that was at 5:00 AM because people had classes, had to get it done before then. And the only way to do that was to have super early practices, which meant that I had to wake up before then, oftentimes around 4:00 AM. And from there, that started the snowball of me waking up early. Why would I continue waking up early at 3:00 or 4:00 AM? It's all because of when I was a personal trainer. I was writing articles, blog posts constantly, and I'd started training clients around 7 or 8:00 AM, but I would write articles in the morning. I'd go to Starbucks when it opened at 5:00 AM and I'd write for a few hours, crank out some blog posts, knowing that the rest of my day I'd already completed a task that mattered the most. I'd already written something, already created something, made progress in the business before all the craziness of the day happened. And so I typically get up at 4 or something, maybe have a little breakfast, shower, get ready, go to Starbucks and start writing. As time progressed, I realized by continuing that type of schedule, even as I went into other roles, even as I went to get an MBA at USC, getting up early gave me the time in the morning to get the most important tasks done. Before all the craziness of the day happened, where things are out of your control, meetings pop up, things happen, I could always use that first block of time to get the most important things done. On the back end, late at night, going to bed at, you know, between 8 or 9 PM, you miss out on some things, Socially, which is definitely the downside, but also a lot of times it's just kind of wasted time. I took that block of time in the evening, 9, 10, 11 PM, and just moved that chunk of time to the morning. And so instead of waking up at 6, let's just say, and going to bed at 10, you shift that block and go to bed at 9, get up at 5, or go to bed at 8 and get up at 4. And that 2-hour period that would have been kind of wasted in the evening, not doing much, maybe just watching TV, not being productive, something I always care about, I shifted to the morning where it's more productive time. You're not getting phone notifications, you're not not getting email notifications at 4 AM or 3 AM, the only thing you can do then is to work and get the things done that you want to get done that move you forward in your life. And as someone who wants to make the most of every single minute as much as possible, it's either on or off. I like to either be on working, getting things done, accomplishing, or off completely. And being off completely means hanging out with friends, traveling, doing fun things in normal non-COVID times at least. And that for me is Complete release. Whether it be playing games, whether it be traveling, all those things are complete release for me. Otherwise, I'd rather just be working and building things that then support the rest of my life. I also remember hearing a story of David Goggins, this Navy SEAL and ultra-marathoner who said he'd get up at 3 AM and run like 10 or 15 miles and then bike to work, which is I think like 20 or 30 miles. And he was able to do that because he got up so early and then he still got all of that workout in before he even started work. And that got the wheels turning even more of like, this is a lifestyle that for me at the time, At least right now, makes a lot of sense. I have the time to be able to do that. Don't have the other obligations that may keep you from getting up that early, from doing that. And it makes a lot of sense then because you can get these productive hours in super early. So how do you start? How do you begin waking up early? I always tell people it doesn't have to be craziness of 3 or 4 AM, but it can be just an hour or 2 earlier in the morning. Normally get up at 6, maybe you get up at 5. If you normally get up at 7, maybe get up at 6 and then use that block for something productive, even if that's just something that's investing in yourself. Finally having the time to work out, finally having that time to read or enjoy your cup of coffee in peace, whatever it may be. By getting up earlier, you allow yourself to do that. So my challenge to you would be just to get up a little bit earlier and find that little time in the morning to be a little bit more productive. Doesn't have to be crazy, but imagine what that gives to you when you compound that over time, over weeks, over months, over years. You'll be able to make time for things that matter, be more productive with those hours. It's not about trying to stretch out the workday and not sleeping to be able to do this. It's about shuffling around the time blocks you have to be more productive, get the things done you want to get done, and live the rest of your life. Thanks for watching. Remember to subscribe, hit that like button down below, and I will see you in the next video.
