(Originally posted on Quora)

I learned today that if I wake up early in the morning, I can get more things done [1]. I can be more productive that way if I get up two-and-a-half hours earlier than normal instead of sleeping in.

The time difference might not sound significant, but it actually is. Let’s say that I woke up today right after 9:00 as opposed to 6:30-ish. That’s nearly three hours of wasted time that I can never get back – and in that time I could be doing a lot of things.

For instance, early this morning I was able to accomplish the following:

• communicated with a couple of important people from two different publishing companies,
• worked out a deal with a contact in Vancouver regarding some cross-promoting stuff that benefits both parties,
• planted the seeds for some research on a book I’m writing,
• replied back to seven important emails,
• sent an email to a friend in Asia,
• checked some information on my bank account,
• updated my budget for July,
• sent a copy of my e-book to a contact in Michigan by email,
• responded to a time-sensitive email from an eBay seller regarding an item that a family member had ordered through my account, and
• updated my Quora profile and a couple of things on my websites.

I’m sure there were some other things that I’ve probably left out.

I did all of these things after I had arrived at the office a half-hour early. And yes, I ate breakfast and took a shower before leaving the house, and did everything listed above in the half hour before starting my work shift. After all of that, then I began my shift right on time.

So, what I learned today is I can be productive by not sleeping in – even if 9:00 isn’t really considered “late” in North America. If I didn’t get up early, who knows when I would have had the time to get those things accomplished?

[1] Recently, I have been working 12 noon shifts which means I normally wake up at 9 am. Today, I’m working an 8 am shift so I got up at 6:30.