How I Solved One-Third of My Problems By Fixing This One Habit

How I Solved 31% of My Problems:

WAKE UP EARLY.

How to Wake Up Early:

Sleep early.

Set an alarm for sleeping, not only for waking up.

You can sleep by 9 PM, get 8 hours of sleep, and still wake up by 5 AM 🤷.

Why Can’t You Sleep Early

Your brain stays awake at night because it doesn’t feel like you’ve done enough.

Here’s the science:

Your frontal lobes communicate with your brain’s Reticular Activating System (R.A.S.). Which regulates sleep.

If your brain doesn’t register the day as productive, it stays active and restless at night.

Leading to late-night “grinding” sessions. But in reality, you’re wasting your energy.

What I'm Trying to Say:

Your brain won't shut up at night and it won't start in the morning because you don't know how to manage your energy.

You can’t sleep because your brain knows you left energy on the table—so it keeps you up, trying to compensate.

The result? You’re tired and unproductive in the next day, trapped in a vicious cycle. And then you go on Twitter and call yourself a “night owl.”

How to Fall Asleep by 9 PM:

Work so hard that you’ll be dying to go to bed by 6.

When you don’t push yourself, your brain says: “You didn’t do much today. Why would you need to rest?” This leftover energy makes it hard to wind down and go to bed on time.

Rest is important, but only when you’ve earned it.

Even if you've not completed something important, make sure you sleep by bed time.

It's easier to wake up early tomorrow morning when there's a lot to do.

It'll keep you from snoozing and manage your time well, cause you know you have to meet up before bedtime.

The Synergy Between Work and Rest

Both work and rest are crucial. You need to push your energy into stress (work) and recovery (rest) in a deliberate way.

If you overuse energy without adequate recovery, you’ll burn out.

If you rest too much without pushing yourself, you’ll become mentally weak and unmotivated.

Consistent habits like fitness or writing can diminish after some amount of inactivity.

Your mental sharpness declines if you aren’t challenging your intellect.

The key is to strain your capabilities, recover your energy, and repeat. If you want to be the best at what you do, you need to live like a mental athlete. (I teach this system in my newsletter, to help you push your creative limits so you can be excellent at your creative sport).

When to rest

The best indicator of whether you need rest is your performance.

If you’re unsure whether to work or rest, work with your best effort, then compare your performance to your past.

If you're not doing good, rest. If you're doing fine, go do more work, you've shut the devil up.

Push, Recover, and Repeat.

Stress your mind and body, then recover. This cycle builds competence and prevents burnout.

My Personal Hacks to Ensure Optimal Output and Quality Rest:

1. Set a timer so my phone turns off itself for bedtime.
2. Work out at night to burn off any leftover energy.
3. Track my performance so I know exactly when to push or rest.

I do this with the level up app, it will be available publicly soon.

Why You’re Struggling with Sleep (and How to Fix It)

It’s not only about how many hours you sleep. When, how, and how often you sleep are critical factors that most people overlook.

If you want to wake up early and perform at your best, you need to master these core principles:

Duration: Get Enough Sleep—Nothing good happens by 1 AM.

Skimping on sleep is a costly mistake. Optimal sleep ranges between 7 to 9 hours. Less than that, and you risk accumulating a sleep debt that messes with your productivity.

Sleep Quality: More Than Time in Bed.

Even if you get the right amount of sleep, quality matters. You might spend eight hours in bed but still wake up tired because of:

Overheating: Your sleep environment is too warm, making you toss and turn.

Caffeine too late: Even if you can fall asleep after coffee, the quality of your sleep suffers, etc.

Restlessness: If your mind won’t shut up, it’s a sign you didn’t push yourself enough during the day.

Cirrcadian Rhythms: Sync with Your Body’s Clock

You can’t outsmart biology. Staying up late and sleeping in won’t have the same recovery benefits as sleeping earlier. Even if you get 8 hours from 3 AM to 11 AM, you’ll feel groggy and out of sync.

Your brain craves a natural rhythm. Find the time that works best for you and try to stay consistent.

Consistency Over Perfection

Sticking to a regular sleep schedule is more important than laser precise bed time.

As the research shows, seven hours of high-quality consistent sleep beats inconsistent sleep any day. It’s not about hitting numbers.

The Trap of “Night Owl” Thinking

Sure, some people thrive at night. But the reality for most? Staying up late is a way to procrastinate tomorrow’s work. You're stealing from the next version of you that has to work tomorrow.

It's going to be harder and less likely that they clean up your shit.

And your shit will continue to pile up until you burn out, you're forced to rest, then you repeat the same piling up of shit.

Don’t fall for the night owl trap if it leaves you feeling drained. If you can’t wake up energized, you’re not a night owl—you’re mismanaging your time.

Fix your routine, sleep early, sync with your circadian rhythm, and stay consistent.

You’ll begin to improve your performance every day. Remember: work hard, rest harder, and repeat.

Sign up for my newsletter to get more guidance on performing at your creative peak. Or hit the subscribe button here on Hackernoon and I'll add you.

Enjoy the rest of your day.