✍️ Diary of an Author: 3 Life Hacks for More Productive Writing Sessions
And -- is waking up early really worth it?
Happy Wednesday! In today’s newsletter, you’ll learn about…
✍️ 3 life hacks for writing more and procrastinating less
☕️ Resources for making mindset shifts to enhance your creativity
😎 Is waking up early really the life hack everyone says it is?
📖 3 Life Hacks for a More Productive Writing Schedule
In my early twenties, my only weaknesses were bullets, fire, and an early bedtime.
I was a stubborn night owl, and my days were lopsided: I’d often wake up at 11am or noon on weekdays, and my first stop would be to make a full French Press of coffee to wake myself up. I’d fast until noon, and then go on a run at 3pm and maybe drink even more caffeine.
As some of you may know, that doesn’t fly with me these days. Three years ago I had to overhaul all of my health habits and start from scratch.
Now, I sleep with the blinds open so sunrise can flood in and wake me up. I live a no-alarm-clock-life (there’s no need as I schedule most of my meetings for the afternoons two days per week) and I’m up at 7am or 8am most mornings.
What sparked the change?
I was convinced for a long time that my night owl nature served me. And then — I hired a nutritionist who proved me wrong.
When I quit coffee for a painful 6 months, I was exhausted all of the time. I had to heal a sneaky iron deficiency, and even after that I was still very tired.
On one of my calls with my nutritionist, a wonderful woman named Katie who specializes in helping women heal autoimmune conditions — I was telling her how tired I felt all the time.
That’s when she shared with me some findings that going to bed before 10pm — or at the very least before 11pm — has been shown to help balance our circadian rhythm and keep our hearts healthy. She saw her other clients who went to bed before 10pm also saw huge improvements in energy.
I followed her advice…
…and hated that it worked wonders for me.
Now, I drink matcha most days instead of coffee, and wake up at 7am and am I go to sleep by 10:30pm at the latest.
I write in the daytime instead of the dead of night, and my quality of life is better and I’m much happier and more energized than I’ve ever been before.
Now, I’m aware that history is littered with writers who have abysmal routines. I know of plenty of famous writers who get high on coke and drink a case of beer as they write through the night.
(I think some of these same writers would have written even better works had they cleaned up their habits.)
Here at ✍️ Diary of an Author ✍️ I want all of us to come together and create our vision of what the Modern Author can be.
We reach our highest potential when our routines are optimized, our curiosity has space to be followed, and our healthy, healed selves aren’t being distracted by our demons or bad habits.
You have to craft your life with what works for you, but I’ll share what I’ve discovered to be my top 3 life hacks for better writing sessions:
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