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Here is what actually happened, from someone who did it & tracked everything
Let me be honest with you before we move ahead. The first 3 days were really brutal, I had to force myself.
Not in a motivational kind of way. In a ‘what is wrong with me and why am I standing in the dark at 4:30 in the morning’ kind of way. EVERYONE is sleeping.
I have now completed many many (dont even remember how many) challenges in the past few years. For example the latest one,
Walked 10k steps daily for 30 days
Each one taught me something the previous one did not. But this challenge, waking up at 4:30 AM for 30 days consistently, is for sure one of the hardest one. My wife asked me why 4:30, why not 5 or 6pm.
Why 4:30 AM and not 5 or 6?
Being a mathematician I love numbers, I did my BS in Math and just love odd, prime numbers. I actually set my alarm for 4:29 or 4:31 AM instead of 4:30. I know its weird but again, I love weird numbers.
Before 5 AM, pretty much everyone sleeps, you wont find many people in gym or even at home or if you are living a hostel, that’s kind a sacred time, super quite.
Your phone is not buzzing, no call, no text, none (In fact, I do not suggest phone early in the morning regardless when you wake up, the first 90 minutes should be yours, no one else).
Nobody is emailing you, (I dont check emails until 9am, just 2–3 times a day).
That window between 4:30 and 7:30 AM, roughly 3 hours, became the most productive, I could focus on whatever I want.
Also, it’s strange how waking up that early changes your mindset, you don’t want to waste time. You’re less likely to jump on YT or any social media, because your brain almost tells you, you sacrificed your sleep, so now it’s time to make it count.
It feels like the moment to work on your best project. Don’t just take my word for it, try waking up at 4:30 AM consistently for a week and see what happens.
There is also something neuroscientists call sleep inertia, the grogginess you feel in the first 15–30 minutes after waking. By choosing a fixed, early time and sticking to it for 30 days, my body began anticipating the wake time through a process called the cortisol awakening response.
By day 8, I was waking up at 4:25 AM naturally (no alarm).
