I have never been an early riser because I sleep late at night, and I am used to working into the night. I always considered myself nocturnal. Then, I read this blog by Steve Pavlina about rising early, and tried to follow it in vain.
I always wondered about the benefits of rising early, and being able to accomplish a lot even before my colleagues got to the office. But, I never had a chance to experience it first hand.
Now that I am in Bangalore (several timezones away from home) with my daughter who refuses to come out of her jet lag, I am forced to wake up early. I have been waking up at around 4 AM daily. Of course, I am not able to go late into the night partially due to jet lag. But, I am able to notice the things I am doing, and how they are different from what I used to do when I wake up later (around 6:30AM).
I can now read the news at leisure. I even read the paper newspaper, and have time to complete the sudoku in it too. I get a lot more quite time before everyone wakes up. Of course, my daughter gives me company, at present. I can do my exercises and be energised for the whole day. Living in the West coast, I can utilize this opportunity to work with my colleagues on the East coast or even the 'better' coast. By the time others are awake and getting ready to go to work, I have already accomplished a lot.
I will report more in the next week and jot down my experience in getting up early.