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When I'm at home during the working week, I'm a member of The 05:30 am Club.
When I'm travelling on business I'm a member of The 05:00 am Club.
The benefits of those early starts have been much written and spoken about.
For me, they include:
Reading the day's entry from The Daily Stoic (I'm in my fourth year of doing that);
Reading for personal pleasure for 30 minutes (I'm currently enjoying "Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver - thank you Sheila Scott for the recommend);
Writing in my journaling app, "Day One";
Writing my blog during the working week;
Checking my day ahead (my very own morning huddle);
Briefly checking emails and social media posts (FOMO?);
Getting some exercise - a run out or indoor bike session (or walking the dogs when Annie is away).
There's another Club I've joined though - it's actually much harder to become a member.
The 21:30 Club - because that's when you get into your bed.
For me The 21:30 Club allows me a further 15-30 minutes of personal reading before I reach for the bedside light.
That's personal reading - not doom-scrolling before you hit lights out and filling your head with people tripping and falling into swimming pools, bodies on mountains, supercars skidding out of control, AI plane crashes and all manner of other catastrophic detritus.
Last week in Ireland I actually decided one night to spend 30 minutes doom-scrolling in my hotel room, just to see what the fuss was about and whether I was missing anything.
I'm not - like a McDonald's breakfast, that will do me for another 12 months.
Back to The 21:30 Club - as I said, much harder, for a variety of reasons:
Family - I'm lucky to be an empty nester - I know;
Marriage - it's a special partner who recognises and appreciates that sometimes you need what Matthew Walker calls "sleep divorce" - simply the acceptance that you are going early to the spare bedroom;
Stuff - just too much stuff that needs doing, either professionally or personally.
But not another episode of your latest binge - or the aforementioned doom-laden video bytes.
Even as a member of The 21:30 Club I'm still not getting the sleep that my Whoop wants for me - but it's a start.
p.s. this morning's blog is late - because, having returned from Ireland on an early ferry yesterday, this morning I'm having an honorary Sunday morning - I went to bed at 21:30 last night, read for 30 minutes and then slept for 9.5 hours.
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