How to Decide When to Stay up Late
I went to bed late because of a lot of nonsense. Sometimes it’s a miscalculation, like trying to finish a task that I’m too tired to focus on. But it usually just happens like this: I’m already watching Netflix, so I keep watching Netflix. I wanted to read the book tonight, but so far I haven’t had the opportunity.
It’s surprisingly difficult to recognize these bad decisions when they happen. Late at night I feel sharp. After all, I’m a night owl! It is only the next morning that I feel faint regret. So now I started asking myself a simple question inspired by Amy Bender , a University of Calgary professor of sleep and performance: Would I get up early to do this?
If something is really important or it doesn’t take long – yes, maybe I’ll wake up early for this. I used to go to bed late to finish school assignments; I knew a morning man who went to bed at a reasonable time and set his alarm for the wicked hour in the morning to finish them off instead. This is fair. (He probably worked better in the morning than I did late at night.)
But most of the time, the question just sheds a bright morning light on the fact that you are making the wrong decision. No, I wouldn’t set my alarm earlier to spend an hour watching a mediocre movie and knitting. When the answer to a question is unequivocally negative, it’s time to get started.