- Hey there.
Just a quick announcement to let you know
that my YouTube course is closing its enrollment
in just two days after uploading this video.
And so if you wanna learn all these strategies, tools,
and mindsets that I use to make great videos
and to get more views on YouTube with integrity,
go to slowgrowth.com/youtube to learn more.
Again, you've got just two days
from the time I upload to check it out.
Hope to see there.
(upbeat music)
One year ago, I decided to stop using my alarm clock
and it changed everything.
I've been an early riser
for the past 10 years or so, and for the past decade
I've almost always started my day with the sound of-
(alarm ringing)
Is it any wonder that I struggle with anxiety?
Of course, you can do your best to flick
through the various options on your phone,
(phone ringing) but is there really an alarm
that doesn't make you want
to throw your phone through the drywall?
So it wasn't just the guttural sound
of the alarm ringing each morning
that got me to question how I wake up.
I really stopped using an alarm clock out of necessity.
Last year, I spent six months in Australia.
- Ooh, can I be Australian, mate?
- Now, I don't know if you're familiar,
but Australia is really far from the US,
specifically from the small team
that I work with on the East Coast
and that makes for a brutal time difference.
When I was there, 9:00 AM in Sydney was 7:00 PM in New York.
That meant that I often had to wake up at 5:30 AM
just to get on a single phone call.
My hair, I gotta say, is looking really good.
On the days that I had to wake up early,
my alarm clock was obviously required.
But for the other five to six days every week,
I decided not to set an alarm at all and the habit stuck,
even now that I'm back in the US.
Now, instead of waking up
to that god awful sound of the alarm ringing,
I wake up to people yelling on the streets of Philadelphia.
- You wanna move in here with me?
Come on, it's a nice house!
Real nice!
Come on in the door.
It's safe!
Don't play it safe.
- So I've noticed a few positive changes
since killing my alarm clock every morning.
First, I've been getting a full eight hours
of sleep each night.
Here you can see what my sleep has looked like
for the past month.
I've been tracking my sleep for the past 30 days
and I've been consistently getting nine hours in bed
and eight hours of sleep.
The time that I get to bed each night varies
depending on the day of the week,
whether or not I have plans, and if Natalie is working late.
It's crazy how inconsistent my schedule has become.
So instead of forcing myself to wake up early every morning,
I let my body tell me when I'm ready to wake up.
Every night I try to get to bed at the same time
but when there are inconsistencies with my schedule,
naturally there are gonna be days
when I go to bed really late.
And so if I get to bed at 12:00 AM or 1:00 AM
I'm not gonna just wake up early for the hell of it.
I'm gonna sleep in
and let my body make that decision for me.
For me, this strikes the perfect balance
of consistency and flexibility.
In the past,
I've tried to keep a really rigid sleep schedule.
One month I even tried to wake up at 5:00 AM every morning.
That one didn't go so well.
(urine splashing) (alarm ringing)
What I've learned is that neglecting sleep to be productive
is one of the least productive things you can do.
So I think the thing that surprised me the most
is the realization that I don't need an alarm clock
to wake up early.
I need a full night's sleep to wake up early.
If you look at my sleep patterns over the past month
I still typically wake up around 7:00 AM each morning.
A lot of people would naturally assume
if you're not setting an alarm
that you're not gonna be waking up early.
You'll sleep in until 11, 12, maybe 1.
But for me, that definitely wasn't true.
I'm waking up pretty consistently
at around 7:00 AM with no alarms.
I don't think I ever sleep in past nine if I'm being honest.
And there are mornings that I wake up a little bit earlier.
But if you take a look at it,
there are really, at least over the past month,
there is quite a strong trend for waking up
right around 6:30 or 7:00 AM each morning.
From my personal experience, if I don't have commitments
in the morning and I wake up tired,
I will hit the snooze button over and over again,
or at least until I hear my wife
aggressively sigh next to me. (wife sighs)
Which brings me to my next point.
This new routine of mine hasn't just been good to me.
It's also made someone else very happy.
So this was the part of the video
where I was supposed to interview Natalie
but she got sick while I was making it so...
So Nat, did you like it
when I used my alarm clock every morning?
- No.
- It didn't give you much sleep, did it?
- No.
- Sounds rough. - No.
- Well, tell me your honest take.
- Look, listen, right?
Like, I'm not gonna sit here
and pretend like it was easy because it wasn't, right?
Like who needs to wake up at 5:00 AM
like they're some kind of productivity guru.
(both laughing)
- But it's not bad anymore, right?
- No.
- [Matt] Long story short, Nat is a really light sleeper.
And now that I don't use an alarm clock every morning
I don't wake her up as often,
especially when I'm hitting
the snooze button three times in a row.
So I guess you could say
that she's a lot happier now.
- Fuckin' a right!
- Now this works for me for a few different reasons.
One, I don't have to consistently
wake up early for meetings.
Two, I have a really flexible schedule
that I can set myself.
Probably the biggest thing that I need to mention
is that I really do have a greater purpose
that drives me to get out of bed every morning.
When I wake up every morning,
I'm genuinely excited about the day.
I'm excited about my work.
I'm driven.
I have that task list that I created the night before,
so there is no question
about the things that I wanna get done.
And so I think if you're trying to do this for yourself
that is super important.
Everybody has their own schedules
and needs to find what works for themselves.
But I have found that being more flexible,
not setting an alarm clock, has truly changed my day to day.
But that's not to say
that I'll never wake up early again
or I'll never use an alarm clock.
When I'm back in Sydney,
I'm definitely gonna need to use it a couple of days a week.
And when I have early commitments
and engagements that can't be moved,
I'm not gonna be an idiot and leave it up to chance.
I'll set 12 alarms on my phone like a normal person.
But whenever I can, from here on out,
for as long as I can, I'm not gonna set my alarm.
I mean, look, listen, right?
Like do I want to be in your video?
No, I don't.
I'd rather be at the servo.
I'd rather get a couple of sausage sizzles, right?
And like just eat those.
Go over to the Bottle-O
and then just fill up a couple eskies, right?
Head over to the beach and just have a good time.
We never have a good time anymore.
Working and working.
And I would love it if you could be in my video, Nat.
Like, "Nat, can you please be in my video?"
Like, (groans) I can't believe I married a YouTuber.
No.