I found a “cheat code” for my productivity, which is getting about 3 hours of deeply focused work before any meetings.

Yes, it does sound like a cliche to say “wake up at 5AM and get most work done before others wake up”. But for most of my life this was pure fantasy. In the past during early AM I used to be a brainless zombie. More often than not I would snooze all of my alarms (like seven times, not joking). Whenever I tried to go to bed early I would get laughed at and it didn’t actually work.

Sometimes I would get these 3 hours of focused work in the very late afternoon once meetings are over or at night. This worked, but the consistency was missing. The problem with evenings is that life has its own plans and oftentimes you get some commitments in the evenings. Super early mornings, on the other hand, are different. There are no meetings, no interruptions, no notifications, no nothing. You are in full control of your time.

Here is what finally worked for me (and no, I’m not selling anything):

• Enough sleep. The single most important factor was to get enough sleep the night before. My needs for sleep change depending on the amount of physical activity and the quality of sleep the previous night. I had to learn to adjust. I’m using Garmin “sleep coach” and if it says to sleep +40min this is what I target to go to bed earlier. I found that, for instance, a super-intensive kickboxing class increases my needs by about 50 minutes. Not getting enough sleep wrecks the next day.
• Autopilot morning. I removed all of the friction from early morning routines. I prepare all my clothes, work stuff, keys, everything the night before. Everything is in the exact same spot every morning. When I wake I don’t have to think. I just go on fast autopilot and 25 minutes from wake-up (no joke) I’m in the office sipping my reward: espresso coffee freshly made by myself in the office. By now it is a bit of a ritual for me.
• Commitments. I keep running accountability growth challenges with friends. That additional accountability layer keeps me honest.

The results?

The biggest change isn’t just productivity but it’s how I feel.

When I used to start my day around 10AM I felt agitated. I’d go through early meetings half-asleep while knowing there was real work piling up in the background.

Instead now, as a huge contrast, I enter the day having already accomplished something of substance. The other day, before the first 10AM meeting, I published 3 code changes and wrote 2 documents. I don’t always do this much early on but this shows the scale of the difference those few early hours make. I enter meetings calmer, more confident, and less reactive. 

Conclusion

I failed for 20 years before I was able to do this. I didn’t want to write this blog post until I had at least half a year of consistent early mornings, because that’s the hard part. For me, waking up early stopped being a punishment and became a secret weapon. I’m actually looking forward to working hard and focused early when no one can distract me. If you are struggling with something, don’t give up, try again. It might take time, but eventually it can work out for you too.

I’m curious what’s your cheat code for creating time for deep work?