I didn’t hit my snooze button this morning!
Ok, so maybe I slightly cheated since hubby woke up before me and woke me up about 5 minutes before my alarm was set to go off…but I DID go ahead and get OUT of the bed instead of laying around for 15 or 20 minutes. We’ll call that a win. lol
Coffee was a big help. Coffee is sometimes my motivation to get out of the bed. The sooner I wake up, the sooner I get coffee. This wasn’t always the case, though.
From when I first started drinking coffee, my mom would do the sweetest thing. She brought me coffee to wake me up in the morning! My coffee was almost like my alarm clock. No matter how tired I was or how much I wanted to lay around longer, once that sweet smell of coffee hit my room, I would always be able to sit up just enough to take one glorious sip of hot, creamy coffee. Ahh those were the days! Though to be honest, she still brings me coffee sometimes when I visit home. 
It was so nice eating breakfast at a reasonable hour today. Hubby made a fried cage-free egg and one of the last rye bagels.
Ahhhhh! We need more bagels!
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What Could You Do With Your Snooze Time?
So yesterday, I mentioned that you can lose a lot of productive time to hitting the snooze button. I also hinted that I’ve heard that the sleep you get during your snooze time isn’t really quality sleep. I found this article (click) confirming that suspicion. I’m sure there are more, but I feel like I’ve heard it from enough sources to believe it, personally. (Do let me know if you find any others – I’d love to see them!)
So what productive things could you be doing with your snooze time instead of getting half-a$$ sleep?
Time Management Challenge – Activity #2 – What could you do with your snooze time?
How-To: Write down how long your average snooze time is. Now write down 5 productive things you could do with that time. And if you’d be willing, I’d love it if you left your activity answers in a comment or on my Facebook wall. Pretty please?
I’ll go first.
My average snooze time: 30 minutes
5 Productive things I could do with 30 minutes:
- Sleep! Instead of setting my alarm for 6:30am, I could set it for 7:00am. I’d get 30 more minutes of quality sleep time!
- Read a book. I always complain I don’t have time to read, but I could read quite a bit in 30 minutes and it would be a really relaxing way to start the day.
- Bake. I could make some really awesome breakfasts with an extra 30 minutes.
- Blog. I have hundreds of ideas for blog posts. Literally! I could schedule a quick one in the morning before work.
- Walk. I could take Bailey on a stroll around the neighborhood. Bailey would be thrilled and I think it would be an energizing start to the day.
*Updated to add that my 5 things would each take 30 minutes, so for example, I could do one for each business day of the week – Monday through Friday. I don’t think I could do all 5 in 30 minutes (not all 5 each business day). But feel free to write your list how you like.* 
Your turn! What could you do with your snooze time? Feel free to just list one or two productive things you could do with your snooze time, if you can’t come up with 5.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
ooh. I like this idea. The last 2 weeks I’ve had had a major issue with hitting my snooze button. I’ve finally been forcing myself up about 20 minutes before i need to be out of the house in the morning…
I hate the snooze button, but my boyfriend hits his about 4 times along with getting up an hour and a half earlier than I do. So I have an extra hour if I pop out of bed when he does or 30 mins if I am feeling like a bum.
1) Yogamazing morning session
2) Check email, twitter, facebook, etc all in bed on the ipad
3) Pack both of our lunches for the day
4) Make dinner if we are having a crockpot meal
5) Do all the dishes and clean up the house a little.
I find that if I push myself and do 4 out of this 5 my day is easier and I will have more free time later. The last one #2 is for when I want to have a me morning.
1. AM Yoga
2. Relax, Watch GMA, and Read Blogs
3. Pack Lunch (So I Don’t Have To Buy)
4. Do My Hair
5. Read for Class
Five things I could get done in 1 hour!
-I could catch up on homework! That always needs to be done.
-I could actually take a shower and do my hair. That would make me feel a lot better about myself. Project Get Glam anyone?
-I could eat something other than cereal.
-Start a craft project and do a little every morning.
-I could start the day off with reading a book. That hasn’t been assigned to me.
I usually only snooze once for 10 minutes, but I could browse a couple blogs in that timeframe!
I totally snoozed for over an hour today. In that time, I could have gotten ready, headed to the Y to do 30-45 minutes of lap swimming, gotten home to shower and start breakfast.
Now…I have to figure out how to fit that in to my already jammed packed afternoon/evening.
I usually hit snooze for an hour, today it was about 45 minutes. Blah.
I could:
-Get ready for my workout
-Read
-Have some moments to relax before I start my day
-Make some tea
Lots of good things. I just wish I didn’t sleep SO hard, it’s difficult for me to get up in the morning!
I am enjoying this talk about snoozing! It is making me miss my bed, actually! To be honest… I never hit the snooze button at all. I am the most paranoid person about my alarm not going off. I HATE being late. So I actually wake up every 5 minutes or so for the last 30 minutes of sleep I get. I wake up, look at the clock, go back to sleep, wake up, look at the clock… and so on. I guess I have my own internal snooze button. I wake up between 5:30 and 5:50 each morning, and we have to be out the door by 6:50 or 7 at the absolute latest. I am jealous of all the people who can snooze several times!
I started drinking coffee in the last year and I wish I hadn’t. It is sooo delicious but I know it’s not really the healthiest. Now if I don’t drink it in the morning by 2pm I have a splitting headache!
Try weaning yourself off with tea?
This VERY thought is what gets me out of bed early most mornings. Would I LIKE to sleep for another hour? Sure. Will I feel better if I work out, shower and have coffee in that same 60 minutes? Almost always.
I totally understand. On the flip side I’m trying to be more productive and use my time better in the evenings.
If I didn’t snooze I would be able to wake up and do a quick 20 minute ab-cardio-strength training routine!
I actually never use the snooze button! I honestly don’t understand why people use it…? I find it so much easier to just get up when my alarm goes off.
I’ve never had much trouble with waking up early. I don’t enjoy it, but it’s not horrible. Although coffee definitely helps me keep a smile on my face during the early morning hours
Every time I see those bagels on your blog, I seriously drool a little on my keyboard, haha.. I live in the Charlotte area, and I’m dying to know where you can buy those?
I got them in Greenville, SC. Here’s the post where I blogged about them (after you asked, but maybe now you know!): http://thechiclife.com/2011/03/spring-at-reedy-river-park.html
I was thinking that I don’t “snooze,” but I realized that I do hit snooze repeatedly on the weekend! With extra weekend time I could add another 20 minutes to my workouts, watch trashy tv for an extra hour – or get another hour of homework done (probably the best, but also the least likely option!).
Uhm, I will admit to having a snooze problem… Especially this time of year when the floor is sooooooo cold!
Getting up means that I can work out, make proper breakfast and make a lunch that I can’t wait to eat. This will also benefit the world in general as all these things makes me a much more pleasant person to be around…
So I guess I will take up the snooze challenge, which also include knowing when a realistic wake up time it!
oooh I like this game. Okay my average snooze time is 25 minutes. In that time I could (1) do some yoga (2) read my bible and devotionals (3) make a good breakfast (4) pack my lunch (5) empty the dishwasher and straighten the rest of the house a bit.
I only snooze for 5 minutes- I guess I could spend more time doing my hair
I used to snooze for longer, but, like you mention, just setting the alarm later allows for some extra quality sleep (which snoozing is not).