Does Getting Up Early Have Anything to Do with Your Success?

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Does Getting Up Early Have Anything to Do with Your Success?

Scott TrenchPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 6k+ votes

Wondering what actual real estate investors have to say about this subject. 

I don't get up early (wake up between 7:00 - 8:00 most days, 9:00AM + on the weekends). I feel that I am having moderate-high success thus far with my career and real estate in spite of the fact that I wake up at an average to late time. 

I have a sneaking suspicion that the people who DO get up super early AND are successful might just be the loudest, not the most numerous. But, I could be wrong. What do the actual investors on BiggerPockets have to say about this?

Does getting up early (6:00 AM or earlier) make a difference on whether you are likely to succeed in this or any other business? Or, are there just as many or more successful business people and investors that wake up at more reasonable times?

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John Thedford
Real Estate Broker · Naples, FL · Member since 2013 · 9k+ posts · 6k+ votes
9y

I just woke up...i will ponder the question and let you know.....

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  • John Thedford
    Real Estate Broker · Naples, FL · Member since 2013 · 9k+ posts · 6k+ votes
    9y

    I just woke up...i will ponder the question and let you know.....

    17Reply
  • Angela Miller
    Investor · Merced, CA · Member since 2017 · 9 posts · 2 votes
    9y

    So listen to the BP podcast with Hal Elrod, who wrote an amazing book "The Miracle Morning" I have 2 boys, ages 1 and 2, and work full time from home, and have found the who "rudder of the day" makes a big difference between the good days and the great days. I also randomly work from about 1-2 am over my VPN, and just bought my first BRRRR property.

    0Reply
  • Joshua ThompsonBusiness Member
    Accountant · Melissa, TX (Remote) · Member since 2017 · 210 posts · 135 votes
    9y

    It comes down to time management and self-discipline. You can wake up every morning at 6 am, but if you spend an hour getting out of bed you might as well just slept in. On the contrary, if you wake up at 6 am and spend an hour on BP reading posts and learning something new, you just took a step in bettering yourself. It's what you do with your time that matters. I actually had to step back and look at my life and ask myself why do I let myself get 8 hours of sleep. I'm not where I want to be, I don't deserve 8 hours of sleep till I get where I want. If you're finding success in your schedule now, then hey man stick with it cause it looks like you have good time management. But think, if you are already that good with time management, image what you could do with one extra hour a morning.

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  • Nick C.
    Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    9y

    I think the universe rewards productivity regardless of when it happens. Some are morning people, some are night people. We need to stay off social media (unless we're marketing), turn off the TV, read educational books, work hard and efficient, have integrity. To me all these things are all more important than a wake up time. 

    15Reply
  • Thomas S.
    Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    9y

    If the time you get up dictates your success then old people like me would all be millionaires.

    Once you get to my age you hardly sleep at all, except for an afternoon nap and in the evenings watching TV.

    3Reply
  • Sekelle O.
    Real Estate Investor · Irmo, SC · Member since 2012 · 106 posts · 90 votes
    9y
    I think the only way to know is to pick a project with a fixed duration and during the period that you are working on the project, get up earlier e.g. 6am. Pick a measurable criteria to help you measure "success" and see it that measurement is better than with other projects. Or jus wake up earlier for 2 weeks straight and see if you feel like you are more productive. I do think that highly successful people are often highly driven and it is difficult for a highly driven person to just lay around in bed in the morning.
    2Reply
  • JD MartinBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
    9y

    I don't think it makes any difference from a theoretical point of view. I think it's more about time management than anything else. Some people find it impossible to focus unless they put this stuff front and center, before anyone else is awake. Beyond that, unless getting up got you a deal before anyone else got up, I fail to see the correlation. 

    Personally, I do my best work from about 10-5. I am not a morning person, never have been despite having morning jobs all my life. I try to never schedule a meeting before I am firing on all cylinders.

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  • Corey Frank
    Gillette, WY · Member since 2017 · 149 posts · 68 votes
    9y
    if you get a chance check out the one thing podcast episode 33 with Tom Bilyeu. He has found much success with a billion dollar energy bar company. tom talks about "being at my worst when I am tired" and how he doesn't perform well with under 5 hours of sleep. whatever he needs to do to get the proper amount of shut eye is done to keep him going strong. It is a very interesting take that Tom talks about. Worth checking out.
    0Reply
  • Jimmy Cantave
    Miami, FL · Member since 2015 · 154 posts · 38 votes
    9y

    sleep early wake up early 

    1Reply
  • Ron Fletcher
    Leclaire, IA · Member since 2016 · 161 posts · 130 votes
    9y
    I am not a morning person by nature but I have trained myself to get up early. I think the reason that early risers are successful is at that early hour others are not generally dictating your schedule or interrupting. Gives an opportunity to mentally plan the day, read, you get the drill. I own a business besides My properties and I find getting to work even 1/2 hour before employees and clients makes a huge difference on how my day goes. I will also add that I'm a firm believer that sleep is very important. If you get up early, you need to go to bed earlier.
    2Reply
  • Levi T.Pro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Tucson AZ / Nice FR / Washington DC · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    Back in my 20' I was making millions running a tech firm I started... I got up at 10am-12pm.. stayed up to 12am-3am, did everything people told me not to do, and still got from point A to point Z.. fast forward 15 years, and I get up between 4am and 8am, still minting money.. I now use that time to read emails, drink a lot of coffee, ride bikes. mainly the last two. So clearly when you get up does nothing for success... The #1 thing I see, is that I'm hyper effective with my time compared to others. 

    2Reply
  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    9y

    depends on what you do for a living for me 70% of my business Is East coast and I live and work on west coast.. so by 6 am my in box is full with funding requests.... escrow documents and other items.. I average 150 e mails a day at least.. plus I post a little bit on BP at the same time.. and I work out for 1.5 hours in the morning every day... and I get so excited about whats going on in my business half the time I can't sleep any way.. I follow the sun.. when it sunshine's at 5 am I am up.. anyway can't sleep any longer... I am not nocturnal though.. done working by 5 to 6pm. that 8 to 9pm east coast those vendors are all done as well...

    but I think of some of my more successful friends or clients in the building or real estate trade and they tend to be morning folks. Some of my clients that are more into tech tend to be the opposite I get e mails from them at 1am.

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  • David Faulkner
    Investor · Orange County, CA · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    9y

    "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man happy, healthy, and wise." - Benjamin Franklin

    I think the key may very well be to increase your productivity by working harder, longer, and more efficiently ... and an excellent way to do that in a pragmatic manner is to work while most others sleep ... it helps the longer and harder part, obviously ... but it can also help the more efficiently part as there are fewer distractions. True, similar may be done by staying up late into the night to work, but I still think there is something to be said for front loading your day with your most productive hours, which means early to rise. Bottom line is try different stuff and do whatever works for you personally, but I do think that there is good, sound, pragmatic reasons why this practice has been followed by many successful people and has stood the test of time.

    0Reply
  • Austin Fruechting
    Investor · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2017 · 791 posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    Early bird gets the worm... second mouse gets the cheese. 

    6Reply
  • Immanuel Sibero
    Carrollton, TX · Member since 2015 · 415 posts · 371 votes
    9y

    For some, waking up at all is a success.

    5Reply
  • Brad E.
    Investor · Athens, GA · Member since 2015 · 205 posts · 66 votes
    9y
    I think it's more about prioritization. Do the most important thing first and don't stop until it's done. Nothing to do with "when" you do it.
    1Reply
  • Joseph ODonovanPro Member
    Property Manager · Ridley, PA · Member since 2017 · 427 posts · 449 votes
    9y
    I don't know but I slept at a Holiday Inn last night.
    0Reply
  • Daren H.
    Real Estate Investor · Desoto, TX · Member since 2013 · 560 posts · 528 votes
    9y

    I don't think the time you wake up has anything to do with success, except for the people selling you books about how waking up early is the key to success. Productivity does not have an alarm clock in my opinion. The owner of a donut shop can be very productive rising early but totally useless at 3pm. A prostitute can be highly productive waking up at noon but putting in major work at 3am :)

    6Reply
  • Ben RaygorPro Member
    CPA · Rochester, MN · Member since 2016 · 48 posts · 51 votes
    9y

    Jay Hinrichs made some important observations.  I would agree that the many successful people get up extra early so that they are READY for the business and social world at whatever time they are going at.  What's your industry and when are your competitors and potential partners/investors working hard and looking to connect.  Are you ready to engage when they are?  

    I think that's one of the big reasons many successful people are getting up super early.  "My ideal morning routine consists of x, y, and z.  I need 1.5 hours to complete those disciplines and then can eat breakfast, put myself together, and (possibly) commute to the office/work site by 8:00am (or 3:00am in the case of the night shift Daren mentioned above).  Either way, successful people are READY when they get to work.  

    Why the morning instead of the evening for a routine?  This isn't what the original question was, but I think the reality is that mornings tend to be much less disruptive to the world around us than evenings are when it comes to discipline commitments.  Friends, generally, aren't wanting to hang out at 6:00am, but it's not too uncommon for friends to want to hang out after dinner until it's nearly bedtime.  Then everybody is exhausted and done for the day.  There goes getting stuff done at night.  

    I think Hal Elrod emphasized something along the lines that the most successful people get up earlier than they NEED to.  Most people work day shifts, so naturally, most people will want to consider getting up extra early in the morning in order to accomplish multiple disciplines on a regular basis.  

    0Reply
  • Brian BurkePro Member
    Investor · Santa Rosa, CA · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    9y

    Funny, I was going to post exactly what @Austin Fruechting said but he beat me to it. 

    I'm no early riser, and I think I've done just fine. But here I am posting on BP at 11PM while all of the early risers are sleeping...

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  • Steve Bracero
    Real Estate Agent · Westboro, MA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 471 votes
    9y

    It does not matter what time you get up. 

    It depends what you do when you are awake... Are you executing on a daily basis towards your goals? 

    Small daily habits will lead to success over time. 

    1Reply
  • Jim BlackburnBusiness Member
    Lender · Florida Based (48 states Puerto Rico) · Member since 2017 · 321 posts · 121 votes
    9y
    Scott Trench Why don't you do an experiment and write a journal for two weeks? Week 1 - wake up 5am. Week 2- wake up at noon. Report back to us. We'd love to hear what you find! Ask anything. Jim
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  • James Triano
    Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2015 · 179 posts · 115 votes
    9y

    @Scott Trench

    I believe it all comes down to "first things first". Successful people simply get up earlier than they need to and get the first (most important) things done first. I wake up at 5 AM to read, workout, review my goals, and eat a good breakfast with my wife. It's not the waking up early part that breeds success, it's the habits of success that people do first thing in the morning. Since I start my work at 8 AM, I need to be up by 5 AM to get those things done. If my schedule changed and I was starting my work at 12 PM, then maybe I would get up at 9 AM instead. 

    I just know that the world will conspire against my reading, workouts, and quiet time if I don't get those important self-improvement items done in the morning. For instance, I usually sleep until 7 AM or later on the weekends because I don't start my work until about 10-11 AM so I can spend some time with family. It's what you do with the time your awake that counts. 

    1Reply
  • Jordan MoorheadBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    9y

    I think it all depends on when you're productive.

    I wake up at 4am some days and work until 6 or 7pm on those days. Most days I wake up at 7 or 8. I generally find that no matter what I'm done being productive by 7 or 8pm.

    The only nice thing about waking up early is that there is nobody to get in the way of productivity  at 5am.

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  • Rob L.
    Haverhill, MA · Member since 2009 · 293 posts · 157 votes
    9y
    I go to bed early and wake up early. With kids and businesses to run the early a.m is the best time to focus on what ever my "1" thing is for the day. If I sleep in I feel like I'm reacting all day instead of owning the day.
    1Reply
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