The Morning Gopher Theory

Is your mind fresher in the morning? There’s2 prongs to what I call the “Morning Gopher” Theory.

One prong is that you’re actually smarter in the morning. I feel like I’m more kashikoi(賢) in the morning. I feel like I’m more productive, I get distracted less, and I remember more. My theory is that in the morning, our brain hasn’t been used for all the other junk stuff during the day, including games, news, instructions from bosses, errands, spam emails, etc., that we can just focus on one thing. The brain, like the body, needs rest too, and after a long rest at night (helps to have a good deal of REM sleep as well) it is in the best shape to be stretched, molded. It’s like a computer that’s been restarted after being on for a whole day, it clears away all the memory and cookies that were accumulated before and runs slightly faster.

I also feel sugasugashii in the morning (すがすがしい,  清々しい), refreshed like I want to learn. I’m motivated, I feel like anything can happen, I can be a better person today, etc. Not that I’m necessarily a morning person, I have plenty of days where I don’t want to get out of bed, etc. Those days tend to coincide with days where I didn’t get enough sleep the night before, did poorly in dodgeball the night before, etc. I haven’t done much scientific research or experiments on this, but anecdotally I would say my best and productive days come from waking up after at least 8 hours of sleep, remembering (vaguely) at least one dream during that sleeping span, and going right into learning/heavy activity. Don’t check any fantasy news, don’t chat with your friends online, don’t go on facebook, because once you do that your mind is poisoned and you want that more, especially in this digitially connected age where everything except learning is more interesting. Lot of discipline is involved here. Then in the afternoon or evening after I feel content with a day’s worth of work, then I finally get distracted, because I know it’s ok to be “not at my peak performance” while I am saboru (slacking off in Japanese).

Anyway, just a suggestion for those who don’t have to go into the office on a daily basis or have some flexibility. Otherwise, please don’t get fired for using my advice, I assume no liability.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan