The End of Revenge Bedtime Procrastination

I used to stay up until 2am every night playing Halo. Then Halo 2. Then DotA 1. Then I landed on DotA 2 and still was staying up later than I should have as a fancy adult with a job since I also wanted to wake up early to work out (not a good combination).

I love me some video games…but I don't play them. At least not as much as I used to. And there's a reason why that goes deeper than "I just need to quit playing video games."

At first I'd tell myself I'd only play 1 or 2 games (ha, yea right). Later I said any game was fair play as long as it's not DotA 2. Take all gaming out and you could still watch shows or scroll on your phone.

Modern comforts are designed to keep you hooked. I never had this binge problem when the games were offline and simple.

But engineers have gotten smarter.

Add an auto-play feature to the streaming services.

Make the video games so immersive and intense that your brain craves more.

Show people more novel things on their social media feeds.

Have a bajillion different possible videos to see on YouTube.

It never ends.

We all stay up late in some capacity. Even if you're a busy adult, at the end of the day you still want to "unwind," but it leads to you scrambling to head to bed to get enough sleep for the next day. Why do we do this?

There's a new term that's floating around called "Revenge Bedtime Procrastination." We want revenge on the day that we didn't enjoy, so we engage in fun activities close to bedtime and procrastinate the time we know we should be going to bed. The result is waking up groggy because you stayed up too late.

But instead of just saying "just go to bed!" we have to ask ourselves why we're doing it in the first place. If you're trying to make up for a day you didn't enjoy, wouldn't it make sense to change things to make your days more enjoyable? That way you at least will feel some satisfaction towards a goal of your own making and not feel so frustrated that you feel the need to numb yourself at night.

It's not going to be comfortable, but there it is possible to detach from the hamster wheel and fix this problem.

You just have to unplug.

The Real Reason You Stay Up Late

You have a day that doesn't excite you.

You don't have a strong reason to wake up to work on that day.

I've seen countless videos, read books, etc on how to get enough sleep and go to bed on time. They talk about having a cool, dark room, avoiding screens, not eating too much before sleep, reading to calm your mind down, etc.

I've also seen tons of advice on the benefits of waking up early. They talk about having a routine, setting the alarm clock, having a todo list, deep work, etc.

No one talks about what happens in the middle of those morning and evening routines: your day.

Sadly, most people aren't excited about their jobs. I don't mean "it pays the bills" or "it's alright." I mean excited to work each day. I mean you want to work on it during the weekend. It eats up a lot of time, and the rest of your life suffers if it's draining work.

I can't solve your job problem for you, but I can solve another.

Your health.

Life can be hard, but it's infinitely harder if you're unhealthy.

Everyone has the same goal: to be as healthy as possible (or at least I hope you do). If that's the case, and you "can't find the time to workout," then congratulations! I just helped you find your first goal.

What's funny is that even though working out is "hard," if it's a goal you've assigned to yourself, you won't mind it.

You might actually enjoy it.

Shocking, I know. But it's possible.

The Handbrakes

I don't think people talk about how addicting modern entertainment is.

I've already touched on it, but humans have been around much longer than our current devices have. The first iPhones were coming out in 2007. That's just 20 years. That's a blip in human history. Meanwhile, humans still have the same brains. Cheap dopamine keeps you hooked. It gives you more dopamine than we've ever experienced. Social media gives you novelty and a false sense of socialization. Video games give a false sense of accomplishment. Junk food gives you a false sense of nutrition. Since they never satisfy, you come crawling back for more.

Then we ask ourselves "why can't I just stop xyz activity that I know is bad for me?!" It's because some jerk scientist or engineer was tasked with creating something that keeps you coming back.

How do you win the game?

You stop playing it.

The Plan

This plan isn't necessarily for people with tons of free time. I write these with the worst case scenario in mind: busy people. But even if you did have all the free time in the world, waking up early is still a super power. You've just had a good night of sleep and there are fewer people that could potentially message you even if your house is empty.

Have your health goal in mind?

Then let's get started.

Anti-Vision

• If you're really stuck on what you should work on, think about what you don't like about your body. Write it down in painful detail. Instead of a vague goal that you can't see, you can operate out of a concrete current situation that you don't like. The opposite is your goal.

Vision

• So what do you want to look like? Either use old pictures of yourself, or a weight goal, or numbers in the gym or pictures of someone you admire. This will give you an aim.

Plan

• Find plan, write it down, do it. Use the incredible internet to research instead of numbing your brain. There's also tons of people that have probably solved the goal you have. Find them. Copy them. Anything works. If your progress slows down or stops or you get bored…change something.

Lights Out

• Figure out when you want to go to bed. Cut out all electronics for an hour (or more) but give yourself other boring activities to do. Read, get ready for bed, plan the day, clean your house. There's something to do if you find it.

• This is where most sleep advice starts, but you need the strong reasons set up from the previous steps to give you the motivation to start in the first place. Otherwise it just feels like a parent is yelling at you to head to your room.

• If you give yourself 1 hour before bed without entertaining yourself, that's a long time and enough to relaxing your mind. You're welcome.

Wake up. Work out.

• That's it. You should be so bored at night that waking up early to work on your goals is easier. All that's left to do is do the thing.

• Oh, and get off your phone until your workout is done.

The Mindset

A lot of people beat themselves up if they sleep too long in the morning or stay up too late at night.

Let me reassure you that it's not your fault…but it is your responsibility.

Most people haven't give themselves something to look forward to each morning that pulls them out of bed. They dread the day and want to delay things as long as possible.

The best solution is to give yourself something. Anything. Mine is working out, but it may be working on a side project for you. It may be reading the books you've been meaning to get to. It maybe just getting ready for the day at a reasonable pace so you don't have to rush out the door every time.

No one can pick this thing for you. Society relies on you fitting in, doing a task, then coming home to consume entertainment that helps those companies make some more money. The only person responsible for working on your own goals is you.

After that, the only solution I've found (at least for myself) is to just block out times away from the entertainment. I haven't said "no more video games forever," (although that would be good for you). You just have to "fast" from entertainment for a while.

Be bored.

You'll be ok.

This is the path to good sleep and a good morning.

You can do it.

Thanks for reading!

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