On and Off Campus Blog: Becoming A Morning Person
By: Rania Mankodi ’25
I used to be close with a senior who graduated last year who was probably the most productive person
I’ve ever met. I would see her come to school at the crack of dawn, lock herself in a conference room,
and fill a whiteboard to the edges with notes to study for tests. She somehow convinced me to join her. I
wasn’t able to drive yet, so she’d pick me up around 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning, bribe me with
Starbucks, and then we’d listen to music on the traffic-less drive to school. We would sit at what BB&N
students know as “strip,” the sliver of parking spaces that line the faculty parking lot, until 6:45am when
the school doors opened.
I was pleasantly surprised with how productive I was when I joined her in her morning study sessions.
Her laser focus and concentration made me feel like I should be doing the same on my profile or math
homework. Maybe there was something to this whole morning productivity idea.
When I didn’t get a parking spot for this school year, I didn’t know where to park. Then I remembered
our early mornings. The strip is open to the public, so I started waking up at 5:15am. I’d sluggishly get
myself out of bed, drive myself to Starbucks, and sit on strip until the doors opened. Even though I was
alone this year, it worked. I discovered that the morning is the time of day I work best.
I dance outside of school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and the occasional Mondays during the
school week. The way dance usually works is the older you get, the later you finish. I typically leave the
dance school between 9:30 and 10:00 every night, meaning I don’t get home until 9:45 at the earliest. In
the past, I’d come home and force myself to sit at my desk and do homework. It would take me two to
three hours to finish homework that probably could’ve been condensed to an hour. I was just so tired,
which meant losing my concentration and motivation. Sometimes, I wouldn’t even convince myself to go
to my desk and would bring my laptop to my bed, where I’d usually fall asleep trying to work. I’d go to
school the next morning on maybe five to six hours of sleep, with homework that wasn’t well done,
knowing that it was going to be the same the next day, the next week, and the next month.
Now, I get home at 9:45 pm or so, wash my face, and go to bed. It’s much better to go to sleep at 10:00
pm with no homework done, get six to seven hours of sleep, and then wake up to do it faster than you
could have the night before. It’s so much easier for me to do homework in the morning. My brain’s
sharp and ready, and school and dance haven’t yet burnt me out for the day. It’s not perfect, and it’s not
ideal, but it was taking me twice as long to do homework, and I was getting less sleep. Now, I get more
sleep and I’m more productive in the mornings.
Do I like this routine? Honestly, sometimes it’s hard to not let myself sit in bed and watch a show at
night or decide to sleep in at the last minute when my alarm rings in the morning. But overall, I’ve
learned to stick with this routine. It’s oddly therapeutic to drive in no traffic and peaceful to have the
Commons all to myself until 7:30 am when people start to trickle in.
I used to not be able to tell if I was a morning person or a night person. Now, even on weekends or days
that I don’t have school, I naturally find myself awake around 7:00 or 8:00am. I like to say, “I rise with
the sun.” But I also like to stay up at night to hang out with friends, have sleepovers, or even just enjoy
my alone time with a show until midnight after dance class. But I guess I’ve become a morning person!
And I kind of love it.
Meet the student authors of the On and Off Campus blog!
