I was not okay with when and how I was consuming screens.
My mornings would start like thisā¦
Eyes open.
Grab phone.
šµāš«
Iād tried putting the phone outside my bedroom and other techniques to address it, but the first thing Iād do when I saw my phone was pick it up and stare at the glowing rectangle.
Most of the time I was checking Twitter or email or LinkedIn. Itās not how I want to occupy my brainā¦ especially before coffee.
So when, few weeks ago, I was listing to the John Cutler episode of Lennyās Podcast and John mentioned doing āsunlight before screen lightā I was intrigued.
I didnāt do any research or look up techniques (didnāt think I had to, really). Itās all in the name.
Basically itās not looking at my phone or laptop before Iāve gotten up and looked at the sun first. Ok then. Easy enough to try.
I was kinda floored what happened from this very small change.
Most mornings now I justā¦ get out of bed when I wake up.
Iām normally a drag-my-ass-out-of-bed kinda gent, but I had started to get out of bed after I woke up. (Itās boring just laying there without scrolling on my phone.)
I toss on some clothes and walk to the window if itās rainy and cold or out, or onto the deck if weather permits. Then I take a few deep breaths and go back inside and get a cup of coffee.
Delightfulā¦ really.
I havenāt missed a day of āš BEFORE š¤³ā since I started.
I use a clever and design forward app by andy.works to track this new habit. (Thereās two screenshots in this post but for the really fun stuff check out his site and the app itself.)
When I decided that I wanted to share this idea I figured I should probably look up any info about āSunlight before Screen lightā to make sure Iām not missing anything or misrepresenting the concept.
Iāve learned that Iām not doing anything close the original or intended version mentioned by Andrew Huberman. His isnāt even related to reducing screen time, itās about getting more and better light to improve your health. š
Iām okay with my version being different for now. I might have gotten the original intent wrongā¦ but itās right for me. Maybe itās right for others too.
Someday I may try to incorporate Andrewās guidance and be more intentional about sunlight time in the AM.
For now, Iām going to keep whatās working. ā»
Till next time,
š
P.S. Hereās the episodeā¦ the āš beforeš±ā is about 10 seconds of the 101 minutes. But, if youāre into Product Management itās worth a full listen foā shoā.