Up at 4 AM. Again.

Sometimes, when you’re a business owner, you wake up in the middle of the night thinking about an idea. It’s 4 AM! You can’t let the idea go. So, you wake up, make yourself some coffee, boot up your computer, and get to work.

I’d say this happens to me 1-2 times a month. I have a favorite soundtrack I let play in the background, that lets me know I’ve already had an hour pass as it begins to loop. I have a desk clock for quick reference on how much time I have left before my day “starts,” and I find it’s helpful to open a Word document if I’ve made it to my desk. If I’m still in bed and I didn’t put my phone in the other room (or even if I did, I’ll go grab it) and capture what I’m thinking on my phone’s notepad. When inspiration strikes, it’s not a good idea to ignore it and try to go back to sleep—because it’s too hard to fall back asleep. You just end up not capturing the ideas and you end up tired anyway—just disappointed that it was a waste.

You might be asking: “What are you thinking? It’s exciting waking up at 4 or so in the morning and being unable to sleep because you have a business idea?”

Yes. If you know, you know.

Sometimes, you feel frustrated that you can’t sleep, but then the excitement overwhelms the tiredness (at least until later in the day when irritability can set in if you’re not exercising, eating right, resting, and pacing yourself). Because you’re building this business “out of nothing,” it scratches a very deep creative itch to come up with ideas that become realities. When you love improving things, there is always another facet to improve in any business to lead to greater growth, client outcomes, and general organization. One of the challenges can be working on only the fun stuff in your business—though that’s another post.

When I was launching my business, the emotions of the experience were far more intense. I swung between terror and euphoria, in equal parts. Once I was in my business, the emotions leveled out a lot (at least, after a few years—there were a lot of mental health challenges I needed to address first, and that’s an important related topic for business owners). But now, waking up and having two to three hours of thought and work before a first meeting of the day is one of the biggest, unexpected pleasures of my work as a business owner.

Can you relate? Let me know if so!