Hey friend,

I’m writing this at 11:37 PM on a Sunday night, which is exactly the problem I’m about to tell you about.

Seven weeks ago, my world got beautifully disrupted by our newest little human - Austin James Wells. (Born 7/5/25!)

Between sleepless nights, summer break chaos with the other kids, and trying to keep my business moving forward, my schedule became… well, let’s call it “creative.”

And by creative, I mean completely broken.

The Late-Night Lie I Kept Telling Myself

Here’s the story I was telling myself every night: “After a long day of work, kids, and house stuff, I deserve some ‘me time.’” So there I’d be at 11 PM, attempting to work while battling exhaustion and an empty focus tank.

It felt like my only opportunity to carve out some time. It felt like the only way to decompress from the madness of entrepreneurial parenting.

But here’s what I didn’t want to admit: I was stealing time from tomorrow to feel better about today.

The Brutal Math That Changed Everything

A couple weeks ago, something clicked. I was sitting there at 11:30pm, eyes burning from screen time, knowing I had to be “on” again in a few hours. And I realized the math was all wrong.

My brain at 6 AM ≠ My brain at 11 PM.

Those late-night hours I was clinging to? They were giving me the worst version of myself. Decision fatigue. Impulse-driven choices. Zero creative energy. I was essentially taking my mental scraps and calling them “me time.”

Meanwhile, I was missing the golden hours—those early morning moments when my mind is sharp, the house is quiet, and deep work actually feels possible.

James Clear nails this in Atomic Habits: “You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” My system was broken, and it was breaking me.

The Dad Founder’s Dilemma

If you’re building something while raising humans, you know this tension intimately. Time feels impossible to find. Energy feels like a finite resource that everyone else gets first.

But here’s what I’m learning: The problem isn’t that we don’t have enough time. It’s that we’re not being strategic about when we use our best time.

Dan Martell talks about this constantly—you can’t manage time, but you can manage energy. And energy isn’t just about how much sleep you get. It’s about aligning your highest-cognitive-load work with your highest-cognitive-capacity hours.

For most of us, that’s not 11 PM after a day of decision fatigue. It’s 5 or 6 AM when our minds are fresh and the world is still sleeping.

The Experiment Starts Now

So here’s what I’m doing: The 5 AM rebellion.

Not because I want to join some weird early-bird productivity cult. But because I want to reclaim my peak hours and stop settling for mental leftovers.

The plan is simple:

- 4:30 AM wake-up (non-negotiable)

- 9 PM wind-down ritual (the harder part)

- No screens after 8:30 PM

- Morning deep work block from 5-7 AM

The real challenge? Letting go of those late-night hours that feel like “mine.” But here’s the reframe that’s helping me: Those hours were never really mine if I was too tired to think clearly.

I’d rather have two hours of peak mental performance than four hours of brain fog with a side of scrolling X/Twitter.

What This Really Means

This isn’t just about productivity hacking or morning routines. It’s about respecting the person I want to become and the business I want to build.

Every night I choose to stay up late, I’m choosing to show up as a lesser version of myself the next day. Every morning I hit snooze, I’m choosing to give away my most valuable cognitive hours.

Your circadian rhythm isn’t a suggestion—it’s your superpower. And I’ve been ignoring mine for too long.

The Bigger Picture

As entrepreneurs, we talk a lot about optimizing our businesses, our funnels, our conversion rates. But what about optimizing our biology? What about designing our days around when we naturally perform best instead of when society tells us we should be working?

Matthew Walker’s research in “Why We Sleep” makes it clear: Your sleep-wake cycle affects everything from decision-making to creativity to emotional regulation. Mess with your circadian rhythm, and you’re essentially handicapping every other optimization effort you make.

I’m done handicapping myself.

Here’s what I’m curious about: What’s your relationship with your peak hours? Are you protecting them or giving them away?

I’ll be sharing real-time updates on this experiment over the next 30 days. The wins, the struggles, the 5 AM moments when I question all my life choices.

Sometimes the best growth happens when everyone else is asleep.

Talk soon,
David

P.S. If you’re thinking about making a similar change, start small. Don’t try to go from midnight to 5 AM overnight. Your future self will thank you for the gradual approach.