Rise and shine!

Over the last several weeks, our cat Sasha has gotten into the habit of waking up my wife at 4 a.m., including on weekends.

And now, upon learning about an article by Hilary Potkewitz in The Wall Street Journal titled “Why 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour,” she feels fully justified in doing so.

Granted, the article is two years old (Thanks, Pocket!), and once my wife is roused from her sleep, all she does downstairs to feed Sasha before falling back into bed until 6, but that’s enough productivity for Sasha.

Although we know why Sasha bothers my wife — because I both sleep the sleep of the dead and would ignore the cat, anyway — but we’re not sure what inspired her to start looking for food at 4 a.m.

After all, the alarm for me to get up goes off at 5:15 a.m., and she seemed content with me feeding her shortly after 5:30 once I finished my morning orange juice.

(By the way, in case you were wondering, “I Will Wait” by Mumford & Sons — worst alarm song ever, for reasons that became obvious once I descended from the ceiling.)

I’ve always been an early riser, and have a very simple secret for becoming a so-called “morning person.”

I like getting to work early not just because there are fewer people around to distract me, but also because going in early means I get to leave early, so getting up at 5:15 dates back to when traffic meant I had to leave by 6:30 to get to the office by 8.

But now, even though my office is 15 minutes away, I still get up that early because I like to take my time in the morning instead of diving right into getting-ready-for-work mode.

I can leisurely drink my orange juice (I don’t drink coffee), watch a little TV, feed Sasha (if she hasn’t already nagged my wife to feed her), read, shower, load the dishwasher and just generally relax before I get dressed and go to work.

I’ve always been an early riser, and have a very simple secret for becoming a so-called “morning person.”

It’s what I like to call “Get your butt out of bed.”

Perhaps that’s a shade too direct, but that’s all there is to it. (Of course, this assumes you don’t work at night. If you do, see you in the afternoon.)

It works for everyone, even if they don’t have kids (or cats) who need attention first thing in the morning.

Just get your butt out of bed.

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