You Don’t Have to be a Morning Person to be Successful (and what I thought of Simba Mattresses!)

 

 

I am not a morning person. It’s no secret; the idea of hopping out of bed with the dawn chorus (the gentle rumble of SW Trains and the whirring of the generator from the local cafe, if you live where I do) and carpe diem-ing the shit out of a new day is just not my jam. Frankly, I am a really tired person and I’d far rather favour a lazy morning under the covers, finally surfacing at my own pace. I admit that sometimes that just isn’t realistic and although as a freelancer I am lucky enough to be able to set my own hours, there are times that I wish I woke up at sunrise with the energy of a toddler on red bull. Do you know what I do find really boring though? All the literature far and wide incessantly hammering the notion that to be successful you must be a morning person.

I have tried very hard to force myself into an early morning routine, but try as I might the result is far more stumbling around bleary eyed in desperate need of intravenous espresso than it is enjoying a morning green juice on the decking before practising bloody sun salutations and setting positive affirmations for the gift of a day ahead. I wish I was one of those people I see on my Instagram feed ticking off half their to-do list before I’ve even dragged myself exorcist style down the corridor and into the shower, but it’s just not me. Now, here’s my sticking point: my evenings are really precious to me. I struggle with the idea of working beyond a certain point and I relish cooking dinner and settling down with The Crown on Netflix. Something has to give and it does mean that I have to rise earlier than my body would prefer, but I am a strong believer that the time my alarm rudely interrupts my sleep in the morning does not dictate my success.

You should not feel guilty if the idea of rolling out a yoga mat at 6am makes you want to poke your own eye balls out, and if (like me) you try your hardest to avoid arranging meetings pre-10am when you can get ready at your own pace and avoid the sweaty rush hour trains, that does not mean you are any less dedicated to your work or to the day ahead.

 

Here are a few things that make my day a productive one, regardless of what time I rise: 

1. Using an actual alarm clock out of reach of my bed, and leaving my phone in the kitchen over night 

2. Making my bed and opening the blinds the moment I get up

3. Brushing my teeth as soon as I get out of bed

ever left it a few hours on a weekend morning and suddenly realised at 11am that it feels like a baby ferret has died in your mouth?

4. Rituals: for me, I am not human before I’ve had a mug of earl grey tea

just as I try and operate an evening routine to tell my body it’s bed time, I do the same in the morning

5. Getting dressed in proper clothes that it would be socially acceptable to walk to the shops in

rather than half hiding behind the door when the postman calls because I’m wearing Christmas pyjamas at 2pm in June 

6. Writing a to-do list, then halving it and halving it again

I try and prioritise just 3 main tasks each day rather than attempting to do 12 half-heartedly 

7. Choosing my working environment carefully

I could sit on the sofa with my laptop at 6am but if all I can think about is the washing I need to hang out, the cliff-hanger on Suits I really want to watch and the bed next door that I’d quite like to crawl back into, I am not going to have a good day. I’d rather go to the local coffee shop at 4pm and bash out 3 hours of solid work than spend an entire day feeling distracted and lethargic. 

8. Getting a really good nights sleep and treating the bedroom as a sacred environment, not a home office 

 

 

 

About a month ago Simba kindly gifted me a mattress to try out and share my thoughts with you and I can honestly say I have never slept so well. One of my mottos in life is that you should always invest in things that go between you and the floor: your shoes, your car and your mattress. The amount of time we spend in bed versus the amount of thought we usually give to the quality and age of our mattresses is usually really disproportionate. Simba memory foam is firm enough to provide plenty of support but soft enough that it hugs your body in all the right places – I think a lot of my previous back issues stemmed from my hips and shoulders touching the mattress, whilst my spine sort of hovered! – and it doesn’t dent or dip like memory foam toppers tend to. You really can’t feel the person next to you toss and turn in the night and my joy is immense at not rolling toward the heavier side of the bed during the night if I’m sharing it!

At £599 for a standard double, it certainly isn’t the cheapest option out there but as far as quality memory foam goes, it’s a quarter of the price of some of the rivals on the market. Thankfully they do offer 0% finance options and had they not offered me one as part of this collaboration I would have paid full price, and certainly would not have regretted doing so either. It’s an investment, but for somewhere you spend so much time, the thousands of nights you’ll spend on it and the 10 year guarantee it comes with, it’s more than worthwhile.

Having previously trialled an Eve, I thought a quick comparison may be helpful: honestly, there’s not a dramatic difference but I did find that the chemical smell of the packaging lingered for a long time on the Eve which impacted my sleep and the bright yellow branding showed through bedding, which isn’t all that sightly. Eve is slightly firmer and didn’t seem to hold my body quite as well or mask movement from a bed-pal in the same way and knowing that Simba does have  pocket springs too makes me think it will probably age much better. 

My only issue now is it’s even harder to get out of bed!  

Get £100 OFF a Simba Mattress HERE.

Free next day delivery, 100 night no obligation trial. 

 

 

Simba kindly gifted me this mattress as part of an unpaid collaboration. As always, all views and imagery are entirely my own. Purchases on the discount link earn me a small amount of affiliate.