They say opposites attract, and each morning, it’s on display in my house when the alarm goes off. My wife, Ronni, loves the snooze bar. She seems to look forward to not just tapping it or hitting it; when she goes for the snooze bar, she smacks it! It’s almost a part of her waking up ritual. If she wants to get up at 7:30 am, she sets her alarm for 6:45 am so she can smack that snooze bar around for the next 45 minutes.
I’m just not a snooze bar guy. Quite frankly, I don’t even like the name “snooze bar.” I think it should be renamed, “lazy bar.” I can tell you right now, without hesitation, I have never hit, the snooze bar over the past 40 years. I don’t know where to find it, how it works, or how much time it gives you to not wake up. The fact is this: I don’t believe in snooze bars.
Now, this doesn’t make me right or others wrong… exactly. I’m sure there are plenty of good reasons to hit the snooze bar. Maybe you accidently set the clock ten minutes earlier than you meant to. Maybe you forgot this was your morning to sleep ten minutes later than usual. Maybe you wanted to wake your spouse up, and then get yourself up ten minutes later to keep from bumping into each other in the bathroom.
I’m guessing there are plenty of people in this world who are fully functioning members of society and probably don’t take too kindly to my over opinionated attack on the lowly snooze bar… wherever it’s located! But in defense of those who just can’t hit that, uh, thing, let me tell you why we can’t do it. It’s because we’re afraid
We’re afraid that somehow, the act of hitting that bar will spill into other aspects of our lives. After all, who actually hears the sound of the alarm going off and really wants to get out of bed?! That goes for brushing our teeth, showering, shaving, getting to work on time, and so much more. It’s not easy, but day after day, we do these things because we know that’s what we have to do to ultimately improve our chances of success.
Imagine if there was some weird bar that we could keep hitting to put off everything we didn’t want to do. You don’t really have to imagine too hard because they exist and are all around us.
- When we don’t want to get to concentrate and get down to work, we hit the snooze bar and play one more game of solitaire.
- When we don’t want to make a difficult call, or finish a difficult assignment, we hit the snooze bar and answer a few meaningless emails that could clearly wait.
- When we don’t want to complete an overdue project around the house, we hit the snooze bar and work on just about anything meaningless we can get our hands on.
I’m quite sure there are many who can competently manage the lazy… I mean, the snooze bar, and keep it from infecting their lives. The truth is, I’m just not one of them. As one of my favorite comedians, (other than my son), Jim Gaffigan once said of the snooze bar, “Nothing like starting off the day with a little procrastination. As my first decision of the day… I will go back to sleep.” Nope; I don’t want to know where it’s located, nor will I ever hit it. For those who do: Vive la difference!
I am NOT a snooze bar guy. I’m not even an alarm guy. Somehow I have managed to live 99% of my life without needing to set an alarm. I can’t for the life of me understand the motivation of waking up early to go back to sleep via SNOOZE. I refuse to delay, I want to get stuff done now. Actually, if the task was that important, my feeling is get it done before I go to bed. I love the snooze bar BLarticle, but I do NOT love the snooze bar. Thanks for a great post Rob! (140 pages!)
I’m not saying we’re right or wrong here, but it is a personality trait. The idea of allowing that part of my brain loose to make decisions scares me. Glad to count you as a non-snooze bar guy. With 140 pages and counting on that manuscript of yours, and hitting every week’s assignment, I already knew that about you! Thanks for posting Doug.
Can’t remember the name of this other comedian, but the line is, “I love sleep so much, it’s the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning.”
I feel exactly the same way about the snooze bar, Rob. Several years ago, I read about the negative effects of the “fake sleep” it provides — the article advised moving the alarm clock to the other side of your bedroom, forcing you to get out of bed and begin your day … Did it. I’ve never looked back.
JUST read this the other day and it’s the simplest remedy to procrastination I’ve ever seen:
“Have you ever heard of the Zeigarnik Effect? A Russian psychologist, Bluma Zeigarnik, discovered that we tend to remember unfinished tasks much better than completed ones. This is because our mind seeks resolution and closure to interrupted tasks. These ‘open loops’ cause our mind to ping us about them, over and over again.
Try using the Zeigarnik effect to battle procrastination: if you find yourself procrastinating on starting something, do something – anything – that gets you started on that task (even if it’s the easiest part of the work or a trivial aspect of the project). You’ll be much more likely to finish it since your mind will see it as an open loop and cause you to crave closure.” -Posted by Halelly Azulay
Thanks for another entertaining and useful BLarticle, my friend.
Glad to have you on the right side of the snooze bar issue. Nobody really wants to get up when that alarm goes off, but like I said, nobody really wants to make a phone call to an angry client either… but we do it, and we try not to hesitate. That dang snooze bar doesn’t really provide additional sleep; it provides additional excuses not to get at the day! I say, let’s abolish the snooze bar! Great hearing from you Steve.
I hate the snooze bar! I am such a light sleeper that any noise will wake me up immediately. My wife, Ronnie, does the same thing. She sets the alarm to go off at 5:45am so she can get up at 6:30am to start complaining how tired she is.
Aha, so another Ronni involved! I don’t know about you, but when my Ronni hits the snooze bar she seems to fall asleep again just fine. It’s me who’s awake and stays awake. But again, the real issue with that snooze bar is the subtle window of procrastination it opens. Why teach ourselves how NOT to react to a commitment that has been made? Anti-Snooze-Bar-ians unite! Thanks for posting Brian.
Right on Rob! Set the alarm for when you want to get up . . . and get up then. I had a friend that was always late . . . always. He set the clock in his car 15 minutes ahead. Whenever I got in it with him I used to try and change the clock to the correct time and would get yelled at for my trouble. I asked him why he did this this and he told me that he wanted to get places on time because he was always late. Now he knew that his clock was 15 minutes fast but he did not care. The punchline is that he was still late for things (because he knew that he had the time).
Another great blarticle Rob!
I’m with you 100% on this one Tom. I honestly think that those who are chronically late, in a sense, are hitting the snooze bar instead of leaving on time. They look at the clock and instead of stopping what they are doing, like we do so we can be on time, delay and do a few things more. Every time I meet with a person who is late they always say, “I just had to do one more thing before I left.” Uh, yea, me too… only I didn’t do it because I would have been late. I’d love to see a study of what percentage of those who hit the snooze bar, are also those who have trouble being on time. My money would be they are related. Great post Tom!
Rob, I’m with you… nice Blarticle.
Know anyone who keeps clocks 10mins ahead???
Not ten, but my clock by my bed is always two to three minutes ahead. I don’t think about it, nor do I delay because of it; I just like it that way. Kind of gives me a head-start. Maybe you’ve hit on something for Shark Tank. The “Head Start” Clock! We split 50/50 on this one Phil. Thanks for adding your voice Phil.
I edit Rob’s Blarticles and this was a tough one for me to take. I need to speak up on behalf of those of us who use the snooze bar proudly and without procrastination issues in the rest of our lives. There doesn’t appear to be any correlation between my enjoyment of a few extra minutes of sleep and my ability to complete tasks in a timely and competent manner. This is a matter of personality. Rob is a “rules” guy, and he likes to follow rules to the letter. I am not a rules person, and I like to challenge rules if I don’t believe in them. The snooze bar is a “rule breaker” feature and it appeals to me. Believe in yourself, snoozers!
I know this woman, and she speaks the truth. She is certainly right when she says I am a rules person, and she is not. Ronni is a tremendous artist, (www.ronnijolles.com), and as such, I’m not sure if being a rules person works very well for artists. But I was raised by a Marine, and the rules that were established in our house growing up gave me peace of mind. These rules always let me know whether what I was doing was right or wrong. They say opposites attract, and here is clearly an opposite between us. Now, if you could just put some headphones on that only allowed YOU to hear that alarm you keep starting and stopping, there would be peace in the Jolles house! Thanks for posting Ronni, and thanks for being such a wonderful editor… and wife.
I’m also a believer in the snooze bar. How many of us have woken up 10-15 minutes before the alarm goes off? Remember the feeling of knowing; I get to go back to bed and still wake up on time?” Those 10 extra minutes feel so much sweeter. So, in a way, it’s a present to yourself everyday. So what’s wrong with that?
I love the idea of giving yourself a present. Just make sure you aren’t giving anyone else who might be in the bed next to you a headache! Avoiding the snooze bar is a rule that isn’t for everyone. Thanks for posting Jessie.
Rob…..I retired 4 years ago – after 45 years of ‘labor’, when I had to arise every morning at 6:30 or 7 am! The first year or so, I slowly began to awaken a few minutes later each day – until now it’s 9 or 9:30. Slowly, but surely, I had to overcome ‘guilt’ feelings – of not being quite as productive as I was for all those previous years!
But, finally, I learned some new skills – like making breakfast in the morning, brewing that great, fresh pot o’ coffee, heading to the Safeway to ‘kibitz’ with the staff, catching up on the Post ‘Sports’ page – and the latest on the ‘Skins, Nats, Wizards, etc., etc., doing a few chores from Dee’s ‘honey-do’ list – and spending a lotta time ’emailing’ – all over the place, watchin’ the ‘late’ shows, more last-minute emailing…and, finally ‘sack-time’ around 1 am…and a great 8 hours of ‘snooze’-time!
….and, basically, took some time………’to smell the roses’…..!!!! It took some time to get used to…..but, you know…it ain’t bad at all!!!
…..oh, I almost forgot…..also producing a long-running T.V. show on Ch 10!
JM
“C.T.”
You almost forgot your TV show? Impossible, you’ve been doing “Communicating Today” for years now and you always hit a home run. As for retirement, I’d not only forget the snooze bar – I’d forget the alarm clock! Great hearing from you John.
Hi Rob,
Another great BLArticle, but I do agree with Ronni on this one. The snooze bar isn’t connected to laziness – at least not in my humble opinion. Keep writing those great BLArticles!
I thought you’d agree with Ronni. To each their own. I will say, however, it’s interesting that all three snooze bar junkies are named Ronni, Ronnie, and Ron. Must have something to do with the name! Thanks for posting Ron.
Another great article! I’m not a snooze bar lover. I like to get up and get going in the morning. Often I have an early appointment, so I can’t afford to snooze for another 15 or 20 minutes. I do think Rob has a point that we should not procrastinate on work or important personal issues. The longer we wait to do them the larger they look or the more stress they can cause. Getting things done can provide a great senses of accomplishment.
However, I must admit , I am looking forward to a vacation and no alarm for a week.
Ronnie, great job on the editing and enjoy your snoozing in the morning.
We didn’t do a lot of snoozing while working at Xerox and starting our classes at 8:00 am sharp. I think you’re right; forget the snooze bar, I’m looking forward to doing away with the alarm clock… but not just yet. Always wonderful hearing your voice Phyllis. Great job at that Xerox reunion.