It’s 8:27 a.m. and cars are swarming the Marlborough lot. You circle the lot three times just to find the most inconvenient spot to pull into. As you are straightening out, there’s a bang, and it’s you rear-ending the car of a student in your first period class. This awkward encounter in the parking lot is a rite of passage for many, and the stress of parking is nearly unavoidable when you arrive after 8:20.

For upper schoolers, one of the main benefits of arriving at school just 15 minutes prior to homeroom is having your pick of parking spots. Marlborough’s lot before 8:10 a.m. has only a sprinkle of cars, which allows you as much time as you need to adjust your parking without rushing as a car waits behind you.

Besides beating the parking rush hour, when accidents are prone to happen, the study spaces on campus earlier in the morning are mostly unoccupied and quiet. Unlike flex, when the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) is booming with noise, the CEI earlier in the morning truly feels like a quiet library for optimal studying. When you study after school, you have the weight of a long day of classes and likely extracurricular activities, so when you finally arrive home, it’s straight to your bed to rot for an hour or so. Getting ahead of your workload before the school day gives you the benefit of starting your day off right and allows you to relax after school, as your homework has already been completed.

But I know what you’re thinking: why wouldn’t you just take that extra 30 minutes of sleep, instead of coming to school early? I mean, yes, when waking up before school, all I do is long for another few minutes of rest. Yet, a tiny bit more sleep still leaves me with the feeling of wanting to stay in bed. This early morning grogginess is unavoidable, no matter what time your alarm rings, so you might as well wake up earlier and start your day productively. So, while sleeping in may sound tempting, the truth is that arriving at school and studying earlier in the day sets you up for an overall productive and successful day.

Ultimately, choosing to start your day earlier isn’t about losing sleep, it’s about gaining time. Personally, when I’m able to study in the morning my mind feels fresher, there are fewer distractions in the study spaces and I’m far more productive than I would be later in the day. By giving yourself that small head start to the day, you gain a large payoff of coming to class prepared and gaining momentum that lasts throughout the day.