I know, I know. Nobody wants to wake up early. Well, I didn’t use to, but I do now. About two years ago, I started waking up at 5:15am, Monday – Saturday. Doing this allows me to get about 3.5 hours of work done before anyone is typically awake enough to want to bother me to solve their problems. With 3.5 hours additional time each day, I get at least an extra 17.5 hours of productive time in each week than before. I use that time for exercise and knocking out work projects. I even wrote a book during those morning hours.
There are tons of benefits to waking up early. You probably don’t need to be sold on that. The real question is how to wake up so early regularly. Here are a few tips:
1. Have A Reason To Get Up
You have to have a reason, a purpose, to want to get up each morning. My reason is that I want to put myself in a financial position to help my family, my friends, and my church with any challenges they have. By working the extra hours, I’m building something big. This will put me in a financial position to make a difference.
What is your purpose? Is it for your kids, your parents, a house you want to buy, or a vacation you want to take? Find your reason, desire it, and use it to drag your butt out of bed in the early AM.
2. Wake Up Consistently
Your body needs to get into a rhythm. It needs to get use to going to bed a certain time and waking up a certain time. Determine how many hours of sleep you need a night. Then plan a bed time and wake up time that gives you that rest. Do your best to go to bed at the same time every night and wake up the same time each morning. If you do this, you’ll find yourself waking up even before your alarm goes off. And you’ll find you have the rest your body needs.
I go to bed by 11:15pm each night and wake up at 5:15am each day. I need six hours of sleep each night to be productive, so that is what I plan for. There is one exception. I take off work on Sundays, so I use that as my day to sleep in. I typically sleep another couple hours. Though, I have already woken up around 5:15am due to my internal clock being trained for early morning.
3. Prepare For The Morning
The best way to get up early and make the morning easier is to prepare for it. Instead of having your alarm clock right by the bed, have it across the room. Once you are up, just stay up. Also, have a morning routine for when you immediately wake up. Put your clothes out the night before so that is one less thing to do in the morning. All of these little things will make your morning easier.
I put my clothes out on the bench at the end of my bed. I use my phone for my alarm, so it’s close on my nightstand. Not ideal, but I made a commitment that once I hear it, I instinctively get right up. Once up, I have the same bathroom routine to get me going. I use the restroom, perform a set of an exercise, and review (in my head) my principles while I am brushing my teeth. At this point, I may be a little tired still, but much more awake and ready to face my day.
4. Find A Friend To Help You
One sure way to help motivate you to get up earlier, consistently, is to find a friend to hold you accountable. You can find someone to report to each day who doesn’t do the same thing, but I would recommend you find a friend who commits to getting up the same time as you. You’ll be in this together. This will help.
Personally, I never found a friend to hold me accountable. I just pushed myself. That can be tough and is possible, but anything is easier with a friend helping.
5. Give Yourself A Break
It’s okay to miss a day. Maybe you can’t get yourself out of bed. But once you fail to get up, give yourself a break. Don’t be too hard on yourself. We all mess up. But a bad day doesn’t have to turn into a bad week or the famous, “I’ll just try again on Monday.” Plus, give yourself the weekends to sleep in if you want. Sure, it will be easier if you wake the same time every day, but I’m not sure I ever want to say that I’ll never sleep in again. The bed is just too comfortable sometimes.
The Takeaway
Only one person is strong enough to get you out of bed in the morning and that’s you. These five tip can make it quite a bit easier, but you have to take them. If you want to make a big change in your life, try adding 15-20 more hours of productive time to your week by getting up early. Not to mention that most of this early time will be uninterrupted. A time where you can work on your ONE thing for the day that you have to get done. Use these steps, make a commitment, and watch how your life changes!!!