We all have our time of day that we are at our best. Some of
us are night owls and some of us are more of a morning person.
I am a morning person for sure. For me waking up early and
getting that head start on the day when things are still calm and people aren’t
out and about. It feels amazing to be able to get so many different things
accomplished without being interrupted.
Getting yourself up and moving at an extremely early time
can be really tough. It’s much easier to relax in bed, hit that snooze button a
few more times or scroll through the next hour before your feet even hit the
floor.
Deciding to wake up early and actually following through are
two extremely different things!
I’ve got 9 smart and simple habits that morning people use
to help them get up while the rest of the rest of us are still soundly sleeping.
1. Motivation
The first step to accomplishing any goal, especially waking
up really early, is motivation. You’re going to battle with yourself every
morning to wake up and having that motivation is going to make all the
difference.
What is your motivation or your why? Is it like mine where I
just want to be able to get more done. Do you want more time in the day to be
able to enjoy your passions and hobbies? Maybe you need more time for a
business or school work.
Figuring out your why will make the goal of waking up at 5am
seem way easier! Don’t forget to make your why a strong one!
2. Plan your day the night before
I sometimes feel like I’m a broken record when I talk about
planning. Setting yourself up to win the night before will make getting up at
5am so much easier!
I’ve found that 15 minutes in the evening to set out my
clothes, pack my lunch and layout anything I’ll need for the day makes my
morning so much simpler. Instead of running around like a chicken with my head
cut off trying to take care of those things (and they always take longer when
you’re stressed) I can use those 15 minutes to do something I want.
3. Go to bed early
My dad would always say that he liked to get his sleep in on
the front end of the night. I always laughed when he said that, but I’ve really
learned to embrace that. Not that I was ever a super late-night person but
heading to bed earlier makes a big difference.
Changing up your bedtime might be weird at first but like
any habit once you start it and work to stick to it the changes will soon be
old hat.
4. Don’t hit snooze
I’ve never been one to hit snooze a million times but this
can be the one thing that takes down all your good intentions. You end up
sleeping way past the time you wanted to get up and then you feel frustrated and
discouraged.
If you’re a hit the snooze button 5 times person I recommend
putting it in a place where you have to get up out of bed to turn it off. For
most people getting out bed will help. You might need to set a couple of alarms
if you’re really prone to hitting that snooze button.
5. Get up immediately
On days when I sit in bed and think about how much I don’t
want to get up those are the days I find myself laying about and messing up my
morning. Days when I just make myself get up and out of bed before I even think
it through are the best.
Don’t give yourself any time to think about not wanting to
get up and just get up!
Out of all the things you do throughout your day just making
yourself get up and out of bed should be a pretty easy one. You can do it!
6. No screens
All of our good intentions can be no match for Facebook or
our emails first thing in the morning. Don’t let yourself fall for it though.
Don’t let yourself get sucked into that cozy read through everything in bed in
the morning vibe.
You might even want to set yourself a screen time limit the
night before as well. That will help you get to sleep faster and have better
sleep.
7. Wake up with tunes
This might not work for everyone but I know my mood and
energy can be extremely tied to music. I enjoy slow music before I fall asleep
to relax. I need to get pumped up to accomplish a task you bet I’ve got some
heart pounding rock or Celtic music on.
For me turning on bright, cheery music like oldies or Disney
tunes in the morning helps me wake up quickly and get going. I will break my no
phones right away rule to switch on music but then I try to put the phone down
immediately.
Do you have a certain type of music that wakes you up and
gets you going?
8. Make the time change in small increments
For some of us (ahem Stephanie) they can just make these big
life changes immediately and just have it be the new way of things. For us mere
mortals it can take a little longer.
Breaking it into steps can make the habit change much
easier. Maybe you already wake up at 6:30 but 5am seems just too crazy. Start
waking yourself up at 6am for a couple of weeks. Then bump it back even
further.
This goes for the going to be earlier too. Kevin and I have
been trying to push our bed time earlier. For him it’s tough but if he makes
the point each night to go a little bit earlier it’s much easier.
9. Make it a routine throughout your week
There is nothing like getting yourself into this great
groove during the week and then you let yourself completely go off the rails
when the weekend comes around. Then when Monday hits it’s twice as hard to get
back into the 5am routine.
Making sure you’re up at the same time throughout the entire
week will engrain the habit in your mind and it will be so ingrained you won’t
have to even think about it.
Every once and a while it’s ok to be out late or wake up
late but don’t let yourself get into those bad habits on the weekends.
Just like achieving any goal and waking up at 5 am takes
motivation, planning and hard work!
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