Why you think waking up early sucks
Create time to transform your mornings
Read sleepy part two here.
"I'm not a morning person," you might say.
This is not baked into your DNA.
This doesn't have to be true.
Becoming an early riser is easier than you might think.
This is a super power.
You have control over your time.
You don't have to be a slave to the stressed-out morning rush to work.
This is avoidable.
Feel like you don't have enough time in the day?
Create that time.
It's hiding from you, but I'll tell you how to find it.
I made this switch by accident, and now I'm preaching its benefits.
Delete the notion that waking up early "sucks."
If imagining yourself wide awake at 5am sounds terrible to you, then you're the best person for the job. You haven't tried it yet, which means that you don't know how much you might like it.
If you've never had a piece of red velvet cake, you wouldn't hate the taste before tasting it. You'd taste it first, and then decide if it was good or bad (my favorite cake, shoutout RV).
You hate getting up early because of what being up early means for you.
You're forced to begin your day quickly, despite how slowly you feel like moving.
Your brain identifies an early morning with instant rushing and stress.
This is why you think waking up early sucks.
You shorten the window of time available to start your day on your own terms.
You give your schedule the power, instead of being in command of the schedule.
Do you want to begin your day slowly, peacefully?
This is always an option.
Here's two scenarios - you decide which one sounds more enjoyable.
1. Snooze the alarm a few times. Wake up with barely enough time to get ready for work. Stressed out, in a hurry, hating the commute traffic, a coin flip if you make it to work on time. You don't have time to make breakfast, and you forgot something important at home. Oh no, you spilled your coffee.
2. No alarm required. Wake up naturally before sunrise. You now have a few hours to do anything you want. Take your time with coffee and a book. If you have kids, maybe they're still asleep, and you have a quiet moment of solitude. Enjoy breakfast, and make yourself a lunch to go. Leave for work earlier than normal. The traffic and the commute is stress-free. Walk in the door before your coworkers.
How I did it
For years, my natural body clock would wake me up around 8am or 9am. Within the past year or so, it shifted up slightly to 7am.
After returning from a long-term trip to Europe, my body needed a few days to readjust to my American time zone. This caused me to start waking up between 5am and 6am instead. I'd get sleepy earlier in the night, falling asleep sometimes before 10pm, rather than my typical midnight.
At first, this frustrated me. I didn't want to be awake at 5am. But then, after a few days, I started to love it.
Now my new mornings look like this: I make coffee, read for a bit, and then write for hours. I'll forget to check the time to see when I need to get ready for work.
Because it doesn't matter.
I have so much time to start my day on my own terms that my obligations for the day are no longer the first thing I think about upon waking.
I've learned to lean into my new schedule. If I work out at the gym particularly hard one day, I might be ready to fall asleep not long after 9pm. And I'm thrilled to do so, knowing I'll be wide awake before 6am the next morning - with another open block of time to write, or do anything else.
I've gotten to a point now to where I'm slightly irritated if I wake up after sunrise. I want to wake up when it's still dark. I value this sacred time.
I could fix this with an alarm, but I prefer to allow my body to get the rest it needs. Even if that means I sometimes sleep in a bit past sunrise.
When are you most focused?
Another factor to consider is your natural ability to focus and work. Some of us are wired to be most alert, focused and productive at the beginning of the day. Others might feel this sensation late at night. This is something you should know about yourself.
My friend Cameron is a guitarist. He practices and writes music well after dark, late at night, every night. This is when he's able to step into that zone of focus. In the mornings is when he runs or goes to the gym. Physical activity in the mornings, focused work at night.
This is the life of a musician. Regular late-night gigs. The first half of the day is often free, so sleeping in late is not an issue. This schedule makes sense for him. He developed habits which wired his brain for it. It's necessary for his job.
A true night owl is someone who is able to be focused and productive late at night, like Cameron.
Someone who regularly stays up past midnight, but is not focused on a habit, is not a night owl.
If your optimal time of focus is in the mornings, and yet you sleep in late and stay up late, you're cheating yourself. Take advantage of your brain's natural ability to be productive early in the day by shifting your body clock to an earlier start time.
You focus best in the mornings, but this time is wasted in a rush to work.
You don't focus well at night, and this time is wasted staying up late.
For what?
You have the option to create and take advantage of a window of time in a way that benefits you and meets your natural ability to focus.
But this newfound early morning pocket doesn't have to be all about doing.
Doing is what I'm focused on, but it might play a different role for you.
It can be time with the people you love who live in your home.
It can be a time for space and stillness, for yourself.
Void of distractions to be still, before your day begins.
Why dive head first into your day when you can ease into it instead?
These are the steps to becoming an early riser, in order
1. Set an alarm to wake up an hour or two before your natural waking time.
2. Work out extra hard. If you exercise regularly, double your workouts. So, go for a run and lift weights on the same day - rather than just doing one or the other. The goal is to be physically exhausted at an earlier time than you usually would be.
3. Go to bed when you're feeling sleepy. Hopefully this is several hours earlier than normal for you.
4. For the next day, set your normal alarm. Because of your early bedtime, you will likely wake up much earlier. You can now ditch the alarm you didn't need.
5. When you're up, and it's still dark outside, you might be tempted to go back to sleep. Avoid this, and get up. Start your day.
6. Repeat this process the next day, but aim for an even earlier bedtime. This will cause you to wake up earlier than the day before.
7. Within just a few days of practicing this schedule, your new body clock will be established.
The greatest benefit of this is freedom.
Gift yourself more time, and use it wisely.
You deserve it.
Read sleepy part two here.
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I love waking up early❤️