I first read about early get-ups last winter. I read a very inspiring article about how important it is for your health to live due to the sun cycles. And I decided to try to get up early. And by early I mean 5 am.
Well, getting up wasn't that hard. I did it once. Having three extra hours in the morning I made myself a fancy breakfast, read, worked out - stuff I never had time nor desire for in the evenings.
I think I did that 2 or 3 times. Maybe 4. And then there suddenly appeared people asking me "Are you alright? Has something happened? Why do you get up so early? Did you sleep at all? Are you crazy?" and so on and so forth.
For an unprepared person, whom I was at that time, it did the demotivating work - I gave up. I gave up as easily as I started. And then I read another article about rational and irrational people. It said that rational people can not live without a schedule. They get up at the same time, and go to bed at the same time. They have some activity planned for each hour. Or even minute. On the other hand, there are creative people who can't stand schedules. They need more space for their creative souls. They need inspiration to do something and they hate time frames.
Of course I decided that I was a creative thus irrational person who doesn't need a schedule. And it gave me a proper reason to give up on early wake-ups. But somehow I wasn't satisfied.
So a year passes by and I find new information. And new desire to try early wake-ups.
So it's now the second week since I get up at 5 a.m. at least 4 days out of 7. And it's already been 2 or 3 months since I stopped getting up later than 9 a.m. And I totally love it! Owls and doves? I don't believe in that anymore. I spent 23 years believing that I'm an owl to finally realize that for brain thinking at night I need twice as much energy resources as I need in the morning.
So, what's different now?
So what's the secret? How did I manage to do it?
The thing is that you can not start getting up early just because it seems to be a right thing to do. No. With such attitude you'll never succeed.
To make it work you should have at least one of the following reasons (better both, I have both):
Well, getting up wasn't that hard. I did it once. Having three extra hours in the morning I made myself a fancy breakfast, read, worked out - stuff I never had time nor desire for in the evenings.
I think I did that 2 or 3 times. Maybe 4. And then there suddenly appeared people asking me "Are you alright? Has something happened? Why do you get up so early? Did you sleep at all? Are you crazy?" and so on and so forth.
For an unprepared person, whom I was at that time, it did the demotivating work - I gave up. I gave up as easily as I started. And then I read another article about rational and irrational people. It said that rational people can not live without a schedule. They get up at the same time, and go to bed at the same time. They have some activity planned for each hour. Or even minute. On the other hand, there are creative people who can't stand schedules. They need more space for their creative souls. They need inspiration to do something and they hate time frames.
Of course I decided that I was a creative thus irrational person who doesn't need a schedule. And it gave me a proper reason to give up on early wake-ups. But somehow I wasn't satisfied.
So a year passes by and I find new information. And new desire to try early wake-ups.
So it's now the second week since I get up at 5 a.m. at least 4 days out of 7. And it's already been 2 or 3 months since I stopped getting up later than 9 a.m. And I totally love it! Owls and doves? I don't believe in that anymore. I spent 23 years believing that I'm an owl to finally realize that for brain thinking at night I need twice as much energy resources as I need in the morning.
So, what's different now?
- I have more energy
- My mood is more stable
- I get up much easier and much-much faster
- I almost always have enough time for all my plans
- I am very proud of myself and it gives me butterflies!
So what's the secret? How did I manage to do it?
The thing is that you can not start getting up early just because it seems to be a right thing to do. No. With such attitude you'll never succeed.
To make it work you should have at least one of the following reasons (better both, I have both):
- Either truly, deeply believe that it's gonna be good for you.
- Or desperately need extra time.
Seriously, you will never get up early if you have no reason to get up.
I won't tell about how good it is for your health, if you don't know it yet - google it (I'm sure that British scientist have already proven it...).
Besides of deep inner faith in it's usefulness, I also have very practical reasons. What are they? First of all, I'm taking a morning language course. I trapped myself into a regular morning arrangement. Second of all, gym. Going to the gym in the early morning is like flying business class: once you've tried it, you'll long for it till the rest of your life (for those who doesn't know - it's still fresh and rather empty; working out is much easier, it gives you extra energy for the whole day and makes you so damn proud of yourself!)
So yes, you absolutely need to have some good motivation. If you have no reason to get up, but still want to try - plan some activities which you gonna do in the morning. It can be anything - sport, cooking, reading the book you've wanted to read for decades, cleaning, playing, working or whatever you usually don't have time for. Just make a plan. You need to get up already knowing exactly what you will do.
It's also a nice thing to take a contrast shower right after you get up - it helps a lot!
Next thing that helped me - a proper alarm.
Half a year ago I had an alarm which would allow me sleep one and a half hour after it first rang. How so? Not like it was easy to turn it off... I had to do some Math to snooze it. And it was effective! For about a week.... In a months I could do that Math without even being conscious. So my alarm became absolutely ineffective. Right now I'm using the "Sleep as Android" app and to turn it off I have to get out of my bed, go to my bathroom and scan a QR code, which is an encoded phrase "Guten Morgen, Sonnenschein! :)" (a little trick to cheer myself up!). And it also never shuts up even if I snooze it. And if I don't scan the code in 15 minutes it starts making sounds which I'd define as "please shoot me in my head!" (heard it once - nearly died from fright). So, actual physical get-out-of-bed helps a lot. I consider that 5-10 minutes get up is a huge progress compared to one and a half hour.
Certainly, to get up early, you have to fall asleep early. Many people have problems with that. Well, I advice not to focus on the time you go to bed at first - better focus on getting up. If you keep up for 3 days, on the third day your body will tell you exactly at what time you should head to bed. After you deal with the problem "I can not fall asleep early, because I'm not tired yet", my next advice will be - try to make it before midnight. It's really important that you don't fall asleep and wake up on the same day. Ideally it should be 10-11 p.m. Whichever works for you. (I'm at the 11-12 stage for now, trying make it 10-11).
It's important that you get up at the same time every day. Take one (2 or 3 to begin with) days off and let yourself sleep 2-3 hours more. Just don't make a huge gap between the desired wake up time.
Don't be too harsh on yourself - don't start with 5 a.m. I didn't. I started with 7. You can start with 8 or at least 9, but not later. Slowly make it as early as you can/want.
If you don't have strong inner motivation, find someone who will support you and praise you - it's important.
Social gathering problem? Simply arrange meetings 1-2 hours earlier. It can not be that hard!
That's it for now. I really hope that you gonna succeed! It's really a useful habit to have, especially for grown ups (I know, I know, nobody looks that far ahead! - but it doesn't mean one shouldn't).
Good luck! And enjoy your awesomeness!
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