In the past I always wondered how to wake up early. I could not seem to force myself to wake up at early morning hours.I would usually sleep till 7 am or sometimes even till 8 am!
The later I would wake up, the worse I would feel. Day would pass so quickly that I would hardly accomplish anything. I felt numb and as though I did not have any energy in me.
But that entirely changed when I realized that by waking up this late I am not doing any favor to my body, mind or to my future. I understood that I am not going to become successful by being so lazy.
After realizing how much I am missing out, I decided to try some strategies on how to wake up early. I repeatedly wrote 'To wake up at 5 am'.
I failed couple of times, but I did not give up because I convinced myself that I absolutely must wake up that early.After a week or so I started to feel that it is getting easier to wake up at 5 am. After two weeks I did not even think of waking up at any other time. Therefore I changed the habit of late sleep to the habit of early rising.
How to wake up early: strategy #1
Try to think of how many hours you sleep. How do you feel when you wake up? Do you feel full of energy or lazy? Do you know that by waking up early you will feel so energetic that you will be able to accomplish twice the amount of tasks that you ever could?
Now try to think how many hours extra per day you will have if you would wake up, let's say, at 5 or 6am? How many would that be in years if you continue this habit forever?
Try to list what you would accomplish during these extra hours. List what you will do in the spare time that is left.
Do you know that most successful people are early risers? They know the secret of early rising: health, wealth and success. Anil Ambani has a habit of waking up early at 4 am daily and start visualizing his goals. Amitab Bachan too wakes up early in the morning (before the sunrise) and because of this his stars are still shining.
Waking up early naturally adds charisma in our Personality. When you wake up early you naturally become happy because you know that you will not waste half of your day sleeping. You become joyful and therefore only positive energy flows inside and through you. This, in turn, produces only good results which make you more and more successful.
Now you should be motivated enough to start following the process of how to wake up early.
Step-by-step process of waking up early:
You should take your daily planner or notebook. On tomorrow's page write down: 'To wake up at ...am '(put any early time you wish).
Set up your alarm at that time. Go to bed early so that you would have enough hours of sleep. If you do not feel sleepy, you should read some book or just try to relax in bed by letting go of all thoughts. Try this strategy today.
If you succeeded in waking up early, do the same process every day for 30 days. When you wake up, always check the diary page for the next day and read the same statement you recorded into your diary of when to wake up. This will program your unconscious mind to act on this statement next morning.
How to wake up early: strategy #2
If you did not succeed with the first strategy and still wonder how to wake up early, do not be hard on yourself. You are just learning.
This next strategy on how to wake up early is a bit more extreme, but it will definitely help you understand how to wake up early.
You should tell your friends and family, especially the people you live with, about your new habit. Just say “I am now waking up at 5am (or other time), I feel great and I am full of energy. You should definitely try that too!”
You should talk in a way that would indicate that you already formed this habit. Now you will think twice about oversleeping because if you oversleep, you will feel that you lied to others! Consequently, your family and friends might think that you are hard to trust and not a serious person.
Try this for a week. It should definitely work. If you still do not wake up early, try this last set of tricks on how to wake up early.
How to wake up early: strategy #3
As soon as you wake up, go to a different room that you do not associate with sleep. It can be your living room or kitchen. If the room is not heated, it is even better. Cold environment will remove every possible trace of sleepiness.
Drink cold water, then you can exercise a bit. If you can, go for a walk for around 15 minutes outside.
Play with your pet. Change into casual/formal clothing.
Start conversation with someone. This will not give a silent voice in your head a chance to start convincing you of the benefits of sleeping late:)
These strategies on how to wake up early should definitely help you in waking up at the time you like.
What you should avoid whilst trying to rise early:
There are certain things that can easily drag you into late sleeping.
Reading books can instantly make you sleepy, especially if the book is boring. Do not read in the morning whilst trying to fall into the habit of early rising.
If you really need to read as soon as you wake up, you should read in a cold room or the room that has no beds so that you would not have a possibility to take a nap.
Watching TV makes you less alert therefore it gives a perfect opportunity for sleepiness to take over.
Surfing the net is a relaxing and quite automatic activity, therefore again you become less alert and more likely to fall asleep.
Sitting in bed is the worst thing to do when you wake up! It can drag you into sleep without you even knowing! As soon as you wake up you should get up and walk out of the room you slept in.
Warm environment makes you sleepy and wanting to go back to bed. Try to avoid very warm surroundings when getting into this new habit.
Eating heavily in the morning is likely to make you feel sleepy because your body uses most of its energy to digest the food.
The quiet voice in your mind can easily to talk you back into sleep. Try to be aware of its intentions and ignore its suggestions.
Famous people quotes on early rising:
By reading these quotes you will understand the reason why so many (almost all) successful people have this habit. Each of these quotes contain great wisdom.
“I would have inscribed on the curtains of your bed, and the walls of your chamber: "If you do not rise early, you can make progress in nothing."
William Pitt, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1708 –1778)
“Few ever lived to a great age, and fewer still ever became distinguished; who were not in the habit of early using.”
John Todd
“The time just before dawn contains the most energy of all hours of the day. This has helped me become an early riser and an early doer.... When I wake to see that it's light out already, I feel like the world has started without me.”
Adabella Radici
“The sun has not caught me in bed in fifty years.”
Thomas Jefferson
“Six, or at most seven, hours' sleep is, for a constancy, as much as you or anybody else can want; more is only laziness and dozing, and is, I am persuaded, both unwholesome and stupefying.”
4th Earl of Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope
“No man can promise himself even fifty years of life, but any man may, if he please, live in the proportion of fifty years in forty--let him rise early, that he may have the day before him, and let him make the most of the day, by determining to expend it on two sorts of acquaintance only--those by whom something may be got, and those from whom something maybe learnt.”
Charles Caleb Colton
“The difference between rising at five and seven o'clock in the morning, for the space of forty years, supposing a man to go to bed at the same hour at night, is nearly equivalent to ten additional years to a man's life.”
Philip Doddridge
“Next to temperance, a quiet conscience, a cheerful mind and active habits, I place early rising as a means of health and happiness.”
Timothy Flint
“The early morning has gold in its mouth.”
Benjamin Franklin
“Whoever has tasted the breath of morning knows that the most invigorating and most delightful hours of then day are commonly spent in bed; though it is the evident intention of nature that we should enjoy and profit by them.”
Robert Southey
“When one begins to turn in bed, it is time to get up.”
Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley
Conclusion
By posting this article I have applied the second strategy for waking up early and I sincerely hope that my advice will help you get into this great habit. If you really understand all the benefits it brings, you should not find it difficult to figure out how to wake up early even by yourself.
