There are a lot of folks in the productivity world making a lot of to do about early rising. I’ve been a natural early riser most of my life, but it wasn’t until I was embarking on a study of productivity that I realized I could really use that time to get some things done.
When my son was very young, I started rising at what seemed like an extraordinarily early hour, 5am, so I could have some peace and quiet. This time became some “me time” and I just sat and drank my tea and watched the sunrise. This alone is an excellent reason for getting up early, but if you are wanting to make a bit more out of this time, it can be done.
Photo by Swami Stream via Flickr
The problem isn’t what to do with our time.
We are all so busy now that any amount of extra time we can find is good. The problem arises when we try and rise early. Its hard.
Steve Pavlina posted about rising early quite some time ago, and as a regular reader of his blog and someone who values being productive, I have to agree. This is one of the number one ways to take control of your life.
So, what can to do to make this much easier?
- Don’t make drastic changes. Your body is set to wake up at a certain time. Shocking it into a new state immediately may work for some, but for most of us, starting slowly, by waking just 15-30 minutes earlier than usual can make the difference between success and failure. Get used to this for a few days. Then cut back another 15 minutes. Do this gradually until you get to your goal time.
- Allow yourself to sleep earlier. Your body needs 7-9 hours of sleep per night to process. Your body undergoes an immense amount of activity while you are sleeping, cleaning your blood, oxygenating your system and rebuilding and re-energizing. You do not want to rob your health of the process it needs to stay happy. Try going to bed earlier slowly, just like waking. Once you are waking earlier, you will get tired earlier as well.
- Put your alarm clock far from you bed. If it’s right next to your bed, you’ll shut it off or hit snooze. Never hit snooze. Snoozing is a terrible habit that makes you more tired over the course of the day. Your body needs to wake up once, not multiple times per day. If it’s far from your bed, you have to get up out of bed to shut it off. By then, you’re up. Now you just have to stay up.
- Get out of the bedroom as soon as you shut off the alarm. Don’t allow yourself to rationalize going back to bed. Just force yourself to go out of the room.
- Do not rationalize. If you allow your brain to talk you out of getting up early, you’ll never do it. Don’t make getting back in bed an option. Just get up and get it done. Once you are up and moving, it will feel much better.
- Do allow yourself to sleep in once in a while. Give yourself one day a week to catch up and rest. Enjoy sitting in bed in the morning if that is something you find valuable, and just take it easy. It will be a great reward for all of the productive things you have done with the rest of your week!
- That being said, make waking up early a reward. Yes, it might seem at first that you’re forcing yourself to do something hard, but if you make it pleasurable, soon you will look forward to waking up early. Enjoy a early morning cup of some of the best coffee. Have a great breakfast. Spend some of your time watching the sunrise or meditating. You have time now!
- Take advantage of all that extra time. Don’t wake up an hour or two early just to read your blogs or surf the net. Get a jump start on your day! Lay out a major goal for the day the night before and once you are well fed and ready to go, get to work on it. Use this time to get ahead, take care of yourself and be more healthy, not less.
- Enjoy the sunrise! Pay attention to the colors, the birds and your surroundings.
Tags: Early rising, Life Hack