Good Morning team!
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One of the most frequent messages I received after The Ultimate Routine entry was about ‘wake up time’. You folks had thoughts and questions about it so I figured I would dedicate a whole entry to this age-old debate.
What Time Do I Wake Up?
Let me just say it now. I wake up between 4:30 am and 5 am pretty much every day. That’s my bias in the table. Before you click off the page, allow me to share why and to give you some reasons you may want to start waking up earlier too.
🏆 Clarify Your Purpose for Waking Up Early
I spoke about this before and it’s worth going over again, it’s important you know why you want to change your morning routine and wake up time. Waking up before everyone else in the house is tough. If you don’t have a reason to do it, you won’t do it.
I don’t just mean purpose in the sense that you want to wake up to do something. Of course, you’re going to wake up early to do something (probably productive). But you need a purpose that extends past a basic task. Are you attempting to finally address your productivity, do you desire a better lifestyle, do you have so many side projects that you simply need more time. Maybe you just want to wake up earlier so you can listen to more Jennifer Hudson songs; just me?
When I made my change, I was close to finishing my undergraduate degree at Manchester University, I was about to enter arguably the most important years of my life — years where I’ll have both money and freedom. If I ever was going to have a chance at escaping the 9–5 rat race, I had to do something now.
Working in the morning is easier than working at night, so I needed to set up my habits so I could achieve more success. It was very important for me because I had 4 or so projects I was running. I had to be successful. People were relying on me and I don’t like letting people down.
You might already have a purpose, but if you don’t, try running a 5 Whys analysis (otherwise known as root cause analysis).
✅ What you gain
Being an early bird means you get a few hours every day to do whatever you want. It’s likely nobody else will be awake to disturb you. You can paint, workout, start a business, write — anything you want.
Your prefrontal cortex is most active right after waking up, making it optimal for creativity. I’ve noticed I write much faster in the morning than at any other time in the day. Looking at the habits of famous writers, a lot of them have figured it out too (most authors write in the morning).
It’s a big win: a few hours of solitude with your most creative self.
❌ What you lose
There’s no free lunch. Waking up early doesn’t give you extra time. It takes off time you would otherwise have at night — unless you sleep less, which is a bad idea. If you sleep less, you either won’t be able to wake up early and become a night owl again, or you’ll be sleep-deprived and unproductive throughout the day.
In reality, It may mean less time for Netflix at night or talking on the phone till the early hours of the morning. Less time for those late social activities you may have become accustomed to because, simply, you need to go to bed on time.
I’m encouraging everyone reading this to wake up at 5 am
1. You suddenly have time to exercise
I’d for a long time told myself I didn’t have time for exercise in the morning (even though I knew this was a pathetic excuse). It turns out that when you get up four hours before you have to be at work, there’s so much time to fill you’d be silly not to get moving.
Over the course of my week, I can gym, complete some home workouts, channel my inner yogi and even walk to work.
Getting up early also meant that Monday evening started very productive and set the tone for the whole week. Exercising before you start your day makes you fresh and sharp for the most difficult morning tasks. A nice rush of endorphins prepares you for a difficult day. Since lockdown, our commute has shrunk to the 10 meters between our bed and desk. This can mean we arrive to work sluggish and tired. A nice workout shakes away those blues and has you feeling fresh and ready for the day ahead.,
2. You have to cut short your social plans in the evening
Before I started waking up at 5 am, on an average day when I’d be getting up at my usual time of 7.15am, I’d go to bed around midnight. But if I had to get up at 5 am, there was no way I could stay up that late.
Odd as it may sound, your morning routine actually begins the night before. When do you start getting ready to go to bed and when do you start winding down?. The time you go to bed will determine how much energy you have when you wake up. I've spoken to lots of people about it, however, I’m convinced that it’s much harder to sleep on time than to wake up early. There are so many distractions that want to keep us awake; chats with friends, shows, Twitter and much more. Your first win has to begin the night before by going to bed on time. I sleep between 10:30 pm and 11 pm which gives me enough sleep before I wake up at 4:30 am - 5 am.
This means waking up early, gives you a chance to finally address something our generation really struggles with Fear of Missing Out or FOMO. It’s that thing that has you constantly checking your phone even though there are no notifications. It’s crippling and unhealthy. There was a time where I would live in perpetual fear that I would miss an important update on my friends Instagram which never came.
Saying good night at 10 pm or 10:30pm helps you build that independence muscle. It helps you build confidence, drive and discipline. you will need this if you want to be successful
3. You hit a wall - right at the start
On the first couple of days making the switch to becoming an early riser, I didn’t even feel tired. In fact, getting up wasn’t actually that hard because I knew I could wake up slowly and simply get back into bed with a cup of tea and catch up on the news.
The sun was shining (well, almost - it was on its way up) and the birds were singing. Until the third day at least. It turns out getting up is a lot harder when it’s not sunny - I realised doing this would be a hell of a lot harder in the winter months.
And as the week wore on, the novelty wore off. By day five, I did not want to get up and was feeling really tired. When my friend cancelled our dinner plans for that evening, I was secretly thrilled that I could go home and go to bed. Which is most unlike me. The week felt so long. When you hit the wall, that’s when you need to revisit the reason we came up with at the start. Our bodies are creatures of habit so making new changes to your routine needs a lot of patience and persistence. If you stick with it, in time, your body will get with the programme and things will change.
4. Get enough sleep
A common mistake people make is thinking they can sleep the same amount as they usually do. For example, I only slept for 6 hours before, so I thought I could sleep for 6 hours and still wake up early. This doesn’t work because you end up sleeping in; it’s unlikely you have any willpower when it’s pitch black outside.
For the best chances at waking up early, set a goal for 8 hours of sleep. I want to wake up at 5 a.m., so my sleeping time is 9 p.m. (8 hours before). Sleep more than needed (when you start)
When I started, I didn’t set my alarm at 5 a.m. I set no alarm at all. With drastic changes to your sleeping schedule, you’re going to need some time to adjust. You initially need more sleep. You have the rest of your life to wake up early. Spend some time now getting the habit into your routine. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
Waking up early means waking up when it’s still dark. Give your body some time to adjust to the darkness. It took me about a week; it might be longer or shorter for you.
I naturally woke up earlier and earlier every day. Now I can successfully wake up at 5 a.m. every day.
5. Choose a Morning Routine
Even after waking up early for years, I still have trouble getting out of bed without my morning routine. I tried to skip it a few times, but it felt wrong — as if my morning routine is part of the process of waking up.
A morning routine not only prepares you for the day, but it mesmerizes you. Before my routine, I’m groggy and tired. After, I’m excited and awake. It’s the closest thing to magic I’ve found.
It’s like my brain is telling me: “now that you’ve completed the first task of the day, you’re ready to wake up.”
6. You’ll be more efficient at work
In university, I really believed that I was a night owl. I remember rushing to complete essays at 3 am in the morning. I convinced myself that that’s how I work best but it wasn’t true. It was just what I was used to. I was revelling in the inefficiency and i was very defensive when someone suggested a change. I’m so glad I was able to get over that hump and actually begin to make progress. I didn't think I could do it however looking back its been almost 5 years since I started doing this and things have really changed for me. Perseverance and discipline really goes a long way
Incredibly, I actually achieved more at work than usual and was surprisingly productive. I’ve genuinely felt energised throughout most of the working day all week long. I’ve become more focussed too. I’ve since learned that being productive first thing in the morning before you get to work does in fact make you more productive for the rest of the day.
If you want to read my entry about morning routines, you can do it here
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I have been trying to be an early riser for months! This encourages me to try again. I think I went wrong by thinking the answer was going on less sleep .
Thank you
I used to wake up at 6am and saw a lot of improvement, however I need to get back onto something like this