6 Secrets to Consistently Waking Up Early

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Waking up early is not for everyone. There are some people to whom it comes natural, while others struggle to get out of bed in the morning and try to postpone it…as much as possible.

If you’re reading this article, I guess you fall into the second type of people.

Well, stick with me because you’re about to learn the 6 secrets to consistently waking up early – making it as easy and simple as brushing your teeth.

So, are you ready to finally become an early riser? Then, let’s get started!

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Last updated on March 23, 2024

DISCLAIMER: I may receive a small commission – which is not going to affect your final price – on the products mentioned. I am only promoting products that I consider valuable and beneficial. If you decide to make any purchase, well…thank you for buying me a cup of coffee! xx

HAVE AN INTENTIONAL NIGHT ROUTINE

The success of your morning starts the night before.

That’s why the first thing you must work on is to set an intentional night routine.

What is it?

An intentional night routine should make you feel your best.

It’s the way for you to unplug and decompress after a long day.

It’s how you want to end your day, after having been up and running all day long.

An intentional night routine is something you do, for yourself.

There are some guidelines that everyone should follow to have a good night’s sleep; such as:

• No screens 1 to 2 hours before bed
• Eat dinner at least 3 to 4 hours before laying down
• Keep the bedroom at a cool temperature
• Take a hot shower before bed, to ease the muscles and relax
• Limit the intake of caffeine and alcoholic beverages

But, while this is what everyone should do, there are some aspects of having an intentional night routine that allows you to tailor it depending on your needs.

The one important question you should ask yourself when ideating your night routine is:

“How do I ultimately want to feel?”

Not everyone wants to feel the same before bed!

Here are some examples of how you might want to feel at night and what habits you should adopt:

• If you want to feel relaxed -> Meditate for 5 minutes every night
• Do you want to end your day on a positive note? -> Keep a gratitude journal
• If you want to reflect -> Journal your thoughts out
• Do you want to use that extra time to learn something? -> Read

SET A GENTLE ALARM

Secondly, you’ll want to make waking up early as gentle and “pleasant” as possible.

For this reason, years ago I ditched the regular iPhone alarms and downloaded an app called BetterSleep. Since then, waking up early has never been as much of a torture!

Thanks to BetterSleep, you can:

• Analyze your sleeping patterns
• Understand your sleep quality and what might be impacting it
• Relax before bed thanks to guided meditations or peaceful sounds
• Wake up gently in the morning

BetterSleep entails many gentle and relaxing sounds that can both help you get a restful night of sleep, but also wake up on the right foot.

Since I’ve started using it, whenever I hear the iPhone alarm I get a sort of panic attack. (I’m sure I’m not the one!)

If only hearing that sound during the day makes our hearts race up, just imagine what it unconsciously does to us early in the morning!

Do you really want to wake up in such a brutal way?

So yeah, I believe it’s worth investing in an alternative that will make the act of waking up as pleasant as possible.

Whether that’s through BetterSleep, buying a new alarm clock, or using natural sounds to wake up – try ditching the regular ringtone for a more gentle one, and let me know how it goes! (You’ll thank me later 😉 )

THE 5-SECOND RULE

The great Mel Robbins and her life-changing 5-second rule have the power to change your mornings!

Mel – despite being one of the most successful and inspiring authors and much, much more – is just like you and me.

She struggles too.

In particular, she’s always been crystal clear about how much she struggled to make it a habit to wake up early.

While going through this struggle, though, she came up with a fantastic solution – that also became the focus of her best-selling book “The 5-Second Rule”.

What is this rule?

Well, Mel believes that what’s stopping you from taking action on what you know you’re supposed to be doing – getting out of bed, for example – is your thoughts.

From the moment you hear your alarm, your mind has already been spinning around thinking of the worst-case scenarios.

You’re thinking:

• “It’s so cold outside and my blankets are so warm and fluffy – I don’t want to get up!”
• “Ugh, my to-do list is so long today and I’ll never be able to get everything done – Can’t I just stay in bed?”
• “There is that one problem I haven’t fixed yet…Maybe if I lay down here forever I can just pretend it doesn’t exist, right?”

And the list goes on, and on, and on.

So, how do you get over it? How can you stick to waking up early when your mind is telling you how terrible it is?

That’s where the 5-second rule comes in.

Every morning, as soon as you hear your alarm, you have to mentally count down “5-4-3-2-1” and then just get out of bed!

It’s so simple that it seems like a joke! Right?!

Well, it works.

Guess what? if your brain is busy counting, it won’t have the time to come up with the tons of excuses that would have made you stay in bed.

So, why don’t you give it a try tomorrow?

5-4-3-2-1…get up!

CREATE A MORNING ROUTINE THAT MAKES YOU FEEL EXCITED

One of the reasons why you might be struggling to wake up early is that you’re not content with your day – and life, in general.

By hiding under your blankets, you’re just trying to postpone the moment of waking up as much as possible to avoid starting your day.

I get it. I have been there too. Some days, I’m still there.

BUT.

One hack that has helped me a lot in waking up early even when I don’t feel like starting my days is to have the most exciting morning routine ever!

You have the power to design your morning routine!

That’s precious time that you get to spend doing what you love the most! Isn’t that exciting? Doesn’t that make you want to jump out of bed?

Even if your day involves going to a job you hate, with people you don’t like, or if your day is just filled up with things you have to do – not you want to do -, there’s good news!

The good news is that nothing and no one – but yourself – can take away the peace and joy of having a morning routine that makes you feel good!

So, every day, before stepping into the real world, make sure you pour into your cup first.

You can’t give your 100% if you’re only at 40%.

Wake up and carve 1 hour of your time to do something you find fulfilling, whether that’s:

• Reading
• Journaling
• Knitting
• Gardening
• Exercising
• Playing the piano
• Dancing
• Going on a walk
• Listening to a podcast
• Watching your favorite TV show

Do what makes you feel fulfilled.

FOCUS ON SMALL IMPROVEMENTS

One of the best secrets to waking up early and turning it into a consistent habit is to start small.

You have to be realistic with yourself: if you’ve been waking up at 10 AM for the past 3 years, you shouldn’t schedule a 6 AM workout class tomorrow morning.

If you want to see real change in your habits, you need to set realistic goals.

You can’t turn into a morning person overnight. Like any other goal, it takes time, effort, and consistency.

So, if you’ve been dreaming of waking up at 6 AM to hit the gym and work on your side hustle before work, I want you to focus on one small step at a time.

How can you get there in an achievable way?

You have to come up with a sustainable action plan that will allow you to get the desired results (most likely, not tomorrow).

So, start with your final goal and track your way back.

Let’s say, for example, that you need to be at work at 9 AM and you’re used to waking up at 8 AM – not having time to exercise or to work on your side hustle.

What’s the smallest step you can take in the right direction?

Starting tomorrow, you might decide to:

• Wake up at 7.40
• Do a 10-minute workout at home
• Set a timer of 10 minutes to work on your side hustle

Then, you could keep going this way for one or two weeks.

After that, you might decide to wake up 30 minutes earlier instead of 20 – so that you can work 10 extra minutes on your goals.

You keep building your way up, shortening the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

So, the best way to consistently wake up early is to: start small, set realistic goals, and then build your way up to success!

FIND YOUR WHY

The last – but maybe it should be the first – secret to waking up early is to find your why.

Before you start waking up early, you must ask yourself:

“Why do I want to wake up earlier?”

Is it to find joy in having the time to cultivate a hobby or passion of yours?

Or is it to hit the gym, so that you don’t have any excuse about how tired you are after working all day?

Is it to carve time for yourself, before you start being a spouse, a mom, or a colleague to the world?

Or is it to finally have the time to work on your side hustle?

Waking up early is a way to intentionally make time in your day for anything you normally don’t have time for.

So, what is it that you want to do but constantly tell yourself “I don’t have enough time for [X]”?

It’s not about finding time, it’s about making time.

And, if you have a strong reason why you want to make more time in the day – trust me, you’ll find the strength to get out of bed in the morning!

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So, to recap, here are the 6 steps to making waking up early easier:

• Develop an intentional night routine – based on the question “How do I want to feel before falling asleep?”
• Set a gentle alarm – to make the moment of waking up as pleasant as possible
• Try the 5-second rule – to give up on all the excuses making you not want to get out of bed
• Create a morning routine that brings you joy!
• Start small and build your way up to waking up earlier and earlier
• Find your why behind waking up early – Don’t just do it because everyone else is doing it!

Q: “Why is it that you want to start waking up early?” – Share your why in the comments below! 🙂

Until next time,

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