Getting up early isn’t beneficial in and of itself. You need the secret ingredient, a morning routine. Something that will help you get out of bed and maximize those precious few distraction free hours of the day. Unfortunately, nothing drains motivation faster than a warm bed and a snooze button. Consider this article your wake up call. It contains everything you need to make the transition from night owl to morning dove in no time flat.
Table of Contents
The Basics
Optimization
Failure
Consistency
Putting it All Together
THE BASICS
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to hit the gym before work or find the time to write a novel. If your goal is to squeeze a few extra hours out of your day then you need to be able to do three fairly obvious things; get up, stay up, and get to work. The more strategies you can create to help you accomplish these three things the stronger your routine becomes. Here are a few examples to get you started.
Get Out of Bed
- Keep the alarm clock out of reach from your bedside. This will force you to spring out of bed to dismiss it.
- Barcode Alarms force you to scan an item before it can be dismissed. I use the code on the back of my day planner downstairs.
- A sleepy girlfriend who can’t stand the sound of your alarm
Stay Out of Bed
- Program your coffee machine to start brewing when you alarm goes off
- Start your car remotely as soon as you wake up
- Get dressed and put your shoes on
Get to Work
- Apps that prevent you from using social media
- Create or find a distraction free place to work
- Make a date with an accountabila-buddy
OPTIMIZATION
Now that you’ve identified some strategies to get you up and at’em you need to shift your focus towards optimizing your routine. What does that mean? Well, if you’re not used to getting up early your brain is going to be starving for an excuse to bog you down and drag you back into bed. Optimizing your routine prevents the sandman from gaining any leverage. Here are some ideas to help you transform your routine into the path of least resistance:
- Keep a small dresser full of gym clothes under the sink. This way you’ll never forget to lay them out the night before.
- Pick something quick and nutritious for breakfast and eat it every single day. This isn’t as much of a sacrifice as you might think, most people eat the same thing for breakfast everyday without even realizing it.
- Don’t waste time playing hide and with your keys. Keep them on a hook by the door.
FAILURE
The road to roosterdom is paved with snooze buttons. Don’t get discouraged if your first few attempts at getting up early end with you crawling back under the covers. Your bed is a master of manipulation, and it takes time to develop a routine that will free you from its clutches. Identify the triggers that are forcing you to get back into bed and then find a solution. It sounds simple, but it’s surprisingly easy to overlook that using the edge of your bed to put you socks on is a bad idea. I know from experience.
CONSISTENCY
A younger me would have scoffed at the idea of giving lazy mornings. Now I wish I could take them all back. It took about 3 months of getting up early every single day before I started getting up before the alarm. The desire to lay in bed and vegetate has completely disappeared. It sounds like a big sacrifice now, but trust me, it doesn’t last. Taking days off just makes the acclimatization more difficult. Rip off the band aid and don’t look back.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Every day the alarm clock I keep in the bathroom rings at 5:00 am.
It’s loud enough that I can’t just lay there and ignore it.
I spring out of bed and stifle the alarm before I incur the wrath of the sleepy girlfriend.
Next I close the bathroom door and flip on the lights. Synged retinas work better than caffeine.
I keep gym clothes in a small dresser under the sink so I never forget to lay them out.
The alarm clock app I use requires me to continually press mute while I brush my teeth.
It won’t fully shut off until I scan the barcode on a day planner that lives next to my coffee maker.
A fresh pot is already waiting downstairs, I’ve programmed it to start brewing automatically.
I stir in some stevia while I jot down my priorities for the day in my planner.
Another app prevents me from checking email or social media before 7:30 am. No distractions.
Take my vitamins.
Follow with a brief journaling exercise and 20 minutes of meditation
Car keys and wallet are kept on shelf right next to door.
Prevent procrastination by remotely starting my car immediately after I finish.
Hit the gym, take a shower, execute priorities.
Rinse and repeat.