Not Enough Hours in the Day? How Getting Up Early Can Change Your Life
Michael Yi
Get up. Work. Netflix. Bed.
Sound familiar?
This is how my day used to go – occasionally I’d get a workout in or manage to read a book, but I wasn’t hitting my goals of daily meditation and reflection, regular workouts and healthy sleep habits.
Then I started waking up at 6.30, and all that changed. Here’s how to wake up early and be productive!
1. Prepare, prepare, prepare
Anything that requires you to think early in the morning will make you hit that snooze button. Make sure you’re mentally prepared for the morning by having everything else prepared. Imagine your morning the night before, and get everything ready in advance.
What to plan the night before:
- Clothes for the next day (check the weather report!)
- Breakfast for the morning… put it in a bowl ready to eat if you have to!
- Decide on what workout you’re doing if you’re going to workout
- If you need to do a reading or get some work done, have the page marked and your highlighter ready, or the tab already open on your browser
2. Have a routine
Productive people have a morning routine that they do every single day. Early rising means that you can get a workout in, have breakfast and get ready for work, as well as squeezing in some quiet time, but you need to know when you’re doing what or you’ll end up procrastinating the morning away. Do the same thing every morning and it becomes a new habit that you’ll get used to quickly!
Only
1/4
Australians are achieving 8 hours of sleep a night
Only
6%
of Australians said that they always get enough sleep to feel at their best
3. Make it difficult to sleep in and ruin your sleep habits
To avoid the dreaded snooze button, keep your phone or alarm clock plugged in somewhere that you can’t access from your bed. That way you can’t just reach over, you have to get up. Sleep with all the curtains and blinds open, so that you’re woken up by the light. After a few weeks, you’ll find yourself naturally waking up earlier and it won’t be such a struggle!
4. Recognise the benefits of waking up early by hitting goals in the early morning
If you’re trying to work out more, want to learn a new language or are wanting to keep your room clean (don’t laugh, it’s a real struggle for some of us) make that a part of your morning routine. That way by the time you start your work day, you already feel like you’ve achieved important tasks and you’ll be more motivated the next day. Make a to-do list that you can tick off as you go, which has the added benefit of giving you a head start on the day.
5. Get your bedtime routine down pat
Nothing makes it harder to wake up early than a late night. Ban yourself from Netflix after 8.30 pm, because it’s so easy to ruin your sleep cycle with that ‘next episode’ rollover. Find a routine that works for you, make sure you remove distractions like your phone, and do the same thing every night. The smell of the same night cream right before bed or the visual impact of only having a bedside lamp on half an hour before sleep will help your brain switch to sleep mode as it starts to recognise that those things mean it’s almost time for bed. The best defence for an early morning is a good night’s sleep.
Celebrities who wake up early:
- Oprah Winfrey
- Apple CEO Tim Cook
- Michelle Obama
- Mark Zuckerberg
More Sleep Stats
6. Eat breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We’re told over and over again that successful people eat breakfast because it helps your brain function, but it doesn’t have to be first thing in the morning. You could do some meditation or get some uni work done first thing (although honestly if you’re up to doing uni work first thing in the morning you deserve some sort of early bird award) or do a workout, but the important thing is that you have breakfast before you start your work day. There are many scientific benefits of waking up early, but one of the most undervalued is that it gives you time to have breakfast!
7. Troubleshoot by figuring out what the hardest thing for you is when you wake up
All of the above advice is specific for people who are trying to be those early birds getting the early worms, but your wake-up routine should be specific to you. Want more family time, and the mornings are the only time you can get it? Then exercise in the evening.
8. Make plans with other early risers and avoid night owls in the evening
Organise to walk your dog with a friend early in the morning or to meet for breakfast. If you are going out at night, talk to whoever you’re going with and organise to leave early with someone else so that you can’t back out. You’re more likely to become an early bird if you’re with other morning people!
No matter why you’re trying to get an earlier start to the day, being an early riser will make sure you can hit your goals and be more productive.
So set your alarm, plug it in across the room, start your nighttime routine and decide on what you’re going to do with all your extra time!
