24 Tips To Becoming An Early Riser
Written by Glen Stansberry of LifeDev.
Since I've become a full-time freelancer, I've found one of the hardest things to do is to get up early. Without the threat of being fired, there just hasn't been a whole lot of motivation to get out of bed in a timely fashion.
I've quickly learned that getting up is crucial to success as an entrepreneur. And better yet: waking up early is really just a habit. You don't need any skill to do it. You just need to wake up consistently to condition your body to the routine. Here are some tips I've picked up along the way to ease the process of developing the habit of getting up early.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that you have to be motivated to get out of bed. Motivation is the only thing keeping us homo sapiens from lying in bed all day eating twinkies.
1. Create a conducive environment to wake up to. It may sound strange, but how messy my room is greatly affects how easy it is to wake up in the morning. I've found that if I have an orderly room to wake up in, I'm more inclined to bypass the snooze and start my day.
2. Get enough sleep. This one isn't a mind-bending concept, yet it's still the number one reason most people struggle with early rising. Aside from all the health benefits to getting enough sleep, it makes it a jillion times easier to wake up early. (A jillion folks. I had to use a fake number to show the importance.)
This probably means that you'll have to make some sacrifices in order to go to bed at a proper time. Don't worry, you won't even miss the late hours once you start seeing the benefits of waking up early.
3. Plan your day the night before. Writing down all the big, important things you'll be doing the next day give you the extra spring in your step to wake up early and quickly. If you've got a purpose, you've got a big reason to wake up.
4. Don't read in bed. Spending as little time as possible in bed will actually help your body realize that the bed is for sleeping, and not lying awake for hours. The goal is to fall asleep within 10 minutes of getting into bed.
5. Don't eat directly before bed. If you eat more than two hours before you go to bed, your body will have to digest the food, keeping you awake.
6. Eliminate stress. Stress is one of the main causes of poor sleep. Relax yourself before getting into bed. Try controlled breathing exercises, yoga, or any other tactic to lower your stress level. This is good for you anyway.
7. Reward yourself. Don't think for a second that the reasons for getting up have to be totally work-related. Remember waking up really early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons? That's right: motivation. Occasionally give yourself rewards to anticipate the next day. A favorite show, ice cream, your favorite breakfast... anything for you to look forward to.
8. Exercise. Early morning exercise is great for waking a body up. It gets the blood flowing, raises levels of serotonin (happy chemicals), and will start your day off on the right foot. Exercise ultimately makes you feel better about yourself, and if you do it in the morning, will also help you wake up.
9. Don't lie in bed awake. The goal is to almost literally jump out of bed. The longer you stay in your bed, the more tempting it is to hit the snooze. And getting 10-20 minutes extra sleep after you've already woken doesn't really help you. It sends you back into a restless sleep that drains your energy before repeating the torturous process of waking up... again.
10. Sleep with windows open. The fresh air is better for you, and allows you to sleep more deeply.
11. Try to get up with the sun. Sunlight has many benefits to waking up. It raises that blessed serotonin level, regulates your circadian cycle, and keeps you up. But any sort of light will do for waking up before dawn (you overachiever, you).
12. Be Consistent. Make sure that you go to bed and wake up every day at the same time. Consistency develops habits, and waking up early is only a habit.
13. Listen to your body. Your body does a pretty good job of telling you what it needs. If you're still feeling tired, go to bed earlier. Your body will find a suitable sleeping pattern soon enough.
14. Go outside I've found that going outside and reading or exercising first thing in the morning is great for waking up. Feeling the breeze and sunlight on your skin, hearing the sounds of morning, all these things together stimulate just about every sense in your body.
15. Change alarm sounds often. Don't let your body get used to hearing the same alarm every day. Drudgery never motivates, my friends. Use alarms that are pleasant, and change them often so they stay pleasant. There's nothing worse than waking up to something that sounds like a horn on a Chevy.
16. Lay everything out the night before. Collect and lay out all your clothes and any other peripherals you'll need the night before, so you don't have to make those decisions in a sleepy state. Having to make decisions in the morning can make you not want to wake up.
17. A.M. Radio Associating waking up with fun things like music can train your mind to think that, "Hey, waking up isn't so bad after all!"
18. Use the extra time productively. - What's the point of getting up a few hours earlier if you don't do anything productive with the time? Your brain is pretty smart, and if it figures out that waking up earlier doesn't really have any benefits, game over. There has to be a reason for getting up.
19. Write down why you're getting up. What will you be doing when you wake up? If you write down the actions that you'll be doing the next morning with your extra time, you're giving yourself incentive to wake up.
20. Plan important events in the morning. This, if anything, will force you to get out of bed and moving. Schedule meetings, interviews, anything that requires you to get up and moving by a certain time.
21. Find an accountability partner. If you're having trouble sticking to early rising, find someone who will hold you accountable to early rising. This should preferably be someone who is also trying to wake up early, so you can help each other in your quest for early morning dominance.
22. Tell people about your early rising. Letting the world know about your early morning prowess is yet another way to keep yourself accountable. Nobody wants to live a lie, right?
23. Avoid Naps. It's a proven fact that nappers sleep worse at night. Naps break critical sleep cycles that keep us from getting the proper types of sleep we need.
24. Track your progress. Use a goal tracker like Joe's Goals to simply track how you're doing. Visually seeing your progress is a great way to stay motivated and focused on the goal.
These are just a few ways that you can improve your ability to wake up earlier. Finding the best routine for you is the most critical, and requires some experimentation. The key thing to remember is that waking up should be a pleasant experience. If you can make waking up something you look forward to, you're already halfway on your journey to becoming an early riser.
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Another tip or two
Drink a large glass of water before you go to bed. Then, when you wake up in the morning, you have to goto the bathroom almost immediately. However, If you wake up in the middle of the night to goto the bathroom, then drink another large glass of water.
Also, don't spend more than 5-10 minutes on the computer or actively watching television within a half-hour of going to sleep.
If you're one of us who leaves the computer on all night, use this:
http://www.msu.edu/~yuilleb1/proj_macv2.htm
You can change the colors to fit your desktop scheme, and pick the songs in your library for it to play in either a selected or random order. Pretty amazing, for freeware.
There's no way....
I've tried various things and I've given up...I'm 35 years old and I don't see myself developing this habit. It's like the way I hate seafood. To this day, my Mom wonders why I don't eat it and tries to get me to do it. And I always tell her the same thing "Don't bother, I'm too old to start like something I've hated all my life".
Likewise with sleeping early and getting up early - I hate doing it and I find no reason for it. I would rather get as much productivity, fun, etc late in the evening as possible and suffer for 10 minutes in the morning while trying to get up. After I get up and take a shower, I'm fine.
So no disrespect to the blogger but the advice probably does not work for most people.
You forgot....
You forgot the tip of joining the military or just screw it all and go back to sleep.
Haha, exactly, fear is the
Haha, exactly, fear is the best alarm clock.
You forgot....
You forget the tip of joining the military or just screw it all and go back to sleep.
For a (much) different perspective....
Check out "How to become an Early Riser" -- Steve Pavlina. Works for me.
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/
Sleep with windows open.
Sleep with windows open. -- Where the heck do you live that you can sleep with your windows open and not have someone bust in and shove a gun down your throat? Sleeping with your windows open will get you:
A.) Killed.
B.) Ill.
C.) Robbed.
It's nice in theory and you probably included it to fill out the list more, but seriously, don't sleep with your windows open people. You'll end up being the meat in books like "In Cold Blood."
/tada
Many folk live in houses in
Many folk live in houses in neighbourhoods where leaving the window open is easy and trouble-free. Relatively speaking, only a small proportion of the world's population live in ground floor apartments in crime-filled cities. Statistically you're more likely to get tired and depressed and kill yourself, than you are to get murdered in your own home by a psycho intruder (even in America). Fact.
Wow, really?
I live in Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn. Less than a decade ago this place was burning, and you know what? I sleep with my windows open. I love my neighborhood, love my city, and thank God I'm not afraid to step out the front door like you.
Living in fear is not living, and I wish I wasn't the minority in America when it comes to that mindset.
paranoia
i guess that's this sort of american paranoia that rupert murdoch implanted into your heads :-) if you dont live on the ground floor, whats wrong with leaving open a window?
nice article. i would also
nice article. i would also add that you shouldn't drink before you go to bed. alcohol is a stimulant and will affect your sleep.
actually it is a depressant
actually it is a depressant and helps you sleep. this is why it is in nighttime sleep meds. the problem is it can make you groggy in the morning.
Early-risers are way too self righteous
There is internal, human benefit to waking up early in the day. Some people are "morning people" and some people are "night people". My most productive days are when I sleep from 6am to noon (six hours). However, I'm often called "sleepy head" and "lazy" by people who start their day at 7am, even though they went to sleep the night before at 11pm (eight hours of sleep).
The business world starts early in the day, so there are of course benefits to aligning oneself to that cycle (waking early), but it is nothing related to anything natural within humans. That is just a myth perpetrated by self-righteous morning people.
Good Advice
Excellent hit list, especially for those on the fence about getting up early.
For me, 18 & 19 are sufficient motivation.
David at http://www.SlowDownFAST.com
5. Don't eat directly before bed.
"If you eat more than two hours before you go to bed, your body will have to digest the food, keeping you awake."
I believe this is meant to be "less than", not more than.
Adding extra hours to your day
Here´s how: http://www.marcorichter.net/ramblings/adding-extra-hours-to-your-day.htm...
I have been a nightowl...
Since I was seven. At least since then. I would stay up until eleven or later reading, even that young. There is a circadian rhythm disorder called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, and my doctor thinks I have it. I have mostly worked PMs most of my life because that was when I was most awake. The worst times in my life were when I had shifts that started at 6am. And I hate people who are cheerful in the morning. If I happen to be vertical, it's wise not to speak to me before 10am. Just bring lots of coffee.
My goodness
People are so touchy about this subject. No one is FORCING you to get up early. Jesus. Just tips for people who want to try. I actually love getting up early - I get so much more done. But it can be tough when you live with someone who sleeps a lot. Sticking to your guns is important, and knowing that you're worth the effort.
You vampires and night owls, that's great for you. Enjoy your lifestyle and quit being so damn defensive about it. If it works for you, it works for you. No need to freak out over the people who like to get up with the sun (like Ben Franklin, one of America's greatest thinkers).
My goodness
People are so touchy about this subject. No one is FORCING you to get up early. Jesus. Just tips for people who want to try. I actually love getting up early - I get so much more done. But it can be tough when you live with someone who sleeps a lot. Sticking to your guns is important, and knowing that you're worth the effort.
You vampires and night owls, that's great for you. Enjoy your lifestyle and quit being so damn defensive about it. If it works for you, it works for you. No need to freak out over the people who like to get up with the sun (like Ben Franklin, one of America's greatest thinkers).
Wow
Even people without jobs need to be pressured to wake up early. Get real with your opinions disguised as helpful advice.
Everyone is different
I have to get up early for my job and I am not a morning person. I like to go to bed late and just pass out. I sleep well. I also get more work done in the afternoon and evening when I am most awake. I wish I could wake up later.
It's when the rest of the world works
Sure, you can keep whatever hours you like... just so long as you don't have to interact with the real world. Business hours are still 9-5 afterall.
what's all the fuss?
One of my grown children is a night owl - always has been.
It's interesting that she also had a problem with amphetamines and meth over the years. Did speed cause the nightlife or the other way around?
My eyes pop open at 7:45 every morning... am self employed, but don't need to leave the house most days. I dunno, sleeping late seems like a waste of life....
I start to fall asleep in the chair at about 10 every night... I have no clue how I started this... it's just my own rhythms I guess.
waste of life?
"I dunno, sleeping late seems like a waste of life...."
Why doesn't going to bed early seem like a waste of life? As someone else said, you're just moving the hours around.
thanks for the tips
This post is meant as advice for people who want to get up early; it's encouragement. If staying up late works for you, great. I haven't gone to bed before 1am on a regular basis since I was 12, but, unfortunately, the world I'm in (law) starts in the morning. As much as I'd love to see life operate between 1pm and 5am, it just doesn't.
So I'll take these tips to heart, remember one size does not fit all, and add another piece of advice: try to wake up within the same two hour time period every day. After a month of the same routine your body adjusts a bit. Hang in there!
As for me, well, I haven't slept yet and it's 10am... time for a forbidden nap.
Thank you fellow night owls!
I maintain that it's my physiology/biology that makes me decidedly NOT a morning person. I can get up with the sun, but I guarantee you I won't be hitting on all 8 until about 10:00 a.m. It's very frustrating to me that I have been forced to operate on a "morning person" schedule. I live in a family full of morning people and, as a result, am even subjected to their juvenile teasing because they awaken earlier than I do, for example, on vacation. I always say to them, "Join me at midnight for some stimulating conversation and we'll see who the 'sleepyhead' is then!" Most of them never see 10:00 p.m.! Long story short,and in the words of Popeye: I yam what I yam.
Robins and Night Owls
To imply that to be productive one has to be an early riser is just pure crap! Sleep researchers have put together enough data to show that there are two kinds of people -- robins and night owls. I'm a night owl. Always was and always will be. Night owls are just as critical to humanity as early risers.
I have been going to bed from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM for most of my adult life and I have never liked getting up early, especially when I was in school. As an entrepreneur, I manage to get things done in the afternoon in less time that it takes early risers to do in one day. Plus, any work that I need to concentrate on -- without the wife and dogs bothering me -- I get done in the evening and after midnight. And I generally eat before I go to bed -- it helps me sleep. I hate going to bed hungry. By the way, I sleep very deeply and well.
Most of the great thinkers of the human race were and are night owls.
Gotta go to bed now -- the sun is starting to rise!
Robins and Night Owls
To imply that to be productive one has to be an early riser is just pure crap! Sleep researchers have put together enough data to show that there are two kinds of people -- robins and night owls. I'm a night owl. Always was and always will be. Night owls are just as critical to humanity as early risers.
I have been going to bed from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM for most of my adult life and I have never liked getting up early, especially when I was in school. As an entrepreneur, I manage to get things done in the afternoon in less time that it takes early risers to do in one day. Plus, any work that I need to concentrate on -- without the wife and dogs bothering me -- I get done in the evening and after midnight. And I generally eat before I go to bed -- it helps me sleep. I hate going to bed hungry. By the way, I sleep very deeply and well.
Most of the great thinkers of the human race were and are night owls.
Gotta go to bed now -- the sun is starting to rise!
Night owl?
Thank you for that you pretentious prick. What do most of the great thinkers of the human race have to do with you anyway?
Night owl?
I believe I speak for all night owls when I say that you can cram it.