The 10 Secrets to Getting Up Early

by Ross on September 11, 2006

Let s face it, we would all like to be able to get up a little bit earlier in the
morning
Why? Oh, come on. As good as it sometimes feels to be warm and snuggly under tha
t duvet you know that you would be much more productive, and in turn, much happi
er if you were getting up an hour (or two!) earlier every day feeling fresh and
vibrant.
What could you get done with the extra two hours every day (an extra 14 hours pe
r week?). You could go for a run, meditate, make yourself a beautiful and brilli
ant breakfast every day, learn to play an instrument or learn another language,
practice yoga, take your dog for a walk, redesign your blog (that s one for me), r
ead a book, practice your hour of power, lift weights, do some painting, send em
ails to all of your friends and family (that you keep forgetting to do) or my fa
vourite - practice laughing yoga (seriously, you HAVE to watch the dude in that
link).
Whatever your reasons, of which there are gazillions, it makes perfect sense to
give yourself more hours in the day. I mean, how many times have you moaned that
there aren t enough hours in the day, only to get up the next day with the minimu
m possible time before you have to get to work?!
The Secret to Getting Up Earlier
I have worked out my own means and methods, asked my most motivated, energetic f
riends, scoured the internet and read the papers, ebooks and reseach on sleep an
d circadian rhythms and this is the best of the best, most tried and tested tips
, tricks and techniques for getting yourself up and at em two hours earlier than
you currently do:
Decide Your Time: just saying I want to get up earlier once you are in bed and the
n setting your alarm for 6am just won t cut the mustard. You need to think about t
his when you are up, motivated and thinking rationally. Think about it now - whi
le you are really motivated. Now stick to it. Go set your alarm now. Having this
clarity is the single most important tip in this list - as simple as it seems.
Make it a Habit: set yourself a clear goal to do this every day for two weeks (o
r more if you are adventurous). On weekends, just set the promise that you will
not set the alarm and will get up as soon as you wake up. If you can make a beha
viour consistent then it becomes a self-sustaining habit. And habits are incredi
bly difficult to break. Even if you try.
Get Leverage: why do you want to do this? What will it mean to you if you do thi
s? What will you get done? How will it affect your life? Ask yourself these ques
tions and write down the answers. Yes, actually get a pen and paper and write th
em down. Writing something has far, far more power than just thinking it. These
are the emotional reasons why you will achieve this goal. Write as much as you c
an - things like: getting up earlier will give me the time to create my dream bo
dy, it will give me clarity and purpose; it will give me time to achieve my goal
s and love my life that I am creating; I will have time for myself to have a rel
axed, enjoyable and fulfilling start to every day; I will have a hundred times m
ore energy and will be buzzing with excitement from all of the goals I will achi
eve; it will give me quality time to spend with my kids/husband/wife/boyfriend/g
irlfriend etc because I will be able to get so much more done before everyone el
se starts the day; etc etc etc. Just think of how much better you life will be -
and write down in as much detail as possible why.
You need to have the emotional, life-changing reasons rather than the physical h
ard facts is because of the now what phenomenon. For example - you say, I am going
to get up early so I can do lots of sit ups and get a six-pack. By having a rea
son such as this you are creating two hurdles to your motivation. Firstly, you a
re not going to get enough feedback signals that tell you that getting up early
is really worth it. But more importantly, let s say you DO build a six-pack washbo
ard - now what? So, you ve got a six-pack. But does this actually mean anything to
you? Is it going to keep you on track and getting up early? Of course not - it
is the emotion that is attached to creating your dream body that is the motivato
r - how does this make you feel & how will it change your life for the better?
So write this all down now, and then write it out every night before you go to s
leep (or at least read it).
Sorry to be so wordy - but this one is really important.
Set Your Goals: so the last point is all about the emotional aspect, but it stil
l helps to know the reasons why you are going to get straight out of bed tomorro
w. This is also an incredibly effective technique because it tells your brain th
e exact reasons why it HAS to get you up and out of bed without even thinking ab
out it. It helps if you can list a couple of goals that have some urgency to the
m and list the reasons why you ABSOLUTELY MUST get them done. So just list some
of your must-do items for tomorrow morning.
Now list all of the positive benefits of getting them done. And then - and this
is a great trick - list all of the negative things that will happen if you don t g
et them done. This will give you some serious leverage.
Develop a Warrior Mentality : I love this approach. Create a war with your habit, a
nd commit to winning. Commit to doing whatever it takes to win the battle. Give
yourself a pep-talk, build momentum - and kick some ass.
Reward Your Successes: this is essential. Giving yourself reward for reaching yo
ur achievement sends so much positive reinforcement than it almost guarantees th
at you will continue to grow and achieve. This is a great example (look on the r
ight hand side bar for Loss = Reward ).
Learn From Your Mistakes: if you don t get up at your desired time one day, don t be
at yourself up - learn from your mistake. What happened? What made you stay in b
ed? What kept you from getting up? If you are angry with yourself - now is the t
ime to whip out that pen and paper again and brainstorm what you could do to mak
e sure this doesn t happen again! But don t stay angry - use this energy to make you
even more motivated and even more excited about how good it is going to be to s
ucceed from now on! Just because you slipped up this time does not mean that you
have undone all of your previous hard work. Just dust yourself off and learn fr
om your mistake.
Get Straight Up: As soon as that alarm sounds, get straight up. And I mean strai
ght up. You can t rely upn your conscious mind to come around, remember why you ar
e getting up, mull over how warm you are and how cold it is outside of your duve
t etc. Don t give it a chance! Let your subconscious make the decision and GET STR
AIGHT UP. Once you are up it really isn t that bad. Over time your brain will make
the association that this is just what you do - hear alarm, get up.
Set 2 Alarms: this is a great if all else fails plan to help you out in the beginn
ing. If you really are going to find this a tough gig then just set 2 alarms. A
pre-alarm that is right next to you and which goes off 15 minutes before your in
tended get-up-time, and another alarm that is on the other side of the room. If
you can, and if your partner will not kill you for it - set this alarm to be an
untuned radio and quite loud. Harsh, but effective.
Take Regular Exercise: the one you were probably dreading, but it is one of the
most important. Not only will exercise mean that you are physically ready for be
d earlier (and therefore sleeping from an earlier hour -> waking up at an earlie
r hour) but it will also aid your digestion, improve your circulation and blood
flow, will give you exposure to natural light (which releases the chemicals in o
ur brain (melatonin) to correctly set our biological clock), and ensures a highe
r possibility of extended periods of deep sleep (in which you are less likely to s
tir and have an interrupted sleep). However, it is important to finish your exer
cise at least 3 hours before you aim to sleep.
So there you have it! You now have absolutely no excuses not to start tomorrow!
If you have got any other get-up-early tips then let me know! You could even prove
it s effectivness by letting me know in the comments at 6am!

Tip #1. To Wake Up Early, Go To Bed Early

Added: 6/1/2007 3:20:12 PM
Taking on the goal to wake up early while you keep going to bed after midnight i
s the way to failure. Not only you become frustrated soon, but it may seriously
damage your health. Remember, your body needs time to rest! Going to bed early c
an be a problem in the beginning, but after you actually start waking up early,
then falling asleep in the evening will become much easier. How often you can't
fall asleep in the evening on a day when you woke up really late? Many people wh
o have trouble waking up have solved their wake up problems with this simple tec
hnique.
The studies also indicated that how much you sleep before midnight is twice as i
mportant as the number of hours you sleep after midnight - one more reason to go
to bed early.
Take this first step to self-improvement! Keep reading this blog for more tips f
or waking up and getting out of bed.
Remember that old nursery song?
Go to bed early -- wake up with joy;
Go to bed late -- cross girl or boy.
Go to bed early -- ready for play;
Go to bed late -- moping all day.
Go to bed early -- no pains or ills;
Go to bed late -- doctors and pills.
Go to bed early -- grow very tall.
Go to bed late -- stay very small