How to Wake Up Early Every Day, and Have More Time for Yourself
If you’re reading this article, you’re probably someone who’s trying to become a morning person. Or maybe you already are, and you’re reassuring yourself that, yes, waking up early every day is worth it, even if it isn’t by choice.
And it really is. Learning how to wake up early every morning will not only give you more time for your day, it also has several benefits for your health.
And before you say, “But I can’t help but stay up late!” or “But I’m most productive in evenings,” don’t worry. These tips on how to wake up early are for aspiring early birds and dedicated night owls alike.
Benefits of Waking Up Early
Before we talk about how to wake up early, it’s important to consider why waking up early is good for you in the first place. Those extra minutes (or hours) in the morning can go a long way in motivating you for the rest of your day and even in improving your overall mental well-being.
Here are three reasons why you should wake up early:
1| You have more time for yourself.
This is pretty obvious—waking up early every day means you have more minutes to spend, and those extra minutes can give you some much-needed me-time that you’ll be hard-pressed to find the rest of your day.
That me-time can range from getting your daily workout in to reading a few pages of a book. It can even be as simple as taking your dog out for a walk or finding a few minutes to meditate.
Whatever it is, mornings are the perfect time to get you in the zone and do the things you love.
2| You can start your days earlier.
Earlier mornings can also lead to earlier starts to your day. And while the previous point suggests that you can use those extra minutes for some me-time, you can also take advantage of being up early by getting your work done earlier. If you want to have more time for yourself at night instead of in the morning, getting up early means that you’re making sure that happens.
Waking up earlier also means that you have a higher chance of making your commutes to work shorter. While Philippine traffic is in a league of its own, starting your travel time earlier can give you a fighting chance in beating rush hour.
3| Positive mornings lead to positive days.
Taking control of your mornings means that you’re more likely to wake up on the right side of the bed. By waking up early and doing the things you love every morning instead of stressing about being late to work, you’re setting yourself up for a much better day ahead.
Also, being in the right mindset at the start of your day does wonders for your mental well-being. At the very least, it reduces one source of stress in your life and even turns it into something beneficial.
Tips on How to Wake Up Early
With that out of the way, here are three tips on how to wake up early:
1| Improve your morning routine—regardless of how late you stay up.
What’s stopping you from waking up early? Chances are it’s because you were up late at night for one reason or another. And that’s not a bad thing—sometimes it’s inevitable because of things out of your control, or maybe you prefer to do everything at night—but being a night owl doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of your mornings as well.
If you have to stay up late, just make sure that you’re still waking up when you need to. Have a well-thought-out morning routine that gives you enough time to do things you want to do. More than starting your day right, it gives you something to look forward to in the morning after a long night out.
2| Don’t snooze.
If you rely on an alarm clock to wake up early, there’s a good chance that you hit the snooze button several times to get “just five more minutes” of sleep. But beyond being guaranteed to make you late for work, hitting snooze also messes up your sleep schedule and makes you even groggier than usual.
Instead, discipline yourself to always wake up at the time you intended to. It might help to put your phone on the other side of the room or even to link your alarm to your Spotify so that it plays your favorite song.
3| Make it a habit.
Just like most things in life, learning how to wake up early doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a routine that you have to integrate into your daily schedule. If you’re waking up early one day and then falling back to sleeping on another, then you won’t get used to being a morning person.
Making it a habit doesn’t mean that you have to do it right away, either. If you’re used to sleeping in and waking up at noon, you won’t get anywhere if you start forcing yourself to wake up at 6 a.m. the next day. Instead, try pacing yourself by waking up a few minutes earlier instead, then keep setting the alarm earlier when you get used to it.
Bonus: Remember that “early” is relative.
You probably got into this article thinking that waking up early meant waking up before the sun rises every morning. And while that’s true for a lot of people, early for them might not mean early for you.
Remember that this isn’t “how to wake up at 5 am every day”—it’s “how to wake up early every day.” If early for you means waking up at 9 a.m., then start making it a habit to wake up at that time every day. The important thing is to make it a habit and to give yourself time to start your day right.
