Waking up early used to be my ultimate dream habit, and I promise I’ve come along ways to as I’ve gotten older. I used to easily wake up around 10 am-12 pm every single day with no issues when I was in college. Nowadays, I typically wake up naturally around 8 – 9 am. But I knew that if I could push myself to wake up even earlier, I’d be able to be more productive, more motivated to do my blogging work before my other job, and just get my life together.
While I haven’t mastered the whole waking up early thing by any means, I wanted to share my journey with you all to hopefully motivate you if you’re in the same boat as me. My goal this year is to start waking up at 7 am every single day. The main reason for this because I wanted a goal that would push me but wasn’t too far out of my reach like a 5 am wakeup call.
One thing that I’ve noticed since working a full-time job is that I’m so tired after work that it’s so hard to get anything done after a shift because I’m either mentally tired, physically tired, or both. This year, I really want to give my all to my blog, my family, and the things that make me happy in life. So I say all that to say that I’m on a journey to start waking up early every single day at 7 am! In this post, I’m going to be sharing some tips that are helping me stay on track with my new goal.
Set your why and make it visible
If you’re like me who can talk yourself back to bed, then putting a little reminder of the reason that you’re doing this nearby can truly make a difference. I like to sometimes put sticky notes on the side of my nightstand with some morning affirmations to get me inspired to wake up early. Trust me when I say it’s very hard to wake up early when you’re not used to it and that’s okay! When starting and keeping a habit, you have to be discipline enough to do it even when you don’t feel like it. My main motivation to get up early is so that I can utilize those extra few hours for either some me time or to work on my blog while I’m in my creative zone.
Go to bed early
This is probably the hardest habit for me to break because I’m so used to going to bed relatively late. Now I have to make it a point to go to bed by at least 10:30 pm if I want a fighting chance of waking up at 7 am. Obviously sometimes this doesn’t always happen, but this is what I strive for to have a good morning the next day.
Set multiple alarms
I’m the type of sleeper where I can easily turn my alarm off without even noticing it so having multiple alarms is a must for me. Sometimes I set multiple alarms usually within 5 to 10 minutes of each other or I will wake up and hit snooze if I need a few extra minutes in bed. Another great alarm app that I’ve found out about recently is Alarmy. The neat thing about Alarmy is that to turn off the alarm, you have to take a picture of something that you set. It could be your sink, toothbrush, microwave, whatever makes you get up out of the bed.
Prepare the night before
Another tip that has been helping me stay motivated to wake up early is preparing my day the night before. I’ve been writing down three tasks that I want to get done the next day in my planner so when I wake up, I know exactly what I want to get done. I don’t always get those tasks done before work, but I can usually knock out 1 or 2 tasks before I have to get ready for work. This has helped my productivity and my mood as well because I feel like I’m accomplishing more while not being overwhelmed.
Give yourself some grace
Waking up early will not be an overnight adjustment. A new habit, especially one that requires you to leave your warm comfy bed in the morning, will take some time to get used to. Give yourself some grace while you create this new lifestyle change. Most mornings it takes me 30 minutes just to get out of my groggy haze that I’m in, but that’s okay because at least I did wake up and get out of bed. I have to keep reminding myself that changes happen slowly and that I just have to keep striving forward in the direction that I want. I’ll eventually get to my end goal of waking up early daily.
These are just a few simple tips that I’m starting to incorporate into my daily life so that I can also start waking up even earlier. Hopefully you found them helpful because even though they are simple, they really do work when you use them consistently. Do you have any other tips that work for you that I may not have mentioned? Leave a comment below!
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