Creating a Morning Routine that will Actually Happen

Did you hit the snooze button this morning? I hit it twice. Eventually I got out of bed though, at 6:30, my alarm was set to 6:00. That's okay though, because I didn't really intent on waking up at 6:00, I went to bed at 11 at night last night because of a meeting in my dorm. I know from experience that 7 hours of sleep is not always enough for me. 

On a typical morning, I wake up at 4:45. It sounds crazy, but it's actually not that hard. My secret? Bedtime. 

You Set Your Alarm Too Early - You plan on having a productive morning, starting right at sunrise. You set you alarm for 5:30, maybe earlier. Before you fall asleep, you fall down a social media rabbit hole and end up scrolling until 11:15. 

Not long after you find yourself hitting the snooze button, your eyes clamped shut with drowsiness. Sound familiar? 

Next, you blame yourself for not getting up early enough and tell yourself you should never have had that snooze button. I'm here to defend you. You should have hit that snooze button. You needed that snooze button. You're better off getting enough sleep.

People think waking up early is the hard part. It's not. Going to bed early is much harder. Focus on going to bed when you say you're going to bed and set your alarm at least 8 hours after you fall asleep. Anything shorter than that and you're very likely to sleep through that alarm. 

Stand Up for Yourself Right Away - In my senior year of high school, I would wake up early, throw on clothes and get straight to work first thing in the morning. It was terrible. You shouldn't do that either. 

When you wake up early, use the extra time to prepare for work later in the day. Resist the temptation to think of those extra two hours as valuable work time. This time is for you. The rest of the day, if you play it right, is for knocking off everything on that to-do list. 

Wake up and do some stretches, read a book, take a shower and do your makeup. The work you do for the rest of the day will be so much better than whatever you would have done in that one hour. 

Save the work for later and prepare like a successful person. No CEO jumps out of their bed and starts reading emails. There's a time for high-quality work and that time is no 5am. 

Having a successful morning is a science. Crafting a morning that works all day for you takes thought, but if you are willing to forgive yourself and embrace long-term results, waking up at the crack of dawn will easily become second nature.