Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a morning person and never have been. I could sleep until 2pm and that would be considered completely normal for me. I am fortunate enough to work at a place where I am not required to be at work early in the morning and thank god! I really struggled at my last workplace with the start time and demands to be on time every single day! (I clearly wasn’t my boss’s favorite employee)
Still, the idea of becoming a morning person has always intrigued me. The idea of getting many things done before noon really excited me. I have read countless books and articles that share how morning people tend to be happier and productive. So I decided to try it!
A few months ago, when the weather was much nicer… My friend and I set a goal to wake up at 5:15 am every weekday and meet at the gym for 6:00 am. I thought I was lying to myself and setting myself up for failure. But guess what? We did it! The first few days were difficult and honestly, I thought about pretending my alarm did not go off a few times. But I didn’t! I pushed through. A few days in, I found that I was addicted to the feeling and wanted more of it. We worked out until about 7:00 am, showered and got to work for 8:00 am and sometimes even earlier! Getting to work early meant I got to go home earlier too. I was winning!
This, sadly did not last too long… once the winter crept in, it became harder for me to wake up. Who doesn’t love a warm bed in a cold winter night? But I learned that I totally could be a morning person if I wanted to, and so could you! Here are a few tips that helped me become a morning person and hopefully they can help you too.
- Get enough sleep
Getting 7+ hours of sleep can make it a lot easier for you to wake up early, since your body will already be rested. Getting to bed early can be difficult when you have so much to do, but try going to bed half an hour earlier every day until you have worked yourself up to a good bedtime that works for you. - Skip the snooze
When your alarm goes off, do not give your mind the option of snoozing. They say you have 3 seconds to convince yourself into a decision- choose to wake up right away. - Prepare the night before
Pack your gym bag, lay out your clothes, cut your veggies for your omelette and do whatever you can to make your morning smoother. No one likes to wake up to a tonne of work. - Accountability
Tell a friend or a family member when you want to wake up and commit to a “text” when you wake up. Honestly, having my friend as an accountability partner made it harder for me to give up. It works!
