How to wake up early every single day. I used to think some people were just naturally morning
people and unfortunately I wasn’t one of them. ‘I’m in a night owl’ I told myself.
Well spoiler alert: that’s a lie. The truth is hardly anyone loves getting up early, they
do it because it gives them a huge advantage. So, after extensive testing like a mad, sleep-deprived
scientist, I’ve finally figured out the perfect formula to wake up early. And here
it is.
Step one: Set an alarm… in the evening. Plot twist, right? The reason is simply that
to get up early each day consistently, you need to go to bed at a set time. And this
really pays off long-term as your body gets into a sleep routine so you eventually start
waking up naturally without feeling groggy. But, to get to that point, you need a cut
off time each night. An alarm that signals it’s time to go do your evening routine
and get ready for bed so that your body quite literally starts entering sleep mode. The
exact time you set it for doesn’t matter as long as it’s consistent every night,
and ideally around 7-8 hours before the time you want to wake up.
Step two: Wake up with light. One of my favourite recent purchases was a natural light alarm
clock. Now, there are much cheaper ones than this although the quality might not be quite
as good. And I should also stress. this is entirely optional, and this process will work
even without this step, but it’s included because you will feel much nicer waking up
with this, as it gradually fades light in that looks like natural sunlight, so you’re
not jolted awake like a typical alarm. And then we move to...
Step three: Alarmy. The reason alarm clocks don’t work is because our morning brains
want one thing: to go back to sleep. And so we all smash the snooze button and turn back
over for as long as we possibly can, which ironically tends to make us even more tired.
But, Alarmy is a free app (not sponsored at all) that removes this possibility, as you
have to complete a task before you can turn it off. There’s a bunch of different tasks
you can choose, but my favourite is where you have to take a picture of something for
the alarm to turn off. I set it so I have to take a picture of something that’s downstairs.
This means the only way the alarm will shut up is if you’ve gone to another room, and
by that point, you’re already up and out of bed, so it’s just as easy to then start
your day. If you have the clock from step 2, this is just an extra precaution.
Step four: Pick the right wake-up sound. Most people just use the default alarm sound which
is horrible. Instead, you want something that fades in so you ease out of sleep more gradually,
but also a song or sound you quite like so you’re not starting every day with something
you hate. I mean you may grow to hate the song you pick but then you can just change
it… until you hate every song you used to love. Kidding, I’ve had the same song for
ages and it’s still an absolute tune.
Step five: Momentum streaks. This is also known as the Seinfeld Strategy, as Jerry Seinfeld
once explained exactly how he wrote so many jokes, and he said that he had a large wall
calendar for the entire year, and every day he wrote a joke, he got to put a cross on
that day. If he didn’t do it, no cross. What happens here is that you start getting
chains of crosses, or momentum streaks, and you don’t want to break it. It’s a very
visual way of giving yourself accountability and reminding yourself how far you’ve come,
and so it works for literally any habit you want to form especially for something like
getting up early every day. If you successfully get up early at the time you set, put a cross
in the box. And after a few days of crosses, you won’t want to break the chain.
Step six: Add The Vision. Here’s the deal: it’s difficult to get up if you don’t
have a strong WHY. A reason for it all. So, make sure you have a clear vision of where
you want your life to be. Maybe you want to retire young or be financially free. Maybe
you want to earn enough from your side hustle to quit your job. Maybe you want to be able
to go travel the world for a year. Whatever your main goal is, pin a reminder of that
above the wall calendar, so every day it’s very fixed in your mind why you’re getting
up early, as a reminder of why all these early mornings will be worth it.
Step seven: The Bet. At this point we’re just building in some extra security for those
mornings where your willpower feels low. And one great way to do that is make a bet with
a friend or family member that you will pay them if you don’t get up when you say you’re
going to. I did this and the key is to pick an amount of money you’d be uncomfortable
losing, this is really gonna make sure you stick to your commitment. And it gives that
extra layer of accountability so you can’t make excuses to yourself, because now you’ve
got someone else checking whether you actually got up on time.
Step eight: The Mental Switch. So those are the physical and practical steps, but the
very final stage to this early-bird formula is a mental reframe. A mindset switch. And
that is, you need to stop thinking of it is as ‘I’m forcing myself to get up early’
and start thinking of it as ‘I’m getting an advantage over everyone else’. Because
you are. Whilst you’re awake and getting stuff done and working towards your ideal
life, most other people are in bed. You’re winning. And so a few weeks of being marginally
uncomfortable whilst you get into the new sleep routine is nothing compared to the positive
long-term results you’re gonna get.
And once you’ve followed those 8 steps, congratulations, you’re now an early bird.
If you found this useful please give this video a thumbs up for our almighty overlord,
the youtube algorithm. And now you’ve got your mornings nailed down, why not get the
rest of the day nailed down with my best productivity tips right here. See you there. Cheers.