Are you setting yourself up for failure every morning? If you've pressed snooze over and over again, yes, you still didn't know until now, two years ago, I was in your situation. It was my dream to be a successful person, you know, to see the kind of person who is always motivated, things get done in no time. I knew that waking up early would change my life, but the problem wasn't waking up early, it was going to bed early.
As you can relate, I thought I didn't have what it took to have a great morning routine that would translate into a success story over the years. It was just the dream I had hoped for, and yes, it wasn't anymore!
Do these statements sound familiar to you?
- I'm getting up early tomorrow.
- I've been sleeping late and I should sleep more.
- It doesn't help me in the morning anyway, so why should I get up early?
- I'm not cut out for growth and success, I'm not disciplined enough.
If you're nodding your head in relation to any or all of these, this guide will definitely save you from the struggle.
I won't even mention the agonizing effects of wasting your morning because you are living them.
The first and best one is the mental strength that comes from getting up early. I think that's what you're saying. Now a few questions, what do you do when you wake up? Do you want to read through your email? Or is it social media? Or are you in a hurry to get to work/school on time? Another question: what are you doing for yourself? In order to have mental strength, you need to work on yourself. According to a study by the American Psychological Association, contracting to have a good routine at the beginning of the day can reduce your depression, anxiety, and stress. More than that, it increases your satisfaction which makes you happier.
Secondly, a good beginning routine provides you with a physical advantage. For example, I do 100 push-ups after I wake up (of course, that's not the only exercise I do throughout the day). I am not suggesting that you do push-ups, but you can practice yoga or even go for a walk. Another physical benefit of getting into a morning routine is that you burn fewer calories. I did an experiment with a group of 20 people and 10 of us slept late for the next month, while the rest went to bed early. The result was that those who slept later ate more because sleeping late made them hungry, which led to obesity over the years.
Thirdly, a good beginning always offers a spiritual reward. Visualizing your success does not give you inner peace. I remember visualizing myself working as a freelancer and making enough money to travel while working. And it gave me enough motivation every day to work towards my ambitions, thus my relationships with people became better, both at home and at work. Whenever I work towards what I visualize today, it becomes a reality. Of course, the practice of visualization is not the only way to have inner peace. Meditation, journaling, or listing the things you are grateful for can help as well.
Of course, there are many other benefits of waking up early, but in my opinion, the above outweighs the other benefits by far. If you are mentally strong, healthy as a role model, and at peace with yourself, what else would you want?
I encourage you to build your own amazing morning routine! The beliefs we have are so deeply embedded that we don't even realize that they guide our attitudes and behaviors, Simply put, what you believe is your reality. So, you better start believing you are getting up early.
Your morning schedule doesn't begin in the first part of the day; it begins the prior night. Here are five things you need to do to develop the habit, from the Habit Starter Checklist by Rob Novak. First, always remind yourself of the habit you want to create (in this case, getting up early). Second, break it down into small pieces to make it easy and doable, and make routine decisions with regard to your new habit. For example, what activities to include in your morning routine. Third, know what rewards it will bring you. I do this on a piece of paper where I write down how I created my morning routine and how the following will make my life better and read it every day. Fourth, visualize your success in your morning routine. Lastly, keep track of your progress and it will definitely encourage you to keep going.
If like me in the past, you're having trouble sleeping because of stress, anxiety, and worrying about the future (worrying about the future), I highly recommend writing these negative thoughts down on a piece of paper, folding them up, breaking them apart, and finally throwing them away. By doing this, you expel your negative thoughts from your head and you do something to them that is physically very relaxing.
Other useful activities to relax before sleep, deep breathing, silence your inner voice so it doesn't bother you, think of good things to do, read a book, write a journal or look forward to a great night's sleep. There is no set way to relax before you go to bed, so try it out and find a way that works for you.
It's time to chase your dreams and the day starts in the morning, so you need to have a good morning routine. Start by encouraging yourself, this is the first thing you need to do first thing in the morning. You can find another one for yourself such as 'I'll be on my best today', you got the idea.
Every time you get up and encourage yourself, get out of bed, and start doing push-ups right away. For example, do sit-ups, walking, jogging, or even dancing, do whatever you want for about 20 minutes that fill you with energy.
Coldwater is the enemy of sleep. If you can take a cold shower, go for it, but if not, just wash your face with cold water. Waking up? So tell us what you are grateful for. Here's what I'm grateful for:
- Being able to wake up.
- Live the life you've always dreamed of.
- exercise
- Tasty breakfast.
- companion
- Go to the cinema and have a good time with your partner
- Being able to finish the project on time.
Read them all out loud (of course, yours will be different) and by doing this, you will hack your brain that you are a successful person and therefore more achievements coming for you today.
Taking your time when creating your morning routine, creating my current morning routine took two years for me. At first, I set my alarm clock for 5 a.m. and I believed it would give me a lot of energy and productivity. In contrast, it only made me drowsy and when you do a little bit of something, you are more likely to succeed. For example, let's say I usually wake up at 6 am and the next day I wake up at 5:45 am. Then, set your alarm clock 15 to 30 minutes early and gradually work your way closer to your target wake-up time. In short, if you start small and stick with it, you'll achieve your target wake-up time.
As I've said before, over time, I didn't build my winning morning habit in one day but in two years. Don't put too much into your morning routine when you are first, I made that mistake. I read books, meditated, exercised, and worked, but that didn't make me happy and I was ready to give up many times. Gradually build up your perfect morning routine, for example, exercise became a habit, then read a book after exercise. You won't get a whole building in one day, but you build it up and it takes time.