How to Wake Up Early and Become a Morning Person

Let’s make 2018 the year you become a morning person once and for all.

I’ve always been a morning person, annoyingly so to some people. I was the one that would wake up my university friends early Saturday morning to go to the gym, the one that would wake up at 5am to bake muffins before going to work, and the one that would be up early even on holiday so I can have ‘me time’ before the kids and hubby wake up. Only recently however did I really take advantage of it in a consistent manner. The internet is full of articles, blog posts and videos about either how to become a morning person, or morning routines for maximum productivity. I will leave writing about my morning routine for a future post. For now let’s dive into how to become a morning person….but first of all we need some motivation!

1. Everyone is naturally a morning person; I know there are many who will disagree, but if you were convinced there was no hope for you, you wouldn’t be reading this post right? Now I’m going to get all religious on you (you’ve been warned), but if we were not meant to be morning people then why did God ask us to be awake before dawn for the morning prayer? It’s natural for our bodies to sleep when it’s dark, and wake up when it’s light. That way your body is in tune with its circadian rhythm.
2. Think about what you would do if you had an extra hour every morning to do whatever you want. Something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t had the time? A yoga session, morning walk, learn a new language, read a book? Now think how would you spend an hour of ‘extra’ time in the evening? If you’re anything like me I would either be watching TV or….watching TV…yup that’s it, any evening time is usually unproductive. Evening time is wasted time. So get to bed early!
3. How much value would you put on happiness, health and vitality? It’s priceless right? Now would you get up early every morning if you knew someone was waiting outside your door at 5am with KD100? So if you had to choose between happiness, health and vitality or a 100 dinars, what would you choose? I’m guessing you won’t be going for the cash. Let’s keep that in mind the next time you’re reaching for the snooze button.

1. Remember your Why! Keep your reasons for wanting to become a morning person forefront in your mind. Write a list and read it every night before bed. Without the motivation none of the other tips listed below will be of any use to you.
2. It starts from the night before. As I mentioned previously, evening time is usually unproductive. You need to get to bed earlier in order to wake-up earlier. Turn off your phone at least an hour before your chosen bedtime so you don’t get distracted. And don’t wait to feel tired to start the process of going to bed. If you plan to be up by 6am, you will need to be in bed by say 10pm. That means you will need to start getting ready for bed by 9:30pm at the latest.
3. Aim to get at least 7 hours of sleep. This might be difficult at first if you’re used to sleeping very late, and want to start to wake up early. But if you stick with it a couple days, by day 3 or 4 you will be tired at the time you are meant to go to bed. Try sticking to the same sleep and wake times on the weekends also so you don’t have to start all over again once the weekend is over.
4. Avoid the caffeine. Well at least at the beginning to help you sleep earlier, and especially in the afternoon. Once you’ve got it nailed down you can go back to your regular caffeine intake, just make sure to avoid it in the afternoons if you think it might disrupt your sleep. Try making my low-caffeine coffee recipe to have in the afternoons, or a herbal tea like roiboos or chamomile.
5. Have something to look forward to. It might be just some time alone for yourself or a delicious cup of coffee. Whatever it is, it will make it easier to get out bed each day.
6. Morning Prayer. This is a primary motivation for me, especially on weekends. I don’t like waking up for prayer and then trying to go back to sleep. So I usually wake up with enough time to pray before the sun rises. In the winter time in Kuwait I can sleep in until 6:20am but in the summer I would need to be up before 5am. If you’re the type of person that finds it difficult to preform dawn prayer at the correct time, you’ll be killing two birds with one stone when you become a morning person.
7. Watch YouTube videos. Search how to becoming a morning person on YouTube and you will find so many videos it will help keep you motivated. Other tips  than those I’ve listed here may resonate with you and your lifestyle.
8. Take it one step at a time. Finally you can take it slow. If wake are waking up at 7am and wish to wake up at 5am, wake up 30 minutes earlier for the first week, then at 6am the following week and so on. You make need to be more strict at the beginning though until it becomes second nature. After that you can change your wake up times a bit on weekdays and weekends without it effecting your newly acquired habit.

If you’re a morning person, please share in the comments below any tips you have for other readers. And keep in mind it’s not 1 day or 1 week, but it’s by waking up early on a consistence basis that will make a difference to your life.