I never thought of myself as a night owl, or a morning person really. The phrase ‘permanently exhausted pigeon’ was most apt (although I will be honest that I usually have quite a bit of energy). I’ve heard a million times that the ‘early bird gets the worm’ and that the 5am Club are people who achieve the highest. I just didn’t think that I could change my habits from someone who peels myself out of bed at 7am to someone who jumps up at 5am praising the day.
Well I definitely didn’t achieve the latter, however I have been able to consistently get myself out of bed to make the 7am gym classes I love so much and now prefer to get up earlier than drag myself out of bed at 7. My goal was to give myself a bit more time in the morning so I didn’t feel so rushed, as my work day + study schedule is usually packed. I recently went to a Meetup (thank you Unstoppable Women’s Network) that pointed out the importance of giving yourself time in the morning. Often we give ourselves time just before bed, when we’re already worn out and exhausted – giving everyone else the best of us, before giving to ourselves. (Refer again to the Golden Goose parable by Stephen Covey that I swear by). So I decided to give myself a bit more time in the morning and invest in a morning routine. I haven’t quite made it to meditation, but getting up and being active is definitely a win.
I do want to add the caveat – right here – that you don’t have to force yourself to become a morning person if you really are a night owl. I’ve been reading Gretchen Rubin’s Better than Before book on habits (totally recommend) and there is an emphasis on understanding and working with, rather than against your preferences and tendencies. I know I’m quite capable of getting up to a) run events or b) catch flights, so decided to put this into action on a more regular basis to give me the opportunity to enjoy my evenings/study.
SEJ top tips for getting up early(ier)
*note that these are translatable to other habits and since I get up to go to the gym 90% of the time, the habits are interrelated for me.
# ONE – Give yourself a reason
Most of these tips can totally translate to other habits (I’ll do a Gretchen Rubin summary of habit formation later); if you don’t have a good reason to do something, chances are you’ll either procrastinate (listen to this podcast on procrastination by Jay Shetty), or just not do it at all. If you’ve got a compelling reason to do something (e.g. if you eat peanut butter, you’ll get a violent allergic reaction), chances are you’ll follow through. I decided that I wanted to get up early so I could spend time in the evenings studying and finish before 10pm (super compelling to me because I am noottt a night-owl). Even better; write down the reason you’re doing it and better than that, share that reason with a friend.
#TWO – Accountability
Hold yourself accountable to something, or someone. With my gym, I’m heavily penalised (in my view) for not attending classes; I lose the ability to book in advance and would then miss out on my favourite classes. There’s a great incentive not to miss classes, so I generally don’t. Booking a 7am gym class ties me to attending and getting up on time. Find some way to hold yourself accountable e.g. booking a PT, having a friend get up with you or find an accountability buddy (another Gretchen Rubin trick).
#THREE – Rewards!
I’m not ashamed to admit that when I was younger (okay like two years ago), I struggled to motivate myself to go to the gym and so used stickers to reward myself for attending. When I got a certain number of stickers, I got a reward (mine was a massage, which was a great non-culinary reward for me). Now, my colleagues and I have house points (I have my own Ravenclaw jar with my face on the eagle which is amazing). It’s small, simple but still has the dopamine release that motivates me to keep going. It depends if you’re carrot, or stick motivated, but I do highly recommend rewarding yourself for good behaviour (yeah, we’re like dogs).
#FOUR – Ease into it
Many people like to adopt an ‘all-or-nothing’ approach to new habits, which may make it way harder to start. If you’re getting up at 7.30am every morning and you suddenly get up at 5am, it’s going to be a huge shock to the system and a great deterrent from getting started. My goal was to slowly get up earlier. I moved from 7am to 6.30am, to 6.20am and my next goal is to get up at 6am. There are no set steps here – do what works for you, but I recommend having a plan and slowly getting to where you want to be (no one ran a marathon after a day training, did they?).
#FIVE – Consistency
Another truism: ‘consistency is key’. It’s very difficult to keep doing something if you only do it some of the time. Building a habit by getting up early 3 days a week is going to make it quite difficult to keep it going. At least in the beginning, take the time to do whatever you want to do <getting up earlier> every day (I except weekends from this) and mark it off in your calendar when you’ve done it for that day and keep going (loop back to the rewards in top 3). It apparently takes 66 days or so to form a habit (not the 30 everyone refers to), but once it’s ingrained, it’s much easier to keep going.
#SIX – Go to bed!
This may seem fairly self-explanatory and obvious, but don’t expect to get up earlier without adjusting the time you can go to bed. ‘But I only need 4 hours of sleep’ you may say – to which I would reply, watch this TED talk; sleep is critical to being a functioning human being. I personally know I need 8 hours to get up in the morning and smash out a hiit class (you can get away with 7). I make an effort to go to bed and wind up earlier so I can actually sleep by ~10am so I’m not a permanently exhausted pigeon the next day. It may seem early, but so is 5am 🤷.
There you have it – 6 top tips to get up earlier and to start any habit. It’s never easy at first but the first step is always the hardest (thank you Gretchen Rubin). I’m not yet the member of the 5am club I hoped I’d be by now, but I’m making great progress! And if you’re motivated, you too can be a member of the 6.20am out of bed fam (we’re not yet cool enough for the club status).
Stay tuned for a post on habits!
‘Til then,
Curly girl xox
Curly Girl Millennial 