by mako

Category: General

31 December 2009

02:12 PM GMT

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How to change your wake up time and how to get up in the morning?

How to wake up earlier? For more than a year I've been trying to get up early and I constanlty fail. Of course there was a time, when I was actually getting up early, but it was hard to sustain. Right now I get up between 10 and 11 AM. Sometimes I wake up earlier, but I fondly refuse to get up :)

Once I'd decided to drastically change my wake up time. I was very enthusiastic about it and to my surprise, I was able to get up at 6AM on the first day. Not even a week did I survive with that trial but I really enjoyed getting up that early. I felt I had more time to use and was more productive.

Recently, a new idea came to my mind. Since I can't change my wake up time drastically, I will do it slowly, during a longer period of time. It should be much more easier to accomplish that during 1 month instead overnight. Right now I am getting up at 10AM. I know, that in spite of everything I will always be able to get up at 10. My aim (for now) is to get up at 7AM (3 hours earlier). I will dedicate a period of 30 days for changing my wake up time.

Now, some math: I've got 30 days to change and I want to get up 3 hours earlier, which is 3*60=180 minutes. So every next day I will have to get up 180 min/30 days = 6 minutes earlier.

Every next day, get up 6 minutes earlier.

Well, that doesn't sound too bad, does it? Just 6 minutes. On the first day, get up at 10. On the second at 9:54, on the third at 9:48 and so on. Do not take a 10 minutes nap! Just get up immediately after the alarm goes off (although not too rapidly). If I can easily wake up at 10, I can do it at 9:54 as easy.

Setting a proper wake up time is a 50% of a success. There is also a second, very important issue: your thoughts.

In the morning your thoughts are your enemy. They encourage you to stay in bed:


"Oh just 10 minutes more.. I don't really have to get up right now. "


Just before going to bed, you sould answer a simple question:

Why should I get up at 9:54? Becouse I've been thinking about it and I planned it. It is a reasonable time to get up. I want to get up earlier and this is the only way to do it.

When you wake up, you will have a big temptation to stay in bed. You should know that your mind is not entirely concious, thoughts are not entirely true, merely a half-dream, half-real. They are contradictory to what you had decided a day before.

Things like setting three alarms are not really a way to go. I know you are clever enough to switch them off and go to bed, or just ignore the sound they make. You have to talk with yourself, give an explanation, why it is important for you to get up early, then one alarm will be enough.

There are also other things you can do, like:

You can probably think of many more. They may help, but remember they are only a helpers.

You could maintain a morning routine, but you could also do something else every morning. Do the opposite, something funny. Creep to the bathroom, literally, so you won't have to get up :)

Usually it's much harder to achieve sustainable goals. That is why you should plan them carefully and find an optimal solution that you are enthusiastic about.