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Its pitch-dark. You hear your alarm ring. You remove your hand from beneath your bedding to snooze it but you retrieve it back due to the cold . “It will snooze itself in just a few seconds .” You tell yourself. “Let me sleep for another ten minutes“. Ten minutes turns into two hours. Another day goes by and you have not begun to wake up early as you planned.Another frustrating day ends but you hope to get it done the next day. Your bed is just too comfy.
Sadly, this is the reality for most people. Waking up early is not physical. Its a mentality. You can wake up early because you need to pee, get to work or feed your baby. But most of the time, you could be doing it out of obligation not out of self-will. I am not talking about that “kind of waking up early.” I am talking about waking up when you don’t have to. When you have no class to prepare for or work to get to.
Its just a mentality. IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WAKE UP TO THEN YOU WILL NOT WAKE UP EARLY. It might be an obsession you have to achieve your goals, an examination you want to ace or weight loss that you desire. Look, that’s going to wake you up early. You will not need an alarm clock after some time. That deep desire within you is going to make you kick your duvet and get mired into the morning cold. That’s going to make you feel like its Christmas morning daily. Its going to kick start your adrenaline to keep going despite of the obstacles.
In this post, I will walk you step by step to practical tips that you can start doing to help you wake up early. I will explain how to do them and their advantages. Also I have included reasons why you need to wake up early the best time to wake up. Also, I will be gifting you with a FREE morning routine planner to help you have a concrete plan for your morning routine.
Here are a few related articles you might want to read ,too:
- 8 Things you Should Never do in the Morning.
- 7 Healthy Self Care Habits to Maximize your Morning Routine.
- 6 Hacks to Help you Sleep Instantly at Night.
Why is it so important to wake up early?

Have you ever wondered why we all have 24 hours in our day but some people always seem to be succeeding while others are not? Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey all have the same hours as you do. What makes them so special? Is it because they use their time wisely? Is it because they dedicate time to become better every day? Ask yourself these questions.
What’s the big deal about waking up anyway? I will tell you one thing for sure, if you want to become successful, you should aim at becoming a better version of yourself such that you attract the success that you desire. That’s why you need to wake up early so that you can have some few extra hours to work on growing yourself to be better.
Of course, you can decide to create time for that during the day or at night but don’t you think that there is too much destruction such that it would be almost impossible to get the most from you self growth time.Some other benefits of waking up early are:
- It helps you be more productive. Studies have shown that when a person wakes up earlier,he or she is more energetic and takes shorter time to do a task that would have taken longer.
- You reduce your stress levels. You are able to start your day on a more positive note which can stick with you throughout your day. Also you reduce your need of running around because you have forgotten something.
- Your sleep quality increases. Early rises often sleep early. The more you wake up earlier, the more you get into the routine of sleeping at the same time and waking up at the same time.. One cannot simply start waking up early and follow with irregular patters. You often find yourself falling into a routine.
- You will take care of yourself. Morning is the best time to take care of yourself. The kind of world we live in has left us with minimal time to cater for our own needs. However, waking up early and ensuring that you are in a good place is the best way to go. You have enough time to take a relaxing shower, apply moisturizer on your skin, de-tangle your hair and style it just the way you like it instead of a messy bun.
Eating a healthier breakfast. We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. As opposed to always be running late and eating in your car, waking up early will help you have enough time to feed yourself with a healthy breakfast
In order to become the best version of yourself, you have to create time for it. You might be aiming to become the best salesperson or accountant in your office but if you do not take action to attain your goal then you are just wishing. This is the most important reason why you need to quit snoozing your alarm and start waking up earlier.
Setting goals helps you wake up early.
There is no such thing as something for nothing. You need to make an effort to attain your goal. Maybe you will need to take certain courses or read certain books in order to get to where you want to get to. Do whatever it takes to achieve your dreams but it all comes down to you creating time to work on yourself in the morning.
How you wake up and start your day affects the quality of your day which in turn affects the rest of your life. It’s the simple things that you do every day over a long period of time that ultimately change your life. Success is simple small actions that you do daily that accumulate into massive success. It is similar to failure. If you do small habits every day that ultimately lead you to failure then you will eventually fail.
If you have been struggling to wake up maybe you should consider which kind of goals are driving you. Mediocrity might be one of them. I know you can give the excuse that you are not a morning person but if your goals are more important than a brief moment of satisfaction then you will be a morning person.
What is the best time to wake up?
This is a question that many people ask. The truth is that, it varies in every individual being greatly influenced by age, genetics, health, where a person lives, occupation or how much exercise a person gets. I cannot simply dictate what time you should wake up.
We all have different lives and what works for me might not work for you. And, it all comes down to how many hours you sleep. Again the number of hours a person needs to sleep cannot be truly determined since it varies in every individual and their basic needs. However, most health adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. Just because you can go about your life sleeping only for six hours doesn’t mean that you are getting enough of it.
If you personally believe that you need seven hours of sleep to feel like you have slept well, then when you get six hours of sleep, you will keep feeling that you haven’t slept well hence you will wake up feeling tired.
The connection between your mind and body is very powerful. What you keep telling yourself ultimately becomes your reality. If you tell yourself that you need eight hours of sleep , then you get into bed at midnight and wake up at six o’clock in the morning, you will wake up feeling like you have not had enough sleep hence increasing your likely hood of snoozing your alarm.
It all comes down to what you feel is important for you. After all, you know yourself better that I do. So it’s up to you to determine how many hours of sleep you need and how early you are ready to wake up.
Sustained change happens at an emotional level
Sustained change only happens when you shift at an emotional rather than a logical level. How bad do you want to achieve your goals? Is it worth sacrificing your sleep? I know that you can do everything you need to do during the day but have you ever known that your willpower is strongest between 5:00 am to 8:00 am? You create a few extra hours to do what you always make excuses for.The first step is the hardest but once you take it, it will only get easier.
How then can you start waking up early and not feel tired?
1.Sleep well.
The long term effects of sleep deprivation are real. How you sleep plays a big role in how you wake up. Sleep deprivation can be caused by not getting enough sleep or reduced quality of sleep. However, if you decide to deprive yourself of enough and quality sleep in the name of waking up early, You are going to miss out on the whole point of waking up early. Some of the effects of being sleep deprived are:
- It lowers your level of alertness.
- You become sleepy and tired during the day.
- It affects your ability to think,remember and process information.
- You experience relationship stress because you are more likely to have conflicts with others.
- Your quality of life deteriorates hence you are less likely to participate in normal activities like exercise.
- Greater likelihood for accidents hence you are more likely to get into an accident.
Chronic sleep deprivation can even lead to lifestyle diseases like blood pressure and diabetes. It is that serious. That’s why, you need to make sleeping a priority in your life. You can sleep better by:
- Keep a consistent wake time. This also includes the weekends and holidays. Sleeping and waking up at the same time consistently builds up the desire for sleep and lowers your chances of experiencing insomnia. But you need to avoid sleeping in as it makes you alter your sleep pattern and you tend to not get sleep when you are supposed to be asleep. There are more hacks you can use to sleep instantly at night. I have outlined a detailed guide on hacks that you can use to sleep instantly at night in this post.
- Put away smart phones and tablets.
- Treat getting enough sleep as important as taking your medicine.
- If you do wake up during the night, avoid looking at the clock. The minute you look at the time, your mind begins mentally calculating the number of hours you have been asleep and what you need to to do in the morning which can cut down the number of hours that you need to sleep.
Always put quality sleep before quantity. How well you make your sheets determines how well you’ll sleep in your bed. Also, early to bed, early to rise.
2.Get up at the same time every day for 66 days.
New researcher shows that it takes 66 days to develop a habit previous to popular 21 days. Waking up at the same time every day gradually builds up the habit which eventually becomes part of your life. At first you may need an alarm but as time goes by you gradually quit using it.Your mind automatically wakes up. Its funny how when your body wants you to wake up, it makes you want to pee so bad that you cannot hold it in until you relieve it. The simple act of walking to the toilet and back to bed is enough to wake you up.
You should select a wake up time that you can observe everyday including weekdays and weekends. Consider your own body and your own needs. Do not pick up a wake up time that is too early or inconsistent that you can’t keep up.
3.Prepare for the morning the night before.
Plan your day beforehand. If its reading that you are waking up to do, keep your set of books ready. Set your goals too. It is also good if you clean up your place to create a conducive environment for you when you wake up.
This not only save you time after waking up, but also mentally prepares you for the tasks ahead. You go to bed knowing that you have to do a certain number of things in a certain order after waking up. I have a FREE morning routine planner that I created just for you to help you start your day with a plan. Download it down below for FREE!
4.Set your intentions before bed.
The first key to waking up early is to remember that your first thought in the morning is usually the last thought you had before you went to bed. You need to consciously decide every night to actively and mindfully create a positive expectation for the next morning.
If you get to bed thinking that you will have a productive morning after waking up early, you get excited for the morning ahead and in turn, you wake up as soon as the alarm goes off and get out of bed to execute the things that you planned to do after waking up.
If you sleep thinking that you will snooze your alarm as you usually do and waking up early is just depriving you of more sleep, guess what, you are going to wake up feeling the same way. That’s why, it is so important to set up a positive intention the night before.
5.Move your alarm clock across the room.
Motion creates energy. So when you get up and out of bed it naturally helps you to wake up. If you are a fan of snoozing, you are going to find yourself waking up to snooze it. By the time you are walking back to bed, you wouldn’t be able to sleep again. However, once you wake up to go and snooze the alarm, kindly avoid going back to bed. Remember that you ought to work on working on becoming the best version of yourself.
6.Brush your teeth.
Brushing your teeth after waking up helps you clean your teeth getting rid of morning breath. The energy and movement you use to brush you teeth immediately wakes you up.While you’re at it, splash some water on your face.
7.Drink a full glass of water.
After 6-8 hours without water, you’ll naturally be mildly dehydrated and dehydration causes fatigue. Often when people feel tired,at any time of the day,what they really need is more water, not more sleep.
In my article on 8 things you should never do in the morning I discouraged you from drinking coffee immediately after waking up. This is because your body is dehydrated and needs water.Your body is composed of about 60% of water. It is an essential nutrient meaning that the body cannot produce enough of it through metabolism. All your organs and tissues depend on water to function. Since your body losses water regularly, you need to compensate for the losses to avoid dehydration. That’s why you need to drink water immediately after waking up. It has a lot of benefits apart from being a healthy option. The other benefits are:
- Rehydrating your body.
- Increasing your level of alertness.
- Fuel your brain which improves productivity.
- Fight sickness.
- Jump start your metabolism.
The best way to get the most from drinking water in the morning is to drink three glasses of water immediately after waking up. You should do this before brushing your teeth and on an empty stomach. If you find it difficult to start with four glasses, start with one and gradually increase the amount. Do not eat anything for the next 45 minutes. After 45 minutes are over, you can eat and drink as normal.
8.Get dressed if you are going for exercise or jump in the shower.
If you are supposed to go for exercise, get your exercise clothes and wear them. Also, if you are supposed to take a shower to go to work, get it done . It is so easy to procrastinate and to fall back into bed to sleep. Few things are as foolish as hoping old behaviors will somehow present new results. Small steps over time generate big results. Start where you are today .
Should you create a morning routine in your life? Maybe you struggle with making an effective morning routine because :
- Your life is busy and finding the time to follow a morning routine seems impossible.
- As a woman,you’re used to caring for others and making time for yourself causes you to feel guilty.
- Spending time in your morning routine for yourself doesn’t feel indulging.
- You don’t know what morning routine activities to do and how often to do them,
If you can relate to any of these morning routine struggles, I have the perfect solution for you and I am giving it for FREE! Let me know down below and get your morning routine planner.