Imagine you have the willpower to wake up at 5 AM, you go to your kitchen and drink some water while listening to your self-recorded affirmations or practicing gratitude. And then you do your meditation or exercise or read a book or journal or do whatever you like doing without any rush. Wouldn’t that sound nice?
In contrast to this when you wake up at 7 and rush through the house, leaving important things at home and later cursing yourself for forgetting them. Indeed, a couple of months prior I used to fall in the latter category.
My life as a late rise
I used to be a late riser my whole life until a few months back when I chose to get up early. The only times when I ever woke up early were when I absolutely had to: for Exams or for any special occasion.
During my engineering , I’d wake up at the very last minute, roam around the house to get ready, throw stuff here and there and run towards the bus stop to catch the bus and barely make it in time, many days I missed the bus, multiple times I recreated the famous DDLJ train scene running behind the bus without the hero of course. I recall an incident, once during exam days I missed the bus, left my wallet at home, borrowed money from a complete stranger, in a terrible situation, Somehow, managed to reach college and gave the exam because of just waking up late. I was such a mess.
On a day of college, my sleeping hours would be (2am-8am) and then I would feel sleep deprived throughout the day, somehow finding ways to sleep in the class or in the bus while traveling to the college. During the weekends, I would wake up somewhere between 11am-12am. I had no schedule.
Everybody is aware of the fact that being a late riser often results in late sleeping and reduced sleep as you catch up on work, which isn’t really good for health.
In spite of all this, I never thought of waking up early as a habit. My Father always manages to wake up early, but I never understood why he would want to do that? Why should someone wake up early? I would see waking up early as an act of self-deprivation. Why not just let our bodies rest instead of forcing it to wake up at a certain time.
Why did I get interested in waking up early?
During COVID Lockdown I got a chance to live with my then half-year-old niece for a very long time and she is an early riser. Every single day she would wake up at 4:00 AM, and I love to play with her and that made me wake up early too. That was the period when I tasted the delight of waking up early and doing my #1 thing in the morning.
Though, it took me many more such attempts to permanently install this habit to my lifestyle.
After seeing the impact of waking up early every single day on myself and on the things that I do throughout the day, I was already motivated to develop this habit. Simply by just waking up early, I was able to give time to exercise, self-renewal activities and my personal growth. I started delving into self-help material that promotes the habit of waking up early. One thing leads to another and with pure coincidence, a friend gifted me the book “5 AM CLUB” on my birthday. I started reading it and it has a little-known formula you can use instantly to wake up early feeling inspired, focused and flooded with a fiery drive to get the most out of each day. The 5 AM club is a work that will transform your life just as it has transformed mine.
Experts say to experiment. Don’t listen to vocal thought-leaders or LinkedIn influencers — figure out what works best for you. And, hey, maybe that does mean waking up super early after all.
Trials to wake up early
First time I tried waking up early, I failed miserably. Only after waking up for 2–3 days. I stopped doing that. This thing happened with me for 3 more times in continuation until finally, I decided to give my everything to this habit for 21 days.
I could have just brushed this off and say, “Nah, waking up early isn’t my cup of tea. I’m not a morning person.” But I didn’t. I experimented to know what works best for me and whatnot. Just because my previous attempts failed miserably didn’t mean anything — it doesn’t mean that waking up early doesn’t work. Those attempts were always done without a serious intent anyway, which to great extent explained their failure.
So, I just started waking up every single day without fail and I was clear with my “why” and it was to have more time for the things I absolutely love doing. And that’s also the reason why I call my morning ritual my “Self-care” ritual. I use this time to grow mentally, physically and spiritually.
I have worked on building so many habits and by far now this one was the most challenging one.
Why is waking up early so much harder?
Remember that your body is used to a specific pattern, which includes a consistent waking up schedule.
The reason I failed in my so many attempts was because my body was used to waking up at 8 am, and then suddenly I was trying to make a huge 3 hour change.
You can’t be surprised that your body clock is going to make you feel that it’s uncomfortable. However, you can always ease yourself slowly and gently towards this new wake-up time. So I started improving my wake up time by 30 mins each day until I hit the 5 AM mark.
For starters, you have to have a reason or a strong motivation to get yourself out of bed this early. Otherwise, in the morning where the bed feels warm and super comfortable, it will be very easy to turn off the alarm clock and slip under the blanket. At the same time, make the habit of getting out of bed more inspiring.
Each night I would write a note to myself why I had to wake up early and keep it inside my fav book which I used to keep under my pillow. As corny as it seems, this note reminds me why I have to wake up and meditate.
Challenges I faced and how I overcame them?
Going to bed early/ Sleeping routine:
It starts from the previous night when you choose to go to bed instead of binging a Netflix show, working late and going out, which isn’t a valid reason for waking up late anymore.I had this habit of staying up until 2–3 am (Engineering Gift). Most of the time I would miss the alarm due to the deep slumber, and if once in a while I would hear the alarm the chances were that I would smash the phone on the wall.
So, I practiced going to bed before 11 pm. I created a habit manual where I would daily note the time when I go to bed. Also, this improved a lot of other habits like watching late night movies or passing time on YouTube with all those smart recommendations, or simply scrolling mindlessly through social media.
“A SINGLE GOOD HABIT CAN IMPROVE YOUR MANY BAD HABITS.”
Leaving the warm and comfortable bed:
Initially, I would just turn off the alarm and sleep. And then, I would wake up after 3 hours and feel bad about dismissing the alarm and not waking up.
Then I figured out why. Every night I would write a small note to myself to remind myself why I’m doing this and see it first thing in the morning. This inspired me to keep going. I always emphasize on knowing your why before doing anything. It can be your biggest motivation.
Also Keep several alarms, it helps you to stay on track even if you have missed your first shot at waking up early that day.
Feeling sleepy throughout the day
You can’t be tired and do a workout at the same time. Use that and be active whenever you feel sleepy. Taking power naps of 20 mins twice also helps.
Staying Consistent
Even though I was committed to waking up early, there are days when your brain kind of takes control and you no longer want to wake up early, for that I joined a few accountability groups.
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