How to Become an Early Riser - Part II
How to Become an Early Riser - Part II » Steve Pavlina’s Personal Development Blog
I recommend getting up at the same time for 30 days straight to lock in the habit, but after that you’ll be so conditioned to waking up at the same time that it will be hard to sleep in. I decided to sleep in late one Saturday morning and didn’t set my alarm, but I woke up automatically at 4:58 am. Then I tried to sleep in, but I was wide awake and couldn’t fall back asleep again. Oh well. Once the habit is established, it isn’t hard at all to get up, assuming you’re going to bed at the onset of sleepiness.
Just a little something to add… If you’re having trouble waking up a lot earlier, try doing it in increments. This is the approach I took and I’ve gone from 6:45am to 6:00am in 15 minute increments over the past few months. It’s much easier to wake up 15 minutes earlier (and you won’t feel as tired later on) than it is to wake up 45 minutes earlier. It like a patch vs. cold turkey. If 15 minutes is still too much, try 10 or even 5 minutes… Then you can tell yourself, “It’s only 5 minutes earlier, that’s nothing.”
If you have trouble waking up in the morning even before you start trying to wake up earlier, you will need to look at some other blog posts on Motivation (there aren’t any here just yet, but there should be eventually… a good reason to subscribe to the RSS feed)
I have had trouble getting out of bed early for a long time.I set the alarm at 5am every morning,but find that i have turned it off without remembering i have done so,thus sleepping in and late for work.This has been an ongoing problem for many years.Please,any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.Regards,paul
Comment by paul mcclure — October 15, 2005 @ 9:44 am
Paul,
What time are you waking up now? If you’re trying to go from 6am to 5am, try going to 5:45 first… then after a month, go to 5:30… and so forth. This will give your body more time to adjust to getting a little less sleep and it will become more natural. Only waking up 15 minutes earlier probably won’t cause you to stay asleep while turning off the alarm clock.
Comment by Nels — October 19, 2005 @ 7:01 pm