“While you wait for life, life passes- Stoic”
Nobody feels comfortable waking up early in the morning; it is always a stressful and disciplinary act. The urge to step into sleep hovers around especially after an occupied, long and stressful day.
That persuasion of hitting on snooze always toils in but a greater value and benefit awaits once the feet touch the ground; the goal of chasing dreams, aspirations, business, goals, etc
There are several benefits of waking up early in the morning, waking up at 5 am to be precise.
One trick I want you to employ is configuring your mind that waking up as early as 5 am is for you. It is an opportunity to step ahead of the normal, achieve more and get closer to your prioritized goals.
You are not waking up early at 5 am to please anyone but to improve the quality of your life because time is a luxury and the more time you have, the greater and more achievement sash you hold.
I have been waking up at 5 am for the longest of time, this habit was instilled by my parents through our daily devotional activities in the morning and the process and journey were exhausting. I never saw the need, benefit, and importance of waking up early at 5 am, I failed at keeping routines, if my parents failed to wake me up I ain’t rising from my sleep…lol, it was that bad.
I had no organized schedule, plan or productive sense of reasoning but as I cracked through the shells of responsibility and maturity, I came to the realization that time equates life; if you waste your time, you lose out on life so I had to level up with my morning routines and cultivate the habits of waking up early at 5 am and this, in turn, set a positive gear of mindfulness and increase the level of my productivity.
You may be wondering and finding it difficult on how to wake up as early as that in the morning, no worries, I am going to walk you through. I will be sharing actionable ways that will help you wake up early at 5 am, cultivate a productive, consistent and effective habit and learn to wake up without an alarm.
Here are the steps you need to take:
1. Plan
Waking up at 5 am starts the day before. You simply cannot retire for the day and tell your body to get up at 5 am the next day; you have to program and set your body for that action. This isn’t just a theory but it is the bedrock of productivity to everything you do in life.
The ability to plan sets you on an organized podium where you can adequately take charge and make succeeding intentions.
A goal without a plan is just a wish! Planning is bringing the future into the present so you can do something about it. You plan by sleeping earlier to wake up on time and give your body the space to recharge.
The first question you need to analyze is how many hours of sleep do you need to be a functional human being, to be awake, active and productive? Do you need 5 hours, 6 hours, 7 hours or 8 hours to do this? You have to carefully take note of your sleeping habits and watch your productive level when you have 6 hours or 8 hours rest.
I personally feel tired when I sleep for 10-12 hours because my body system has adjusted to sleeping and getting 6 hours to 7 hours rest every day.
This is because I prioritize quality sleep over quantity sleep and I have a heap of responsibility climbing down my shoulders….your girl got bills to pay, college to attend, and myself to pamper so I try to strike a balance, by planning and prioritizing each activity that I need to handle the day before which includes the time I have to wake up.
This didn’t just happen but I took the time to teach my body to adjust to 6 to 7 hours rest time and wake up feeling productive.
You may need more time to recharge 8 hours of rest may be adequate for you so you have to do everything possible to make sure that you are in bed 8 hours to the time you are to wake up.
Now you may be wondering how do you get to the bed as early at that time. One thing I do is prioritize my schedule; I attend to all the important activities, putting my phone away because that is a hole of distraction; once you fall into it, it takes time to climb your way out.
I turn off my phone an hour to bedtime so I can disconnect and create adequate time for myself reflecting, meditating and planning.
I outlined a schedule that has been helping me
5 am Wake up, Hydrate and go for Devotional prayers
5:30 am Reflect, Mediate and journal
6:30 am Attend to creative work
7:00 am Have breakfast
7:30 am Attend to some more work
8:00 am Shower and set out for the day
Repeat! Repeat!!
This is my schedule that I have outlined as a productive plan to guide me through the day starting from the moments my eyelids blink open. And you can do this, construct a blueprint of your activities for the day.
2. Have A Defined Purpose
Cultivate a purpose for waking up at 5 am as an anchor to spike motivation.
There will be days when you encounter long and stressful experience and after hooping on the bed there is little or no strength to proceed with the night routine which can affect your sleeping experience, prevent you from waking up early or getting out of bed which can be a struggle.
On such days your reason, purpose and ”why” will stand as a motivation to get you up. Cultivate the intention of being productive. Finding your reasons for which you wake up early in the morning can make your mornings beautiful.
I remember when I launched my blog; I was delighted to wake up early in the day and build up valuable content this excitement filled me with energy to work late at night and still be full of ecstasy to wake up early in the morning.
We all have a purpose, and it is our duty to carry out that purpose. Your purpose gets you out of bed early, your purpose enables you to crush every obstacle. So, find your purpose and tune it to the highest rhythm influencing all that you do.
This enables you to have valuable connections and challenge yourself in a good way to meet up to your goals. You have to define a solid reason to wake up, something that invokes and propel your excitement.
3. Cultivate A Productive Evening Routine
Becoming a morning person is beyond setting your morning alarm and waiting for the best rhythm.
We may not have adequate control over our consciousness and experience when we are asleep but we definitely have control over our evening activities that will make us get up from bed the next day.
Before going to bed there are certain activities you should be involved in, these activities edify your sleep experience and enable you to wake up early in the morning:
Reflect: Reflecting enables you to clear your thoughts from negativity to a positive stance where you evaluate the activities that unfolded in the day and you take charge of the thoughts situated in your mind.
Journal: This is the implant of your thoughts and experience for the day. This clears your thoughts and gives room for mindfulness and consciousness soothing your sleep experience.
4. Dim The Lights
There is a lot of studies that show that white or blue lights tend to mess with your circadian rhythm; a cycle that tells our body when to sleep.
This internal body clock is affected by environmental changes and factors like sunlight and temperature. So when you expose your eyes to bright light, it distorts the rhythm of your body and prevents you from falling asleep.
Exposure to blue and white light can cause sleeping disorder, restlessness and insomnia and using dim lights sets your body to rest it sends signals that it is time to disconnect, unplug and relax.
Artificial light interferes with your sleep quality so avoid artificial lights through your gadgets, televisions, gadgets, and smartphones right before bedtime.
5. Wash Your Face Or Have A Cold Shower
After waking up in the morning and you still feel groggy and sluggish, one way to overcome tiredness is to wash your face or jump in a cold shower.
Coldwater increases the circulation in your body which leads to a higher demand for oxygen which you makes you start breathing deeper, active and alert which fights fatigue.
6. Find An Accountable Partner
Surrounding your life with good characters that helps you model the activities you replicate.
I remember when having college exams and I couldn’t physically meet up with my friends to study we held ourselves accountable over the phone and monitored our sleeping routines to enable us to study and make proper revision for our examinations. The same applies to waking up early.
When you set a goal of waking up early, having an accountable partner on the same course edifies your motivation and sets the bar of challenge.
You can find a partner who is committed and will walk you down the process, this could be your friend or family; he or she helps you stay committed to your morning routines and habits.
7. Be Consistent
Do not be mentally hard on yourself or sabotage yourself when you fail to wake up. Give yourself more positive encouragement and try again, be patient and consistent even when you fail because the more you try the easier it becomes.
You must build up your life action by action and be content if each one achieves its goals as far as possible and no one can keep you from this.
If you must want to wake up early every day, you have to do it consistently to make it part of your routine.
This won’t always be easy from the initial stages but with more practice and self-discipline finding the motivation to do something over and over again from the anchor of your purpose will strengthen your consistency.
You need to be consistent for at least 30 days to develop this routine and your body will slowly adapt, that you will not need an alarm to wake up the next day.
You can as well follow me on Instagram to join my several effective morning routine challenges and activities that will enable you build a healthy and more productive morning routine.
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Remember, the first step to winning yourself is to wake up early as the early bird gets the worm. Wake up with determination and go to bed with satisfaction from today!
This is true. I don’t wake up at 5 am but by 6:30 after setting my alarm for a few weeks to get up at that time. I used to be in the same routine when I was in university but after having my son my schedule got thrown off.
I HAVE to wake at 5am for my job at the hospital when I do a 12 hour shift but unfortunately I don’t get the benefits of rising early for a quality morning routine, I literally get out of bed, quick shower dress, pack a lunch and out the door!
Hey Afam
Good to hear you had a great family tradition of being up-n-go peeps that also had a spiritual flow to the day – God should always be our partner in productivity!
This looks like a really good blog – well done young lady!
Blessings
Very knowledgeable article
This is helpful and in every way realistic. Thank you!
I do so wish I had been taught this as a child. My life would have been far more productive. Thank you for this blog. I am now 81 years old and you have encouraged me to take charge of my life so in my twilight years I may be more active and productive for my Lord Jesus whom I love dearly. God bless.you. Pray that I might have the discipline to do activate my self into this plan.
These tips are great. Thanks for sharing.
Incredibly helpful! Thanks so much!
I will try it with God’s help and a lot of determination and discipline. I also realized I have to change my night habits and sleep a little earlier every night. May be doing it progressively will be better to get my body into a knew rhythm? For so many years I have been going to bed after 12pm taking care of my son with medical needs. Now that he is older I’m stuck with the habit of going to bed so late and I can’t get up in the morning.
It blessed me reading your blog. You gave me hope. Thank you!
This was very helpful, thank you. I’m going to incorporate these ideas into my daily routine from tonight. As you say, I will keep practising the evening rituals for preparation, make sure I get enough sleep and then remember my plan for the morning when I awake.