“It took me four years of research, experimentation and failure to develop the habit of waking up early. Now I can finally control my rise time - and it's been worth it. Probably, if you are reading this material, you also tried to learn to get up early, and you failed,” writes the author of the note.
Hacks on how to get up at five in the morning have become especially popular in recent years. In fact, waking up early does not mean waking up exactly at five. I'm not saying you can't do it, but you certainly don't have to.
To learn to get up earlier, the author says, you first need to change your lifestyle. “One of the reasons it took me four years to develop the habit is because I didn’t initially take into account my student (and then entrepreneur) lifestyle. The time you should get up is determined by what you do, your job, family, social circle, hobbies, how often you travel, and so on.”
“Getting up at 5 or 6 in the morning is an impossible task if you are a doctor who often has to work night shifts, or a student who works and plays at night. And if you travel a lot and are plagued by jet lag, getting up at the same time is physically difficult,” he explains.
After the hour of rising is determined, based on professional and personal activities, the entrepreneur writes, it is necessary to restore order in several areas of life at once:
- goals and attitude;
- evening classes;
- sleep quality;
- waking up and morning routine.
Goals and general attitude
“Humans are creatures that seek instant gratification. And so you will look for any excuse to sleep longer, especially in the first few days. The main thing you should know is that you really have to sacrifice a lot. And you must be prepared for this,” explains the author of the material.
Your productivity will suffer at first. And you'll have to let go of the idea that you're just not a morning person - that's a myth.
The most important thing, the author of the note believes, is to set your goals correctly. Goals motivate a person, he believes. And the more emotional the goal, the harder a person will go towards it. In addition, goals define activities—systems that must be followed to achieve them. “To start, you need to identify three main goals for the coming year and the systems that will help you achieve them.”
For example. Goal: lose 5 kg by April 1, 2022. System: eat less than 2000 calories a day, eat healthy - exclude candy, fast food and snacks. Do cardio training twice a week (swimming or running). Lift weights twice a week. Once - yoga.
Needs charging
Firstly, physical activity helps blood flow, and secondly, in 2011, the Journal of Mental Health and Physical Activity published a study whose authors reported that even 150 minutes of exercise per week improves sleep quality and increases energy during the day.
Every morning I spent 15 minutes doing simple stretching and strength exercises.
Evening classes
“Many people think that you need to start by organizing your morning routine, but this is not so. Firstly, even before going to bed, you need to tune in to waking up early,” writes the author of the material. He suggests several ways this can be done.
Stop using your smartphone, tablet, or other technology devices before bed
Blue light, the entrepreneur writes, negatively affects the quality of sleep. Therefore, about an hour or two before bedtime, you should stop using any devices - smartphone, tablet, laptop - and devote them to other activities.
Prepare for tomorrow
The author suggests taking care of a few things in the evening so as not to have to deal with such problems in the morning and free up time for more important things. He believes that in the evening you need to answer three questions:
- What are the top priorities for tomorrow?
- What clothes to wear?
- How to spend breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Evaluate your day and imagine your ideal morning
“Time flies quickly, and if you don’t learn to stop and think about the things that matter to you, you will feel like something is missing in life. Every evening ask yourself: what turned out the way you wanted today? What have you done? What are you grateful for? What made you happy?
The author then recommends imagining your ideal morning. In his opinion, this will help him not to put off getting up in the morning, but to get down to business right away.
Read
“It’s difficult for a modern person to find even 30 minutes to read. But if you get rid of all the technological devices before bed, you can easily find time to read. And it doesn’t matter whether it will contribute to personal or professional growth,” says the author.
How else to improve your life
You can read many books and articles about motivation, but it’s better to take an online course or training once. Learning from a person who has walked this path will help you believe in yourself and achieve what exactly you want in this life. Under no circumstances should you listen to amateurs who shout at every corner: “Pay me and you’ll get rich!”
For me, such a person is Pavel Volya.
His online course “Improver Express” will teach 3 main things: initiative, action and efficiency.
The training consists of 23 chips. It was they who helped Volya turn from a simple beggar Penza guy into the highest paid presenter of the TNT channel and my favorite stand-up comedian. According to Forbes magazine, Pavel earns $2.5 million annually.
The course is suitable for both men and women from 16 years of age.
How the training will take place:
- You receive theory and practical assignment.
- Do it.
- If you did it right, move on to the next one.
If you don’t mess around and do all your homework responsibly, then pleasant changes await you: at work, in your personal life, with relatives and friends. This will lead to more money, connections and success.
Cost – 15,000 rubles. with access forever, but there is also the opportunity to take the course for 3,000 rubles.
If within 2 weeks you decide that the course is not suitable for you, your money will be returned.
After registering for training, a girl from Pavel’s team will contact you and answer all your questions regarding the training. You will discuss payment terms with her.
Also in this article you will find reviews of all courses of the “Willpower” project from Pavel and Laysan Utyasheva.
Sleep quality
“Most people do not know what and how affects their sleep and what can be done to improve its quality,” writes the author of the note. He cites several factors that improve or worsen sleep quality.
- Stimulants. At least six hours before bedtime, you should stop drinking coffee and alcohol and keep only green tea and water in your diet.
- Heavy food. Before going to bed, you should not eat heavy food - it burdens the digestive system and impairs the quality of sleep. The author recommends eating a small snack, nuts, or drinking a glass of milk before bed to avoid waking up hungry.
- Water. Before going to bed, you should drink at least one glass of water. If a person already drinks one glass of water before bed, you can increase the amount to two.
- Sports activities. Before going to bed, you should avoid physical activity for at least three hours. “Exercise is invigorating, and it will be more difficult to fall asleep afterwards.”
- Sleeping conditions. You need to purchase a quality mattress and pillow, and also make sure that the room is dark (if it is impossible to make it dark, a sleep mask will do). It is also worth paying attention to the temperature in the room.
- Time. You should go to bed at the same time every day. At first, the entrepreneur writes, it will be difficult, but soon the body will get used to it and the person will begin to feel tired just at the right time.
- Sleep optimization. The entrepreneur advises finding the ideal time to go to bed - one so that after waking up you really feel rested. “When you sleep, you go through certain cycles. Light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep. The full cycle lasts about 90 minutes and is repeated several times a night. To feel rested, you need to wake up when the cycle is completed - after an hour and a half, three, four and a half, six, and so on. Of course, you won’t guess down to the minute, but over time you will understand what is more comfortable for your body.”
Healthy psyche
To keep your psyche healthy, you should adhere to the following rules:
- You should not wake up to a loud, especially sharp sound of an alarm clock;
- You should avoid abruptly getting out of bed and then quickly performing shower procedures and eating.
The human brain will very quickly give the body a command to wake up, but it is not yet ready for this process. The rise will trigger the release of large amounts of adrenaline and contraction of blood vessels, as in the case of stress. The heart rate will increase, the muscles will be very tense. This situation will create an unjustified burden on the body, despite the fact that the person does not notice it.
Gradually, this regime will form a chronic fatigue syndrome in a person and lead to vegetative-vascular dystonia or other diseases of the body.
A sudden awakening can increase vitality. However, this is a deep misconception. In order to increase the energy of the body, you need to wake up smoothly, so that the rise provides a surge of strength and corrects the functioning of the psyche.
In the morning, everything must be done slowly, since a person’s vitality is connected with the work of the psyche. This is explained by the fact that the psyche does not approve of a sharp transition from the state of sleep to wakefulness, since it requires the right mood for the new day.
Emotions, mood and thoughts in the morning after waking up affect how the whole body will function. If a person constantly swears when he gets up and goes to work, various kinds of illnesses will be drawn to him.
A healthy psyche means relaxation, peace and tranquility. You should wake up in this state of mind every day, since everyday stress will abound throughout the day. Therefore, there is no point in starting it with bad emotions.
Waking up and morning routine
The entrepreneur offers two strategies to help you wake up earlier.
- Immersion method. A person sets the desired wake-up time and immediately begins to stick to it. “This method has its merits, but you must take into account that such drastic changes will initially negatively affect your energy.”
- Gradual method. The entrepreneur considers this method to be the most effective. The idea is to gradually get closer to your desired time, setting your wake-up time 10 to 15 minutes earlier every three to four days. “It will take time, but the impact on energy will be minimal.”
After the reader has decided on the method, the author of the material suggests checking a few more things.
- Alarm. “The day should not start with a tune that scares or irritates you - this distorts the whole point of the new habit. You need to find a melody that gradually helps you wake up and that makes you happy. Over time, she may become hateful - then you will need to find another one.”
- Responsibility. The author suggests telling one close person about your idea. He will have to make sure that he wakes up on time. “All you have to do is text or call that person 10 to 15 minutes after you wake up.”
- Gamification using the Jerr and Seinfeld method. “Comedian Jerry Seinfeld says he has a one-page year-long calendar prominently displayed on his wall. Every day when he completes a task and writes something, he crosses it with a red marker. After a few days, a chain of crosses is formed. And you will have no other goals than to continue this chain.”
- Activity. The entrepreneur helps you find something that will help you quickly get out of your sleepy state. “For example, try immediately drinking a glass of water, washing your face and brushing your teeth. Make your bed. Open the window and let light into the room (even if you get up at five in the morning, a little fresh air will not hurt." Then the author suggests doing something especially pleasant that you would like to wake up for - for example, drinking coffee and reading a book.
What to do after waking up depends on the goals and objectives of the person himself, writes the author of the material. The basic rule that he advises to adhere to is to devote about an hour to work. “Trying to devote three hours to new habits is likely to fail,” he says.
The entrepreneur offers several options for activities in the available time, but notes that the decision remains with the person himself - he can choose anything:
- setting and reassessing goals;
- physical activity;
- meditation;
- reading (or watching courses);
- working on side projects;
- communication with loved ones;
- cooking food.
The author of the material notes that at first a drop in energy is inevitable - you should be prepared for this. If you start to feel sleepy in the middle of the day, you should take a nap for 20–30 minutes. He also recommends remembering that developing a habit is a long process, and you shouldn’t expect to be able to follow all the instructions right away. He insists on doing them sequentially - first setting goals, then sorting out evening chores, and then moving on to waking up early.
How to learn to get up early in the morning without problems
Surely it has happened to you that in the morning, when your alarm clock rings, you turn it off half asleep and say to yourself: “Just five more minutes.” And the minutes can drag on, and eventually you jump up with the realization that you are already late. Or another situation in which you sluggishly get out of bed and, half asleep, get ready for work, and even when you get there, you cannot wake up.
I will help you step by step figure out how to quickly awaken yourself.
- Wake up immediately at the first alarm. No need to transfer him or stay in bed yet. Get up right away, it will be easier.
- Turn on more lights in the room. This is especially relevant advice in winter. When I get up on a winter morning, it’s like night outside, the lights come on throughout the entire apartment. This method really works, awakening happens faster.
- Drink one glass of water on an empty stomach. This will invigorate your body and replenish lost fluid.
- Do light gymnastic exercises.
- Wash your face with cool water or take a morning contrast shower. This is an amazing way to cheer yourself up.
- Have a hearty, nutritious breakfast to energize your body.
- Turn on the music. I loved to turn on my favorite energetic music as soon as I got out of bed and get ready to listen to it. Try this and you will see that the morning will not be such a terrible part of your day.
FAQ
Question: “What about the weekend?” Answer: “It all depends on personal preference. But if you're just starting a habit, I'd recommend sticking to your new schedule on the weekends as well. Later, you can allow yourself one or two extra hours of sleep.”
Question: “How many times in a row can you wake up at the wrong time and not lose the habit?” Answer: “When a habit is just being developed, after 2-3 days it will not be easy to return to the achieved level. Once a habit has been developed, 2-3 days won’t ruin anything.”
Question: “What happens when I travel and change my environment?” Answer: “It’s a difficult question. First, have pity on yourself. Try to stick to your habits, but if it doesn’t work out, don’t force it.”
Question: “What if I unexpectedly have to go to a party?” Answer: “That’s very good. Just have fun. There is no need to force yourself to wake up at the same time as usual - sleep as much as you need.”
Don't neglect the help of specialists
One way or another, if you systematically have difficulty getting up in the morning and feel overwhelmed, then this indicates health problems. These include depression, hypertension, diabetes, apnea, and insomnia. But constant lack of sleep can also provoke these same diseases. Therefore, it is important to understand the causes of the disease and not delay treatment.
See a therapist. He will refer you to specialized specialists and prescribe all the necessary tests. Do not discount the problem, as it may be a symptom of serious illnesses.
