Become an Early Riser (Long Term Goal - Part 4)

Already working as the day breaks through the window.

It is officially the halfway point in my 66 day wake up early challenge. And can I say, 6am has become my bestest friend. I honestly feel great waking up this early, it's been tough at times, I've hit a few bumps but it's also been refreshing, renewing, and really freaking productive. My day feels almost never ending, and as though I have loads more time to focus on work, life, love, family, and well, anything. By 8am I tend to have completed my morning routine, had breakfast, given the bunnies attention and am getting started on work. I get loads of things done now. My work day is over by 2 or 3 pm and I have the rest of the day to relax and do whatever I want with. And by work I mean my work, work, and my own personal content for my website and my YouTube channel as well. I'm so much more fluent and efficient with my time and how I use it. I now have a lot more time to be intentional with, and I have the space throughout the day for a little bit of everything, rather than constantly rushing, constantly attempting to catch up with my to do list. Instead, I can go through it slowly, stress free, and that too allows me to focus better and produce content that is of a greater quality than if I had been rushing my way through.  It is unbelievable how much better life is when you take control of it.

So, I may not be an expert on this, or anywhere close to being perfect but I do have some tips if you too are wanting to wake up early in the morning. Whether you're trying to become part of the 4 am club, the 5 am club, or the 6 am club, these tips, I believe, may be of use. First off, everything starts the night before, go through your evening routine early and then grab a piece of paper and pen. With the paper and pen you're going to plan out what you are going to do the following day, it doesn't have to be a lot. It could simple be 2 or 3 to do's that you must complete by tomorrow, and they must be 2 or 3 things that you find enjoyable. Say for example, one thing I always tend to put on my to do list for the next day is to produce something for my list girl content, obviously I'm a little bit more specific than "produce something". This then motivates me and gives me a reason to want to wake up early the next day. And then, obviously, go to bed early in order to be able to wake up early.

The second tip would be to set several alarms for the coming morning, I personally have two, but if you need more than that, then have at it, whatever will help you to actually wake up and get up. Maybe even think about putting your phone on the other side of your room so that, that forces you to get up out of bed. I personally have my alarms set to 5:55 am and 6:00 am this allows me to wake up 5 minutes before 6 and if I'm tempted to go back to sleep, then that temptation is disturbed by my 6 am alarm, which I have forced myself to not have any other option but to MOVE!

Third and final things I would recommend is having a morning routine that you also find exciting, I don't know if you can tell, but, there seems to be a pattern here. An exciting morning routine, personally, allows me to get out of bed because I am excited to get it done, and nothing seems to be more motivating for me than being excited about doing something, even if going to bed early and waking up early aren't really exciting at least my habits and priorities around my sleeping pattern are. Therefore, when I wake up early in the morning I write in my 3 minute journal which consists of answering personal questions such as: what am I most excited for today? List some personal affirmations. And, what are my highest priorities for today?

My 3 minute journal, it started off on my Notion account but I moved it to this moleskin notebook instead cause I prefer writing things by hand.

I also have a 3 minute journal for my bedtime routine, which includes several different questions about how my day went, and what were the highlights. After my morning journal questions have been answered, I read 1, or a few pages of a book that I am currently reading and which I am also excited about. The fact that I'm fascinatingly curious to find out who killed one of the characters in My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, and the fact that I have allocated my early mornings to reading means that, when I wake up all I want to do is read on and find out what happens next, this too allows me to wake up excited. Therefore, if you've learnt anything about my post today, let it be this; whatever you are trying to do, whatever habit you are trying to attain make sure to remain excited, where that is about the habit, project, or goal itself, or something that allows to make that habit, project, or goal possible.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.