Mind Over Mattress: How to Wake Early When All You Want to Do is Sleep (thechangeblog.com)

I normally wake at 5am, and have been doing so for some time. In fact, if I didn’t wake early you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now as I simply wouldn’t have the time to write for this blog. This past week, however, I have struggled to wake early and have been hitting the snooze button for the first time in a long time… what’s going on???

One thing I have learned over the past year and a half is that waking early is not just about setting your alarm clock for a particular time and getting up. For example, it is pointless to force yourself to wake early if it leaves you feeling like a zombie for the rest of the day. If you are interested in waking earlier, the following are a few things I have learned that may be of help. And hopefully we can work out why I have been bashing the snooze button so much….

The Evening Before

Avoid caffeine/ alcohol/ sugar. All these things can potentially affect your quality of sleep and make it incredibly hard to wake when your alarm goes off. When it comes to something like sugar, for example, I indulge my sweet tooth during the day. Then in the evening I avoid it because I know it makes me restless during the night.

Wind down. Don’t go to bed with your mind still active. This is one reason I have been struggling to wake early the past week – I have gotten into the bad habit of shutting down the computer and heading straight to bed. I need to get back into the habit of turning off the computer earlier and instead reading a fictional book followed by some meditation.

Visualize. Just before falling asleep, visualize yourself waking at a particular time. It’s amazing how effectively this works.

Sleep

Get enough. Different people need different amounts of sleep. So the key is to experiment and be aware what amount works well for you. I need at least 6 and a half to 7 hours. When I sleep less than this (such as I did a night or two last week), I always regret it because I am tired all the next day. There is nothing productive about that.

Better quality. I sleep less than I did 2 years ago, but I generally find it easier to wake up. One major reason for this is my quality of sleep is much better (although I am conveniently forgetting the first few months after our son was born). Apart from avoiding the things I mentioned earlier, I usually wear a sleep mask to make things completely dark. Kathryn has nicknamed me Zorro because of this, but it is worth it. Also, I might even look at getting myself a posturpedic pillow (as suggested awhile back by my friend Todd in 24 Powerful Relaxation Techniques).

Waking Early

Have a purpose. I usually find it relatively easy to wake at 5am because I have a clear purpose of what I want to do in the morning. Typically I will spend a few minutes the night before making a list of what I want to do. Then in the morning I am able to quickly focus on these.
Find a morning routine you love. Over the past 1-2 years my mornings have changed from waking up and rushing to get ready and out the door, to waking earlier and incorporating some activities/ habits I enjoy into my mornings. To get some ideas, I highly recommend my articles 24 Daily Habits and 10 Ways to Give Your Morning a Makeover. I obviously don’t do everything in the preceding articles each morning, but once you have some ideas to make your morning more enjoyable it is easy to incorporate at least one or two.
Be sneaky. A very effective trick I do is to place my alarm on the other side of the room, effectively forcing me to get out of bed to turn it off.
Be disciplined. Of course the above trick is no guarantee that I won’t go back and curl up in bed (as I have done a few times over the past week). I don’t think my problem has been discipline so much as the other things I have discussed in this article. But certainly waking earlier does require you to put “mind over mattress”. Remember: “the price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret”.

Small steps. It took me a number of months to go from waking at 7am to 5am. The key was to take it slowly by chipping away at 15 minutes at a time. Take small steps and be patient.

Source:  http://www.thechangeblog.com/how-to-wake-early/

24 Daily Habits (thechangeblog.com)

“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us” – John Dryden

I have previously written about how the habit of exercising every day has helped me tremendously. Doing something every day is such a powerful way to form a habit that I thought I would make a list of 24 habits that are worth doing on a daily basis. Note: I have divided these into morning, day and night although some could obviously be under different headings.

The Morning

1. Wake Early: I am a big fan of waking at 5am and spending time working on myself before going to work. I have written more about this habit here: How to Wake Early When All You Want to Do Is Sleep.
2. Exercise: when I had the goal of exercising 4 times a week I found it was very easy to tell myself I will exercise tomorrow instead. Setting the expectation of daily exercise removed this as a potential excuse and I have since reaped the benefits of this daily habit.
3. Review or (even better) Rewrite Your Goals: each day I try to get closer to achieving my short, medium and long term goals. Starting the day by reviewing or rewriting my goals means that I have better awareness of them throughout the day. As Robin Sharma says:

“With better awareness you can make better choices and when you make better choices, you will see better results.”

4. Read and/ or Listen to Motivational Material: in the morning a whole day of endless possibilities lies ahead. I motivate myself to play my best game by reading and listening to inspirational books/ audiobooks. For audiobooks I recommend the free introductory offer from Audible.
5. Visualize the Day Ahead: I like to take a few minutes to shut my eyes and visualize what I want happen in the coming day. It’s amazing how often my desires become reality when I do this.
6. Write a “To Do” List: I like to write out a list in my diary of the important tasks I need to do that day. As they are completed I put a line through them. So simple, yet so effective.
7. Check the News Headlines: I think it’s important to have an idea of what is happening in our community and the world. Also if don’t at least check the main stories, I find it is easy to feel left out of conversations throughout the day. Having said this, much of the news is negative and I’m careful not to spend too much time digesting it unless there is a particular story of note.
8.  Blog: I find there are many benefits to blogging. Starting a blog can help you gain clarity, be creative, make new friends, and may even generate you some income. If you would like to start a blog I recommend Squarespace.
9. Take Time to Look Good: it’s a reality of life that people judge us by our appearance. I take a few minutes each morning to ensure I go out into the world looking the best I can.

The Day

10. Smile. You’ve probably heard about the importance of smiling, but as the saying goes “common sense is often quite uncommon.” I try to carry a smile with me on throughout the day. I find that not only does it make me happier, but it can make other people smile and open the door to conversations with people I haven’t talked to before.
11. Put First Things First: I try to avoid having my day controlled by tasks that are urgent , but not necessarily important. The habit of putting first things first is about organizing and executing your life around your deepest priorities.
12. Under-Promise and Over-Deliver: at work I try to go the extra mile on my projects, especially on the details many people might miss.  I set reasonable deadlines for myself and, when possible, try to get them done early.
13. Be Proactive: being proactive means showing initiative and taking the responsibility to make things happen. Whenever I want to get something done, I ask myself: “what can I do to make this happen?”
14. Snack Well: I substitute the chips, candy and chocolate with fruit, vegetables (carrots and celery are great to chomp on) and nuts.
15. Connect with Nature: I find spending time outdoors in nature is great for my sense of well-being. On work days I like to go for a walk during my lunch break.
16. Ping a Friend: I try to send a quick email or text to a friend each day. It’s a great way to stay in touch with friends when I am extremely busy.
17. Save: I save at least 10% of each paycheck. A great way to find the money to save is to break it down to a daily amount, for example $10-15. By taking account of the Latte Factor I find it easy to save this much.

The Evening

18. Have Family Time: I believe it’s important to be present most evenings. Family time is about quantity and quality.
19. Take Time for Myself: I also believe it’s important to spend a little time each day just for me. Some things I like to do: read, write, meditate, yoga, play music and/ or visit the gym.
20. Tidy Up: a cluttered house can lead to a cluttered mind and fuzzy thinking. I find it’s best to stay on top of things by tidying up each day.
21. Wind Down: I try to switch off the computer and the TV about 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime and let my brain have some down time after a long day. I sleep far more peacefully when I do this.
22.  Review My Day: I find this is a great way to hold myself to account for taking action throughout the day. Did I get closer to achieving my goals? Did I complete my to do list? Did my day go as planned? If not, why not?
23. Say I Love You: don’t just assume that your family members know you love them. I say these words to my wife and sons at least once per day.

24. Go to Bed At A Reasonable Time: the first habit of this list (waking early) begins by going to bed at a reasonable time and getting a good nights sleep.

Source:  http://www.thechangeblog.com/24-daily-habits/