How To Be An Early Riser

OK I know some people don't care at all about getting up early,  and for those people - please feel free to read other articles on this site.  This post is all about how to get up early so you can be productive, achieve your goals first thing, and map out your day before most of America is even stirring.   I don't love getting up early,  but I do find it helpful to fit in things that I don't normally have time for (i.e. exercise) and achieve my goals.  First let me give you some of the benefits.



Benefits of Getting Up Early
1. You can accomplish more before the sun is up.
2.  Easier to fit in activities that are hard to schedule later in the day.
3. Optimal time to plan out the day before it really starts
4. If you have young children - great way to have uninterrupted time to do things.
5. May be easier to fall asleep at night (because nothing makes a 10 PM bedtime easier than a 4:30 AM wake up time).
6. If you live in a heavy traffic area (like myself) you can save a lot of time by traveling before 7 AM on the roads.

How to Get Up Early
1.  First always remember that caffeine can be your friend.  I try to have a cup of coffee, a 5 Hour Energy shot, or even a caffeine pill available as soon as I get up so that I can take it and make it harder to fall back asleep.
2.  Place your alarm clock (or cell phone) in a place where you have to actually get out of bed in order to turn it off.
3. Refuse to hit the snooze button. Simply REFUSE!
4. If you still have trouble staying out of bed, hide your alarm clock/cell phone so you have to get out of bed and SEARCH for it in order to make the blasted noise STOP!
5. Once out of bed and slightly caffeinated stretch a little to get your muscles moving.
6.  Try buying a specialized alarm clock like ones found at www.thinkgeek.com .   I once bought an alarm clock for Chrystal that would spin up a helicopter propeller and launch off the clock with the only key to turn off the alarm.  You then had to chase the propelling alarm key around your room in order to turn off the alarm.   She used it once, and then it somehow disappeared....  They also make alarms that will rumble your mattress like an earthquake I believe.
7. Finally reward yourself after 21 successful wake ups.  Waking up is hard, so if you can set a goal for 21 days and wake up early consistently you should reward yourself (not by sleeping in) in some way to reinforce your new habit.

I'm sure there are other great ways to accomplish the goal of getting up early in the morning.  Those are a few ideas that have worked for me.  For those who would consider themselves "morning people" - what are your strategies for waking up early?