How to Wake Up Early (or The Secrets Behind Early Rising)
Written by Naren on November 19, 2008
I remember a quote, “Old habit dies hard.” I also remember another one which I can never forget as we were made to recite when we were kids, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”
Of course, old habits are not that easy to give up. But, like the second quote says, there are so many advantages in waking up early. So what to do? Are you ready to sacrifice your habits that have been your companions for so long? Well, it’s up to you. It’s not easy, but one should think of the bright side as well.
Leaving you to make up your mind, I will now present a few small steps that may help you be an early riser:
1. Motivate yourself
This is the first step. You can’t go further without working on this one. This is probably the most difficult also – because the first step is always the most challenging. Remember when a baby walks the first step, the next won’t be as hard. Similarly, to motivate yourself is also a tough task. You need to muster up lots of courage for this. Just a few sentences above I was speaking about how old habits die hard. It’s a daring step to go against something that you are so accustomed to. You are so used to sleeping in the comfort of your bed, engulfed in its warmth and coziness – Certainly, it’s not going to be easy to get up!
How to motivate yourself?
The best thing would be to go over all the benefits I talked about earlier. Mediate upon them and you may realize the hidden joy in waking up early. That’s one way. The other way is by giving yourself a task, a goal that you would like to achieve in the morning. For instance, say you want to run a few miles, go to the gym, write something, read the newspaper, read a book that you couldn’t finish last night, watch the morning news… I am sure you will find some good reasons. And again, keep reminding yourself the importance of first getting good sleep and then all joys that will come along if you can make a habit of waking up early.
2. Prepare yourself
This is the second step that comes after you have succeeded in motivating yourself and not from the influence of others – here let me repeat this again that the motivation has to spring from yourself. You should not be dependent on others in your motivation. You are the one who is going to get up early in the morning not your motivators. There might be thousands of articles or books written on “How to become an early riser?” You cannot heed the advices given by all. At the end, it is you who have to make up your mind and take this daring step. Take a deep breath, and think are you ready for this. Are you prepared for this change? Do you really want this? Do you really think this is for you? Be really prepared.
3. Make a gradual change
Do not make any sudden change in your habit as it may not be effective and could bring an adverse effect on your health. Work towards your goal slowly and steadily. Try to go to bed early than your usual time. Some people do not go to bed until they are too exhausted to be awake, and some have a specific time late in the night when they go to sleep; the first habit is certainly not healthy and in the latter habit, one needs to cut down the hours slowly. What I am implying is that if you are used to going to bed around 2 or 3 am; do not force your body to go to bed at 8pm so that you can get up at 5am. It’s not a smart approach. Remember you cannot just make sudden change in your life, as its results might be negative; you need to slowly let your body adjust to a change. So just try going to bed a little earlier than usual and keep on gradually cutting hours with the flow of time, and one day you will certainly achieve your target time set to go to bed.
4. Refrain from caffeine at night
This is also going to be a tough call for those who are addicted to caffeine, such as energy drinks and pills, coffee, soda, tea, or other caffeine products, which can keep you from sleeping. So if you are thinking of becoming an early riser, then avoid products with high caffeine. They will most certainly not help you achieve your goal.
5. Avoid lots of fluid at night
Keep yourself hydrated throughout the day. But refrain from taking lots of fluids right before you go to bed, as it can disturb your sleep.
6. Read a book
Make a habit of reading a book before you go to bed. If you cannot sleep or you are not tired enough, reading a book is the best medicine. Trust me any book can put you to sleep if you read it on your bed.
7. Sleep meditation
This has been very helpful to me. Sometimes if your ideas are not letting you sleep, don’t stay awake trying to manifest those ideas. It is easy to get excited and carried away, but remember our goal is to wake up early. If you get ideas in the night, you can get them in day also. I also get a plethora of ideas in bed. But this is what I usually do. I wake up, jot down the ideas quickly and climb back into bed. And if I am still having difficulty in sleeping, I will slowly relax my whole body step by step. First, my legs, then my arms, then my whole body, and finally my mind-- I move closer and closer to the center of my body. The key is to watch yourself and your thoughts, but you have to relax your body as a whole. I have named this technique “sleep meditation,” and my wife made fun of me in the beginning, but now she is applying this trick and it does help. In fact, this helps in many other occasions when your mind is out of control and you have too many things in there, or you are extremely nervous. I may devote another article for this in the future.
8. An alarm clock issue – what to do?
In my college years, I had a love-hate relationship with my alarm clock. Why? You all know. You are sleeping peacefully in your sweet dreams, and suddenly an irritating tone knocks you out of your sleep. But, we still have to be thankful for this invention. So what to do with the alarm clock? The best strategy would be to keep it a little further from your reach so that you can’t keep on snoozing it or even better buy an alarm clock that will hide itself under your bed. That’s pretty amazing. There is a girl who developed this type of alarm clock and made a fortune out of it. It’s quite effective though, as it will force you to get up or unless you would like to be interrupted every five minutes by that sound from hell.
9. Avoid contemplating and debating
This step is very important. Once you are awake, just throw yourself out of bed as soon as you can (I usually head to the shower). You might say, “Oh! What the heck five more minutes, and then I will wake up.” But the five more minutes can easily lead you to sleep for a few more hours. Hence, you have to just get up. The more you start debating and tossing arguments, the more your mind will tell you to sleep and wrap yourself in the warmth of your quilt. And do not forget that the mind is the biggest trickster. Once you fall into its grasp then you are a goner. The mind will do all it can to lure you back to sleep and prevent you from achieving your goals. You are your own master. Do not let your mind possess you.
10. The benefits of waking up early
And, do not forget all the benefits mentioned in Part II, as they will help fuel your energy to spring you out of your cozy bed -- from the world of dreams into the world of reality. Don’t you think it would be silly to lose your precious moments in life by sleeping too much?
Summary
In conclusion, what I would like to say is that sleep is extremely important. Sleeping disorders can invite many problems, which in result can deplete our energy and enthusiasm to enjoy our lives in its fullest, and can seriously hinder our motivation to achieve our lives’ purpose. So it is necessary for us to provide enough sleep to our bodies. And if you can wake up early, then it is much better. It’s like adding fragrance to gold.
A habit of rising early might give you an opportunity to enjoy life in another dimension that you have been missing so far. You could be more creative, productive, and you might even find the ultimate purpose of your life. The dawn of the day in Sanskrit is called “brahmamuhurta,” which means a holy, divine or auspicious time. It’s the time between 4am to 6am, when the air is filled with cosmic energy. Who knows, the beauty of the morning might bring a new beginning in your life. It might fill your life with so much joy, and so much energy, that you might start seeing the ultimate beauty and potential of your inner being, which could change your life forever.
This article has turned out to be seriously long, but I hope I have addressed most of the issues. If I haven’t, then please feel free to write me an email. I would love to hear from you. And inadvertently if any errors have been made, please allow me a chance to make corrections.
Please go to next pages for:
The Joy of Waking Up Early (Part I)
The Benefits of Waking Up Early (Part II)
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