8 Tips For Becoming a Morning Person - The Edited
Do you ever have those nights when you decide you’re going to wake up early the next day, but when your alarm goes off, it just doesn’t feel worth it anymore? Let’s face it, the mornings can feel rough on some of us, especially when they’re dark and cold. Trying to convince ourselves to leave the comforting feeling of a warm and cozy bed can feel like an impossible task with the snooze button staring us in the face.
Mornings seem to evoke a ton of feelings for us – we either love them or hate them. So much so that we’re quick to identify ourselves as either a morning person or a night owl, and assume that’s just the way it is. But what if we could form new habits that could help us make our mornings a little more enjoyable (or, at least bearable)?
Also read: 10 Reasons Why You Need to Pay Attention to Your Mindset
What’s the big deal about becoming a morning person?
We may hear people talk about how great it is to be a morning person, but what’s the big deal? Firstly, let’s start by saying that becoming a morning person may not be necessary for everyone: for people who work nights or shift work that requires them to be up late, it may not be practical to wake up early. However, since normal business hours operate during the day, the majority of us need to wake up at some point during the morning.
Becoming a morning person is just a fancy way of saying that we’re actively making our mornings more enjoyable by prioritizing our time to focus on our needs before tackling the day ahead. In fact, prioritizing our needs can help us set the tone for a productive and fulfilling day.
1. Stop telling yourself you aren’t a morning person
First and foremost, the number one thing you need to do is to stop telling yourself you aren’t a morning person. Our brains are these super complex and truly remarkable things that can either help us achieve anything we set our mind to or be the thing standing in our own way. The more we tell ourselves that we aren’t able to wake up early, the more our brains will look for confirmations to prove it. We’ll be more likely to stay up late or continuously press snooze in the morning. Likewise, if we tell ourselves (and believe) that we like waking up in the morning, our brains will work to confirm that instead. We’ll be more likely to prioritize going to bed earlier and getting up as soon as our alarm goes off in the morning. In other words, we create more of what we focus on, so it’s important to focus on what you want instead of what you don’t want.
2. Set a goal/why
Having a clear goal or reason why you want to get up in the morning will help you get out of bed. For example, many people decide they want to become a morning person because they hear that successful people tend to wake up early. Using this as your initial motivation may be a great way to get inspired, but the reality is that it’s going to be substantially more difficult to continue to get out of bed early when you’re trying to mimic somebody else’s life. However, if you give yourself a strong goal or a reason why you want to get up, you’ll have a much easier time. This will change depending on your own needs, but it could look like saying, “I am going to wake up at 5 am so I can take care of myself by doing a 10-minute meditation, a 30-minute yoga practice, and reading a chapter before I need to get ready for work.”
3. Make things easy on yourself
Seriously, the last thing you want to do in the morning is to be fiddling around with things, so try to make things as easy on yourself as possible. This will be unique to your own needs, but it could mean that you make sure your dishes are washed the night before, leave out a change of gym clothes for your morning workout, or program your coffee maker the night before (seriously, a programmable coffee maker is a total game-changer – if you don’t have one yet, snag one here). Over time you may find that you can do more in the morning and this step may not be as important, but at least at the beginning, keep things simple and easy – your future self will thank you.
Some people love routines, while others may feel overwhelmed by them. Whether we love them or not, routines can provide us with structure and give us an idea of what to expect, which can make our mornings feel a little more manageable. Customize them to your own needs by making them as detailed or relaxed as you want. This could look like creating a schedule for what you wish to do in the morning, or it could simply look like setting a firm time to go to bed and wake up in the morning.
This one may seem strange, but hear it out. From the moment we open our eyes, we’re immediately met with everybody else’s needs. Using a proper alarm clock instead of a phone means you’re not met with the blinding blue light and countless notifications the second you wake up. You’re able to take a second to open your eyes and collect yourself before you worry about anything else. Plus, alarm clocks can be fairly cheap, they don’t take up a ton of space on your nightstand, and some people even find they’re easier to wake up to than a phone. If you need to pick up an alarm clock, check out this one here.
Do you ever find that your bed is extra comfy in the morning? It can make the snooze button look extra tempting or encourages you to lay there scrolling through social media long after you’ve woken up. Arguably the toughest part about becoming a morning person is actually getting out of bed to begin with. As difficult as it may seem, commit to getting out of bed as soon as your alarm goes off. The longer you wait to do this, the more likely your bed will convince you to stay, and the less likely you will be to get up.
Becoming a morning person is all about the habits you form along the way, and the best way to form a habit is by being consistent. Everybody is different, so the length of time it takes to form a habit will differ from person to person, but experts say it typically takes anywhere from 18 to 254 days. This means that it’s especially important to remain consistent with your goals, routines, and strategies at the beginning. The more you do it, the easier it’ll get.
Sleep is essential for both our mental and physical wellbeing and needs to be prioritized. Not only will this mean you’ll need to fall asleep earlier if you’re going to wake up earlier, but you’ll need to make sure you’re getting quality sleep, too. This may mean you’ll need to set a firm bedtime, limit screen usage before bed, or reduce caffeine consumption in the afternoon. Since sleep is so essential, if you are finding it particularly difficult to get quality sleep, you may wish to speak with your primary physician – you deserve to feel well-rested and ready to tackle the day ahead.
BONUS: Don’t give up
You’ve got this – seriously, you do. It may not be the easiest thing in the world, especially at the start, and you may have little hiccups along the way, but keep going. Breaking long-term habits and replacing them with new ones isn’t an easy task, so remember to be gentle and patient with yourself along the way. Keep your head up, believe in yourself, and trust that you can do it.
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