The Most Practical Guide for Waking up Early.

I am a professional night owl.

I can stay awake for as long as I want.

I don’t think its genetical, I think it's more fun.

You can attend parties, events, play video games, binge-watch shows, scroll through YouTube, or maybe just text all night.

There is no one to disturb you.

All of this sounds amazing, so why wake up early?

Well, if you are reading this, you know why you wanna wake up early.

But the only benefit that I care about is time.

The time you can invest in yourself to create something beautiful.

That chiselled physique that you always wanted.

That sharp mind for your next life challenge.

That runaway business for your freedom.

Or just to enjoy the solitude.

Whatever your reasons might be, I'm not here to judge you.

So let's get straight to the point.

Step one, sleep on time.

Ok, so this is the point where you start cursing me.

“Like duhh, if I sleep at 9, then I will surely wake up at 5.”

“But that’s the entire point. I can’t, it’s impossible.”

Well, yes, that’s what I used to do. Sleep at 1 am and then set an alarm for 5.

Sure as hell, it was impossible to wake up.

But the trick is to be patient. Believe me.

If you wanna wake up at 5 and you currently wake up at 10, give it a month.

“What? A month, are you crazy? I would much rather stay awake for one night and then sleep early.”

Then go ahead, do it.

If it works, then well done.

But if it didn’t, then welcome back, buddy.

As I was saying, give it time.

Shift bed timing by such a small amount that it feels laughable, like 5 min.

It doesn’t have to be exactly 5 minutes, but I would strongly recommend 5–15 min.

Yes, weekends too.

But I know it’s not gonna look like this.

Some days there’s gonna be some party, events, and things you can’t avoid.

For that, I’ll say, just try your best to follow it.

Even if you fail to sleep on time, try your best to wake up on time.

And if you completely mess up a day, don’t beat yourself up and pick up from where you left off.

Don’t allow that one day to ruin everything that you have built.

Do it. Give yourself a challenge.

It doesn’t feel like much now, but believe me, it’ll get progressively harder.

Treat it like videogame.

Alarms

Ok, let’s be cutthroat here, one alarm only.

Having 10 alarms doesn’t help at all.

You are always gonna snooze and wait for the next alarm.

Not only does it fail to wake you up, but it also disrupts your sleep.

And yeah, there is one more thing: change your alarm ringtone.

You might have trained your brain to press the snooze button immediately after hearing it.

Break the pattern. Choose something new.

Mornings

The alarm is ringing, and the bed is warm.

You are convincing yourself to sleep just 5 more minutes.

So what do you do?

You wake the hell up immediately.

Wear your clothes, turn on your laptop, or go for a walk, or do whatever.

See, it’s that simple.

Of course, there will be days when you snooze and sleep.

But the next day, when you hear the alarm in bed, ask yourself, “Was that extra sleep worth it?”

Here are a few things to do after waking up to wire your brain for the subsequent days and make waking up easier:

• Exposure to sunlight/bright light within 90 minutes of waking up.
• Caffeine. (Delay it for 1 hour to avoid the afternoon crash)
• Social Interaction.
• Exercise.

These are the things that tell your brain, “It’s daytime now.”

Evenings

Yup, they are just as important as mornings.

If you have slept well for 8 hours, then there is no battle in the morning.

You simply wake up feeling refreshed.

So sleep on time.

But I guess that’s the difficult part.

To sleep early, you have to prepare for it.

• Eat your last meal of the day at least 1–2 hours before bedtime. Coz that’s the biggest of the night for many.
• Don’t use screens for 30 min before bedtime. And if you can’t, at least please don’t use the phone in bed.
• Warm showers. Relaxes your body and mind, plus they also help lower your core body temperature.
• Evening walks tire you up and also help with digestion.

Reflection

I know it all sounds like a lot of work, but it’s really not.

As you implement them one by one, they start feeling automatic.

And once you solidify your sleep pattern, then it becomes truly automatic.

Imma be honest, it’s gonna be hard. But totally worth it.

Believe in yourself and don’t give up.

Best of luck.