How to finally wake up early

Every morning I had my alarm set to 5am. I want to write and I want to exercise and I want to have the satisfaction of waking up early.

Every night, I’d go to bed and want to wake up at 5am and really mean it this time.

But it wasn’t to be. The alarm would wake me, but I just snoozed it or even turned it off completely. A lot of the time trying to wake up early was making me late to work, because I was sleeping in so much.

But I’ve done it before and I know for sure that I have the ability to wake up early, so how do I trigger it?

I decided to break the habit of sleeping in. Literally.

In the evening I went into the bedroom and laid down in my usual sleeping position. I pretended the alarm had gone off and I swung my arm over to the alarm clock, but stopped myself half-way.

I proceeded to get up, plant my feet on the ground and walk out of the room.

I repeated this 15 times.

The next morning, the habit stuck. And the morning after that. And the morning after that. A a few morning after that.

As soon as the alarm went off, I got up, planted my feet and walked out of the room (after turning off the alarm).

I made it automatic by practicing it.

Now that I’ve been on holiday for a few weeks my routine has fallen off a cliff. So I’ll be doing this exercise again to help me get started with this habit.

Try it. It might make you feel silly as you practice, but trust me—it works.