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Early rising is a tough task for a night owl!
There are many tips on the web on how to wake up early and its benefits for personal productivity. Waking up early has been something I had to work hard to achieve, but its benefits have been far reaching beyond just the increased available hours of the day. For those who have not read my post ‘A night owl turned early bird,’ I was always a night owl and felt I was more efficient at night. Although, I was able to workaround my sleep patterns throughout college, my career afterward became a wreck that had me going the wrong path at every fork in the road.
There are many reasons why you or I might consistently miss our target to wake up early, so I complied the top 5 reasons that impeded my goals to wake up early. Like me, you may experience all 5 reasons listed below, or only a few.
1) Making excuses: This has been one of my main enemies when it comes to waking up. “Oh, just a few more minutes in bed,”"I went to bed late last night, so I probably should sleep in,”"I’m only going to close my eyes,”"If I sleep in an extra 10 minutes, I’ll be able to jump out of bed,”"It’s too cold to get out of bed,”"It’s too hot to get out of bed,” “I’ll wake up earlier tomorrow,” the list can and does go on forever! Just as the definition for ‘excuse’ implies, when we make excuses to sleep in, all we end up doing is to give ourselves a pat on the back and justify sleeping in. Although we need to take it easy on ourselves once in a while, I’ve noticed that the more excuses I made for myself, the more I became OK with sleeping in.
2) Not getting enough sleep: Most of us require 6-8 hours of sleep a day to feel refreshed, ready to tackle the world. In one instance, I’ve met someone who was completely rested, happy and functional with 4 hours of sleep every day! I could never be functional with so little sleep and require at least 7 hours to converse at the elementary school level. On days that I don’t get enough sleep, a 10-15 minute nap right after work perks me back up till bed time.
3) Sleep hygiene: Is the bed you sleep on uncomfortable? Do you have a pile of clothes on your bed that you have to push away to create space to sleep as I had? Sleep hygiene consists of everything related to your sleep, such as the environment (Is the room too bright? loud? uncomfortable? smelly?) and your behaviors (Did you just come back from a 5 mile run? Had a big dinner right before bed?). You’ll want to consider all aspects of sleeping so you can be well rested and ready to wake up when its time.
4) Not setting goals: Setting goals to wake up early may not seem necessary for people who are natural early birds, but for people that are night owls and in my case, an ex-extreme night owl need to set concrete goals that motivate you to achieve those goals. Telling yourself before bed that you’ll wake up early the next day might not be enough. You will want to put notes around your bed, computer and bathroom to keep your mind on the goal, until waking up early becomes a natural part of your life without needing to consciously remind yourself. Make your goals achievable, and ease into it. Try waking up 30 minutes to 1 hour early each week till you achieve the time you want to wake up.
5) Sleeping in has become a habit: Just like anything else, the time you wake up is a habit and if you’re reading this, I assume that you want to break the habit of waking up late. Although there are significant evidence of chronotype, don’t let it get you down, because you can always work to improve your situation. Unfortunately for night owls (including myself), most of the working world is tailored to early birds and people in between. Unless you have a job that fits perfectly with your circadian rhythm, there are always reasons to put effort into rising early. To make this a habit, you’ll have to regularly wake up at the same time after you work up to your established goal. Even on weekends, if you are just starting out, try to wake up around similar times as you do on the weekdays. If you’re really tired from staying out the night before, get up at the same time, but take an extra nap during the day to keep your energy levels up.
Any tips you’d like to share?
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As a fellow night owl, I sympathise!
As you say, the evidence on people trying to shift rhythms is a bit depressing. Funnily enough, I always thought that I was more efficient at night, but now I would have to admit that mornings are my most efficient time.
You didn’t mention if you were sticking to the early rising habit or not?
Some great tips here Ken. Especially the one about sleep hygiene. It is just like having a productive work space. I know I rarely get work done unless I have a clean, distraction free desk. The same idea applies to your bed and sleep. Glad to have found your blog recently and looking forward to reading more in the future!
@Kaizan: I’ve been able to keep my morning schedule, which is quite remarkable in itself! It’s not easy, but I’m getting the hang of it. A big problem is getting to bed early enough. (The night owl still haunts me at times)
@Sean: Thanks for the comment. Having bad sleep hygiene can also be a source of insomnia too. You’re right, having a clean bed will allow you sleep better, just as you would be able to work better with a distraction free desk.
You are 100% right! It is amazing what we can accomplish when we make the effort to “rise” early. During the week I have no choice but to get up early however, I think I need to start making it a priority on the weekends too. Thanks so much for these tips. : )
I’ll be honest. I am a morning person. I love waking up early and I love seeing the sun rise and I love how the air smells when the world is just waking up.
However, I’m stuck in a late night rut. For the last two or three months I go to bed at 3AM and wake up at 11AM. My biggest reason for this is that I don’t want to go to bed early enough. For me to wake up at my ideal 6AM, I’d have to sleep at 10 or 11PM. When those times come around it always seems like I’m doing something or I’m not at all sleepy and I just blow it off.
I’ll have to try this though. I feel like my days would be better organized and more productive if I woke early with a specific agenda. There’s no feeling quite as good as getting everything finished by 11AM.
I’ll try to put this plan into effect tonight.
Great post!
Hey Ken,
Can I hire you to be my personal sleep counselor?
I love when you write about this topic… it’s one of my biggest challenges for the moment! But, I think you hit the nail on the head on many of the points here… excuses, not setting goals, and and sleep hygiene. Are you finding it easier to be a morning person as more time goes on?
Keep up with the posts on these topics… until I can figure out how to be a morning person, that is.
Karen
Great to hear you have realized the problems and are addressing them. I sleep in a minimalist bedroom. All white, no ‘technology’ allowed like computers, tv’s, etc. I make it for sleeping and changing and I love it. Like your earlier article, the biggest thing is creating a habit. Once that is done after about 2 weeks, you will rise early and go to sleep early without even thinking about it.
Dave
LifeExcursion
Thanks for this post. I’ve actually tried to become an early riser for 2 years now. Most of the time I couldn’t do it because I would make excuses! Now, I’m going to try again!
@Karen: Glad you like it. I’m horrible when it comes to waking up, the snooze button is all worn out! But I’ve been taking steps to improve my habits to become an early riser and so far, its been working out for me.
@Dave: You’re right. Having minimal things in your bedroom would help a lot to get you to sleep and up in the morning.
@Nazim: Good luck with your early rising! Don’t give up.
Lately i have been consistently able to wake up 6 in the morning without the need for an alarm clock. My secret, sleep early. Sometimes its hard to get to sleep. i can lie on the bed for an hour with my eyes wide open. What i do is, i exercise to tire myself. Or i read a book. Try read the book that has been on your book rack for month in which you have been trying to finish for some time but just don’t feel motivated or interested and you’re good to go. cheers
@Karlil: You got it, sleeping early is one of the biggest ‘secrets’ but is one that is difficult (at least for me).
Ken,
Great article. It is amazing how many things in life that successful people do come down to creating the right habits and not making excuses. One other tip, I would add is that of going to bed at the same time every night. Obviously this connects to waking up at the same time every morning like you mention.
@Danny: That’s a great tip. Like you said, its obvious to go to bed at the same time, but the thought of it might slip when we’re busy. It’s always great to be reminded of the simple things!
Ken, I have found that I get up early in the mornings when I am really inspired about a project I am working on.
I am then unstoppable and can keep going on just a few hours of sleep each night.
The trick for me now is to be able to function like this all the time. Maybe I need to get really inspired about my life and my life purpose. Then sleep could be completely a thing of the past:-)
Waking up isn’t really the big deal for me. Even when I’m dog tired I hop right out of bed and go shower (mind over matter). But that doesn’t stop me from being sluggish the whole day. The only way to fix this for me is to get to sleep at a decent time, the only problem is I’m NEVER tired at night. As soon as 10:00 pm rolls around I perk right up and can’t sleep until at least 2:00 am. I believe the biggest reason for this is the god damn computer screen, it seriously messes with my circadian rhythm. The sole reason I am now able to get to bed on time is marijuana and no computer. I don’t need marijuana to sleep, but every once in a while when my bed times start to creep later and later I take a few tokes nice and early and pass out. This keeps me on a regular schedule in addition to making the daily show even more funny than it already is. Stoned Slackers Unite!
I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.
- Hunter S. Thompson
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
@Paul, Thanks for stopping by!