Raise your hand if you want to be a morning person! (I’m raising my hand, you just can’t see me). The interest in being a morning person comes from that desire of wanting to be more successful, getting more done in a day and/or getting alone time. The thought of being up before everyone else sounds exhausting, but there is something attractive about it that made me look into how I can become a morning person.
Before trying to become a morning person, every morning I would wake up about 30 minutes before I should leave the house to go to work. Now, if you know me, it does NOT take me 30 minutes to get ready to go anywhere, especially if I’m trying to look like a presentable human being for work! I would get up around 7:50AM (which for most people still feels early, lucky you if that is early to you) and would rush to get ready. My mind would be racing of all the things I needed to do, not only to head out the door, but also what I needed to do for work. By the time I would get to work, I would rush right into what I needed to do and the day would fly by. By the time the day was over, I still had a long list of things I needed to do for myself, but I would be too drained to want to go to the gym, cook dinner or even read. If I felt lazy when I got home and didn’t want to do things for myself, I had to make a decision on waking up earlier and incorporating my to dos in the morning.
I watched countless Youtube videos (mostly from the Youtubers I linked in my Journey to Self Care post) on waking up early and tips to get yourself out of bed to start the day. Most of these Youtubers had 5AM wake up videos, which felt extreme, but whether it’s 5AM or anything that is early to you, these are the 5 most important tips I learned from these videos:
- Find what you want to accomplish in the morning to motivate you out of bed
- Write down what a perfect morning looks like to you
- Start small by waking up 15 minutes earlier every day (or week)
- Start your mornings the night before (this is my favorite tip and one that deserves a separate post!)
- Put your alarm across the room
These are a few items I wanted to accomplish in the morning:
- Going to the gym
- Eating a healthy breakfast
- Reading a few chapters in a book
- And my new addition – writing blog posts!
When it comes down to my perfect morning, I’ll actually get to it later 🙂
I always knew I was most productive in the morning by how much work I would complete when I showed up at 9AM and worked straight through the morning until my afternoon meetings. So, I only could imagine how great and productive I would feel if I did start waking up at 5AM.
Now, it was time to implement my morning plan.
On January 3rd, I started waking up at 6AM. I started at 6AM because I figured it was early enough to where it wasn’t a huge jolt into waking up earlier. I have one of those sun simulator alarm clocks with peaceful bird chirping, but I also put my phone alarm on and place that further away from my bed so I could physically get up. This is what a typical 6AM morning looks like:
Once I wake up, I take my gym clothes that I laid out the night before and I head straight to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I change into my gym clothes, grab my water bottle and head out to the gym by 6:15AM. My gym is in my building, so going to the gym in the morning is super easy and there shouldn’t be ANY excuses to not go (also NO ONE is in the gym at that time and it feels amazing to blast some Ariana Grande). I spend between 35 – 45 minutes in the gym, and I’m back upstairs by 7:15AM the latest (depending on how long I stretch for). I like to tidy up the living room, feed my dog then hop in the shower. Once I get out the shower, I make a protein shake and drink that while getting ready. I can actually take my time getting ready and be able to walk the dog around 8:20AM. Then, I head out to go to work by 8:30AM.
The timing isn’t that perfect every morning, but generally that is what I am aiming for. As I did this routine for a few weeks, I started to realize that I wanted to incorporate more me time in the morning, not just working out and then going straight into getting ready. So, I set my alarm 15 minutes earlier.
Now, waking up at 5:45AM has definitely been better. I come back from the gym earlier, which means I can fit one or two more morning activities before getting ready. I can either make a full breakfast (which is usually oatmeal with fruit and a cup of coffee), I can read a book while drinking my protein shake or I can write a blog post while drinking my protein shake. It depends on what mood I am in that determines which of these I will do. But, I try and take an additional 15 minutes of me time when I get out the shower. I will also time myself so that I don’t lose track of time!
It’s been 6 weeks since I started this morning routine and the challenge I am facing now is not every morning I go to the gym, which is a huge motivator in getting up. I’m trying to work on what is my motivator in getting up if I have a day off from the gym. My journey to becoming a morning person is still a work in progress, but I have noticed significant improvements in my productivity and I feel better prepared to take on a full work day knowing I took time for myself in the morning.