Everyone has seen the videos about how every CEO wakes up at 5 am. It is sold as being the singular thing that will change your life. Not only will it will open the path to enlightenment, it will make you superhuman and not to mention you'll be a millionaire by year end. Regardless of what you have been sold, taking advantage of your morning can be invaluable. There are far fewer distractions to hinder your productivity and from personal experience it is just extremely peaceful when everyone else is sleeping. I have been sticking to early starts for a couple of months now so I thought I'd share some advice on what has helped me stick to the habit.

Go to Bed Earlier

You knew this was coming before you even clicked on this post. If you want to get up earlier then you need to commit to going to bed at a reasonable time. Even more than that, I don't mean getting in bed then watching your favourite shows for hours on end. When your head hits that pillow you should be focusing on one thing - sleeping. Personally, I work best on at least 7 hours sleep and I’d estimate most of you reading this are roughly the same. So work backwards from the time you want to get up (5:30 -> 10:30) and use that to decide when you should be asleep. That means getting into bed a bit earlier than the time you land at so that you have time to drift off.

Have a Night-time Routine

A great way to tell your body it is time to sleep is to have a strong routine to end your day with. The more you commit to the routine the more your body will accept that this is your pre-sleep ritual and it will begin to wind down naturally. My personal preference to wind down is to read it keeps me away from bright screens and puts me in the right mind set. Speaking of I'm currently working through Drive by Daniel H. Pink. It's a good read if you're curious about what motivates us. Usually by the time I finish a chapter I'm yawning and ready to hit the hay. So a quick trip to the bathroom to wash my face, brush my teeth, etc. and off I go. It's important to remember though that the key to a good routine is not copying someone else, instead you need to experiment and find what works for you.

Forget about That Alarm

This tip might be a little unusual or even a little scary to some of you. Ditch your alarm, or at least replace it for a sunrise alarm like this one. It's a lot nicer to be slowly woken up by a gradually increasing light than some loud beeping. If you are worried about sleeping in, set your alarm for the latest possible moment you could wake up and still get to where you need to in time. From there if you are going to bed at the right time, you should start trying to wake up before your alarm. The more you do it, the more natural it becomes and soon you'll forget you even own an alarm. If you continue to struggle to wake up before your alarm then try to go to bed a little earlier each night, eventually you should find an arrangement that works for you. As with the theme of this post, experiment and tailor your experience to suit yourself.

Have the Proper Resources

You have probably heard this before but I'm going to repeat it. We sleep for roughly a third of our lives. A third! If that isn't worth investing in then I don't know what is. Look at your sleeping arrangements and see where you can improve them; a new mattress? New sheets? Some memory foam? You've got countless options these days so take the time out to improve something that you are going to spend a lot of time doing. For me pocket spring mattresses work best, and I avoid all types of memory foam - I don't know how people find them comfy. You're not me though so find what works for you, and if you're a little worried about price you can usually find some good discounts if you buy display models.

Have a Reason to Get Up

This tip is almost as fundamental as going to bed earlier. Hopefully you have a reason to get up earlier, or a goal you can work towards. If not start there, and come up with something you can work towards in your mornings. Having a ‘want’ is key to sticking with this habit. Once you have your ‘want’ then spend some time planning out how you are going to use your mornings to tackle it. My current ‘want’ is to learn how to do a handstand press-up. That means my mornings consist of a lot of balancing acts and being upside down against a wall. Having a goal where you can see the progression over time is an added motivator that will help keep you focused and motivated to stick to your routine.

To Conclude…

The important lesson to take from this post, if anything, is if you want to get up earlier you need to understand why you want to. Once you have your ‘want’ then you can start to arrange your sleeping pattern to get up earlier. It may take time but keep at it and be consistent. Hopefully when you look back at yourself in a couple months time you'll have reaped the rewards from your investment in yourself. One final note a lot of these ideas are what worked for me but everyone is different so take them and experiment to find what works for you.