Snooze, You Lose

How I Began Rising At 5 AM By Asking Myself This One Powerful Question In The Morning

Greg Muender
Nov 2 · 4 min read
San Diego Sunrise | October 12, 2019

BAMP! BAMP! BAMP! BAMP! BAMP!

The alarm goes off. I hit snooze and buy myself 9 more minutes of sleep.

BAMP! BAMP! BAMP!

Alarm again. Snooze again. 9 minutes again.

BAMP! Snooze. 9 minutes.

Over.

And over.

And over again.

For years, I’m ashamed to admit this was my morning routine. On some days this alarm-wake-sleep spiral of misery would play out for 2–3 hours. What started as a plan to wake up at 5 AM and conquer the world devolved into Plan B — stumble out of bed at 7:30 AM feeling groggy and defeated. My ambitions of being an early riser would have to wait yet another day.

To add insult to injury, it wasn’t just the later rising that weighed on me. I was keenly aware I robbed myself of energy for the day ahead. Curiously, I felt less rested waking up at 7:30 than if I just woke up at 5 AM in the first place. Those 2–3 hours of interrupted junk sleep was not restful nor productive. I was simply squandering valuable morning time.

About 4 months ago, this habit changed. I now rise at 5 AM feeling rested (almost) each and every day.

5:03 AM | Let’s go!

Here is the 🎩 magic 🎩 question that I began literally asking myself as my hand hovers above the snooze button every morning:

Am I ready to fail my first challenge of the day?

This was a complete game-changer for me. In resilience, I would respond to myself emphatically, “No, gosh dangit, I do NOT want to fail my first challenge of the day!”

Think about it. You are a mere 30 seconds into the day and presented with your first challenge of many more to come. You really want to retreat back to bed and admit to yourself that you’re 0 for 1 already?

In order to create an environment for you to pass this first challenge of the day, here are 3 supportive tips.

1. No snooze button.

Seriously — this is non-negotiable. You cannot do it. You’re going to sabotage your mornings by hitting the snooze even once. When your alarm goes off, get out of bed. Hitting the snooze button is a slippery slope. Don’t tempt yourself by considering this as an option. This is far easier said than done, so keep reading…

2. Set Your Alarm Physically Out Of Reach.

I use my iPad for an alarm and it sits atop an armoire that is over 6 feet tall. To turn off the alarm at 5 AM, I have to get out of bed and walk over to it. I have to reach up high and stretch to grab it. It’s terribly inconvenient, but this is done intentionally. By making it deliberately difficult to access, I’m forced to move my body and begin waking up a little bit through physical movement.

3. Go To Bed Ridiculously Early.

“Nothing good ever happens after midnight.” — Bo Schembechler

Rising early is excruciatingly miserable when you don’t have enough sleep.

Rising early is astonishingly easy when you’ve had enough sleep.

If you begin to rise earlier without going to bed earlier, you’ll likely sabotage your efforts to change your habit. As you adjust to the new time you’d like to rise, it’s crucial that you actually get enough sleep. You need to manage the risk of sleep deprivation.

It’s a common misconception that rising early means you have to sacrifice the amount of sleep you get. This doesn’t have to be true. You can get the same amount of sleep you're accustomed to, you just have to roll back your internal clock a bit.

It’s cool to go to bed early. Be proud to be a person who chooses to start sleep at a comically early time. Tom Bilyeu — co-founder of Quest Nutrition — says he goes to bed at 9pm every night. When my routine was to get up at 7am, I would regard midnight as the end of the day. Now I’ve simply adjusted my standards and consider 10pm my bedtime. Two hours earlier bedtime = two hours earlier rise time.

“The quiet time between 6:00–7:30 AM is when some of my best work gets done. It’s my time to read, think, and prepare for the day ahead.”
–Bill McNabb, chairman of The Vanguard Group

More posts to come on routines and optimizing sleep. Follow me for updates.

Greg Muender

Written by

Sales Manager @Sunrun | Circle of Excellence & 2015 Rookie of The Year | @gregmuender on Instagram | I wrote the book on @medium: www.notbignotsmall.com

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