Never Snooze Again: A Simple Three-Step Formula To Transform Any Night Owl Into An Early Bird

The world comes alive at night.

I, like many others, used to come home after a long, tedious night of studying at the library or a hot, grueling shift at work and I would be absolutely exhausted.

However, I would also be eager to finally have some free time on my hands.

The result of this unideal scenario is that I would suddenly become more alert and driven towards action. Whether that was catching up on social media, working on a side project, reading the news, etc., I now had time for these tasks.

I would begin working and find that before I knew it, the clock would read 2–3am in the morning.

The worst part about it: I would be up at 8AM to do it all again the next day!

Once you begin this cycle, it is a difficult one to break. However, like anything, this cycle is a matter of habit. We have come up with the term “night owl” to identify and justify this habit as a personality trait, when in reality, everyone has the ability to change this habit AND CHANGE IT NOW!

The cycle of every human day includes three phases:

1. The Peak: you are most alert and task oriented (you should focus on high level thinking/important work)
2. The Trough: you are somewhat tired and certainly the least productive (you should focus on low level tasks)
3. The Rebound: you begin to get your energy back (you may begin to work on medium-high level tasks again)

Okay, now that we understand what these phases are, we can look at how different people go through them.

• The “Normal” individual: Peaks in the morning, trough in the afternoon, rebound after dinner
• The Night Owl: Rebound in the morning, trough in the afternoon, peaks at night

In order to change my habits of staying up late and transition into enjoying the early hours of the morning, I did quite a bit of research.I came up with a simple combination of 3 R’s (Rest, Reason, Rituals) which, when combined, can help you transform your lifestyle!

Here’s what I came up with:

#1 Early Birds Aren’t Superhumans (REST)

• We praise these individuals as if they are godlike entities. We can’t understand what magic formula they are drinking that gives them the ability and pure will to force themselves out of bed before the sun has risen.
• No, no, no. They are the same as you and me. They simple choose to go to bed at a reasonable time. Most “5am-ers” are still getting more sleep than you. How can this be? They go to bed at a decent time. If you go to bed at 10pm and wake up at 5am, you are sill getting more sleep than if you choose to howl at the moon until 2am and wake up at 7am.
• Set goals about when you want to wake up and count back 6–8 hours depending on how much sleep you need. You might need to make sacrifices in terms of how you spend your night, but that will come with the territory.

#2 Early Birds Have Purpose (REASON)

• If you want to wake up early, you have to have a reason. Do you want to get more homework done? Do you want to start a profitable side hustle? Do you want to finally get fit? Or do you want more time with your kids at night?
• Figure out why you want to start getting up earlier or it is never going to happen. I have learned this first hand and if you wake up with without an explicit to do list, you might as well roll over, go back to bed, and chalk the morning up as a lost cause.
• Early birds are driven to success. They go to bed excited to wake up in the morning because they know all that they want to accomplish.
• I began waking up early to work out and finish my anatomy studying for the day. This freed up my evenings to do whatever I wanted with friends. What a great feeling!
• For most people, waking up early will give them more free time on the back end of the day, something that is highly desired by many.

#3 Early Birds Use Simple Secrets To Jumpstart Their Mornings (RITUALS)

• I recently discovered a SUCCESSTALK podcast episode featuring Mel Robbins in which she discussed the 5 second rule. (You can check it out in depth on my blog here).
• Basically, if you are faced with a time in your life that you need to take action immediately (in moments where you need courage to push through hesitation or to stop a habit that is continually getting the best of you.) count down from 5,4,3,2,1 and GO. It interrupts habit loops by activating your prefrontal cortex and allows you to take the desired action.
• Don’t believe me? You can thank me tomorrow morning at 5 am.
• Additionally, “5am-ers” leave water by their bedside and chug it when they wake up. Greater than coffee, this natural boost can be the perfect natual remedy to set the tone for the morning.
• Many early birds exercise first thing in the morning. Doesn’t that sound delightful?
• This was not always beneficial for me. I swam laps at 5am M-W-F for two weeks and it was not fun. It was an easy way to wake up and I felt great after, but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it. Instead, many early birds should at least take a quick walk before starting their morning to take in the fresh air and get the blood flowing.

If you follow this simple formula of three R’s (rest, reason, and rituals), I believe anyone can transform their sleep and lifestyle, projecting you forward into the life full of success and happiness that you desire and deserve. Best of luck and i’ll be with you in spirit tomorrow at 5AM.

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