How to Become a Morning Person

Ugh, I swore I would never write this post. But here goes:

Yesterday I got up at 5:46 A.M.

I walked across the hallway into our T.V. room, scooped up my french bulldog Francis, and carried him down the stairs.

With a yawn I walked out into the yard, where he did his business. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. We took a quick walk down to main street and back. Afterwards, I came in and cooked some eggs.

Then I had a shower.

Then I went for work.

“But Todd! Don’t you realize all the valuable time you’re wasting there? What about your green smoothie? Did you even get your heart to 160 BPM on your walk?”

Why do you want to become a morning person? Do you think, maybe, it will make you successful? Do you think it will give you more hours in the day? Do you think that will unlock your competitive side all on its own?

One time I read that Michael Hyatt wakes up at 4:55 A.M. every day. I wanted to be successful like Michael Hyatt, so I rolled back my alarm clock.

That worked really well.

For two days.

I couldn’t maintain the routine Michael does because my life circumstances are nowhere near the same. Michael has 5 children who have already left the house. I have a dog who still needs to go pee every hour or two. Michael has a wife who also likes to get up early. Mine would rather cuddle up on the couch watching Frasier long after dark.

Most mornings work exactly like this for me. I don’t get up early because I want to get more done (though sometimes I do). I don’t do it because I think it will give me some kind of edge. I do it because it gives me perspective. Mornings give me margin, even if I’m using them to roll in the grass with my dog, an activity which has presumably no measurable return on investment.

If you’re a night owl, be a freaking night owl. My friend gets more blogging done between the hours of 9 and 11 P.M. than he ever did before 8 in the morning. I worry many self help gurus give blanket advice without adjusting for individual circumstances.

I don’t want to be that guy.

But, if you’re determined to make the change, here are a few things I did:

A) Get up for a reason you care about

In my early 20s, I got up before my early classes so I could — wait for it — play XBox.

XBox was fun! I had an Assassin’s Creed game I couldn’t wait to finish, and games were a big part of my childhood. Since school and work robbed my time in the evenings, morning became the only option.

Here is something I have noticed: Every time I have failed at life change, it’s because I tried to make 6 of them at once.

You’re not trying to maximize your mornings yet, you’re just trying to build a habit of waking. Eventually, you can make the transition to doing something else (if you want to), but waking up will be that much easier.

B) Start the night before

I hate it when people act like nobody has ever written about a topic before, so I’ll keep this point short.

I don’t have an elaborate routine. I do not listen to 20 minutes of Mozart before bed. I do not meditate with the lights low.

I just set my clothes at the foot of the bed and put my alarm (phone) on the other side of the room. As soon as it goes off, I crawl out from under the covers to shut it up and what do you know? My clothes are right there. May as well go get a cup of coffee.

C) Don’t excuse the weekends

The problem with changing your pattern on Saturday and Sunday is that Monday often feels like you have to start learning how to get up all over again.

It happens like this: After the first day of waking up early, you will feel amazing. The second day will hit you like a train wreck. The third day isn’t much fun either. This is why most people use the weekend to sleep in. “I deserve it,” they think.

But then about day 10, something weird happens. You will pass out exactly when it’s time to go to bed. You will wake up minutes before your alarm goes off. It’s like your body (go figure) is doing what you wanted it to.

Maybe I’ll get up at 6:30 on the weekend as opposed to 5:30, but for the most part, I keep the number of hours I sleep the same, and I’ll try to be up with the sun.

D) Learn to drink coffee

E) Schedule stuff in the morning

Not long ago I heard this piece of advice from Matthew Hussey (please don’t ask why I was watching videos from a dating expert).

He says when you have a whole lot of work to do, the tendency is to clear your schedule. But in fact, it better to do the opposite because now you have a clear deadline for getting things done.

Since I know I have bill-paying work that starts around 8, I’ll generally do my work between 7 and 8. It’s not a long block of time.

But it is an incredibly focused one.

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— TB