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Generally, nobody actually likes to wake up early, but everyone loves the feeling of having woken up early. Kind of like exercising – many of us struggle to get ourselves to the gym, but all of us love the feeling of having gone to the gym. Waking up early, especially when done with purpose, always provides a feeling of empowerment for your day.
This outstanding excerpt is from ‘The Miracle Morning: The 6 Habits That Will Transform Your Life Before 8AM’ by Hal Elrod.
Increasing your Wake Up Motivation Level (WUML)
For most of us, when the alarm clock sounds each morning, we are woken from a dead sleep. Leaving the comfort of our beds is the least appealing thing to do. If you were to rate your level of motivation as it pertained to waking up – a.k.a. your wake up motivation level (WUML) – at the moment the alarm clock starts incessantly beeping, on a scale of 1–10 (10 being ready to wake up and embrace the day, and 1 meaning you want nothing more than to go back to sleep), most of us would probably rate our WUML close to a 1 or a 2. It’s perfectly natural, when you’re still half asleep, to want to hit the snooze button and keep on sleeping.
The challenge is, how do you give yourself the motivation you need to wake up early and create an extraordinary day when your wake up motivation level is only at one or two when your alarm clock sounds?
The answer is simple: one step at a time. Here are five simple, snooze-proof steps to making waking up in the morning – even early in the morning – easier than ever before.
Step 1: Set your intentions before bed
The first key to waking up is to remember this: Your first thought in the morning is usually the last thought you had before you went to bed. For example, we’ve all had nights where we could hardly fall asleep because we are so excited about waking up the next morning. Whether it was Christmas Eve, the night before your birthday, your first day of school, starting a new job, or going on vacation – as soon as the alarm clock sounds, you open your eyes with enthusiasm and excitement to get out of bed and embrace the day!
On the other hand, if your last thought before bed was something like, ‘I can’t believe I have to get up in six hours; I’m going to be exhausted in the morning!’ then your first thought when the alarm clock goes off is likely along the lines of, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s already been six hours? Nooo! I just want to keep sleeping!’ So, the key is to consciously decide every night to actively and mindfully create a positive expectation for the next morning.
Step 2: Move your alarm clock across the room
If you haven’t already, move your alarm clock as far away from your bed as possible. This forces you to rise from bed and engage your body in movement. Motion creates energy, so when you get up and out of bed it naturally helps you wake up.
If you keep your alarm clock next to your bed, then you are still in a partial sleep-state when the alarm goes off, and it makes it much more difficult to wake yourself up. But keeping the alarm clock (nowadays it’s mobile) far makes a big difference. Simply forcing yourself to get out of bed to turn off the alarm will instantly take your wake up motivation level from a WUML-1 to a WUML-2. However, you’ll still likely be feeling more sleepy than not. So …
Step 3: Brush your teeth
This step is a little uneasy but very effective. The point is that you’re doing mindless activities for the first few minutes and simply giving your body time to wake up. So, after turning off your alarm clock, go directly to the bathroom sink to brush your teeth and splash some warm (or cold) water on your face. This simple activity will increase your wake up motivation level from a WUML-2 to a WUML-3 or WUML-4. Now that your mouth is minty fresh, it’s time to…
Step 4: Drink a full glass of water
It’s crucial that you hydrate yourself first thing every morning. After six to eight hours without water, you’ll naturally be mildly dehydrated, and dehydration causes fatigue. Often when people feel tired – at any time of the day – what they really need is more water, not more sleep. Start by getting a glass of water and drink it as fast as is comfortable for you. The objective is to rehydrate your body and mind as fast as possible, to replace the water you were deprived of during the hours you slept. When you drink a glass of water and hydrate yourself, your wake up motivation level goes from a WUML-3 or WUML-4 to a WUML-4 or WUML-5.
Step 5: Get dressed in your workout clothes
Last but not least, get dressed in your exercise clothes, so you’re ready to leave your bedroom and immediately engage in your morning routine. Some people prefer to start their day by jumping into the shower, but we should earn our morning shower by breaking a sweat first! Morning exercise is crucial to maximizing your potential because it puts you into a peak mental, physical, and emotional state so that you can win the day.
It only takes about five minutes to execute these five simple steps, and when you do, your wake up motivation level should naturally be at a WUML-5 or WUML-6. At that point, it requires much less discipline to stay awake for your morning routine. If you were to try and make that commitment at the time your alarm clock went off – while you were at a WUML1 – it would be a much more difficult decision to make.
I personally follow the morning routine & It’s the best thing to spend time with yourself. It helps you to judge the direction of your life. If it’s off-track then you can put your thought process to bring it back on track.
“Don’t wake up with the regret of what you couldn’t accomplish yesterday. Wake up while thinking about what will be able to achieve today. Good Morning!”- Unknown
