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10 Tips To Become A Morning Person

We all have it thrown in our faces. A friend, colleague or someone on TV saying, “I’m up at 5 am and off to the gym”, or “I’ve already done this and that, before you even woke up.” But some of us just weren’t “lucky” enough to be born a morning person. 

If you’re anything like me, you are a true night owl at heart, but I’ve got some great news. If you want to become a morning person, it can be done. You will need to consciously set your mind to it, as being a morning person is more about habit and routine than being “born with it.”

Here are ten tips to become a morning person, and feel great about it in the process:

1. Stop saying “I’m not a morning person”

This is probably the most important step. If you keep telling yourself, “I’m not a morning person”, you’re never going to be a morning person. You need to change your mindset and vocabulary, in order to accomplish this goal. There is a saying I live by, “Word control beliefs. Beliefs control actions. Actions control outcomes.”

Instead of saying, “I’m not a morning person”, start saying, “I can’t wait to get up early so I can accomplish XYZ.” Do this every single day. Remind yourself about how important the mornings are to you, and tell other people, “I’m now a morning person.” Not to lie to them, but to have some accountability to someone other than yourself.

2. Decide why you want to be a morning person

Before you start anything, answer these three questions.

  1. What’s the driving force?
  2. What’s the priority?
  3. Why do you want to be a morning person?

Really spend some time thoughtfully thinking about the answers, and then write them down. Put them somewhere you see every day. Remind yourself WHY you’re working towards this goal, and why it’s important to you. It will motivate you to stay with it, even when you may want to give up or stray away from it.

3. Commit to 30-days (yes, even the weekends)

Why 30-days? First off, because you can do it! Doing it for 30 days gives you an easy number to track… one month. You can do anything for one month. Plus you move past the 21-day hump many believe it takes to change or create a new habit.

The 30-days gives you enough time to really change a long-standing habit. Habits aren’t broken overnight, and not being a morning person has most likely been a lifelong habit of yours. So you really need to take some time to commit to it.

Why even the weekends?

Because you need to get and keep your sleep pattern consistent in order for your body to get accustomed to its new rhythm.  If you stay up late on the weekends, and then go to bed early during the week, your body won’t know which time is the correct time to wind down. Once you have a solid reset with your sleep pattern, you can be a little more flexible with your weekends, as your body will naturally wake itself up in the morning. Try to keep your wake up/ sleep times within an hour every day. For example, M-F you wake up at 6 am, Saturday and Sunday you wake up no later than 7 am. And same goes for sleep time. Maybe 9 pm M-F and 10 pm Saturday and Sunday.

Tips To Become A Morning Person

4. Prepare your bedroom

This one is really important. Make sure that your room is really dark at night. No lights, especially no blue lights, and no cell phone. I know this sounds impossible, but it can be done. Find a new home for your phone and other items somewhere outside of your bedroom. Place those items in their new home at least 30-minutes before you go to bed—ideally an hour or so before bedtime. The light from your electronics is actually messing with your internal sleep sensors and is telling your brain it’s not time to go to sleep yet, thus making it harder for you to wind down. The same thing happens with blue lights, so make sure your alarm clock, night lights, and other objects in your room aren’t backlit with a blue light. This includes your TV. If for some reason you have to have a light, try to find something that is warm, in a red hue.

5. Get an alarm clock

Remember those old fashion things we used to us to wake us up? Turns out, they still make them, and they are actually better for us than our phone alarm clocks. The reason is they don’t ping and light up the room every time we get a notification in the middle of the night. They are silent until that exact moment we actually want to wake up. They also don’t tempt us to Google something at 2 am or text.

6. Turn off your TV

Turn off your TV at least 30-minutes before you want to fall asleep. The light from the TV tells your body to stay awake, so it can take a long time for your body to wind down once you’ve turned the TV off. Plus having the TV on, makes you more tempted to stay through the commercial break to catch your favorite celebrity on the late-night show. Trust me, they aren’t going to say anything you haven’t already heard them say, and if you’re dying to see it, you can watch it on YouTube the next morning while you’re making your early morning coffee or tea.

7. Plan your sleep

Figure out what time you want to wake up in the morning, then count backward by 8 hours. Whatever time you get to, that’s the time you need to be in bed with your eyes closed. Even if you only sleep 7 to 7.5 hours a night, it will most likely take you 20-30 minutes to actually fall asleep from the time you close your eyes. Be kind to yourself and give yourself a little wiggle room.

Once you know what time it is you have to be in bed, set a reminder on your phone one hour before that bedtime. This reminder is to prompt you to turn off the TV, set your phone down in its new outside of the bedroom home, and prepare yourself for bed. There is actually a great little app for this on iPhones if you happen to have one.

8. Prep for the morning

This is something you can do either over the weekend or each night before bed. Prep your week or the following day, by picking out the clothes you’re going to wear, preparing coffee/tea and breakfast, and anything else you’ll need to start your day off right. The reason for doing this is so that your morning is leisurely, and you don’t have to put a lot of thought into it. You can wake up, get dressed and eat breakfast all in a few minutes, leaving you even more time to take on the day, the way you want to… Calm, Consciously, and Fearlessly! Prepared and ready to go!

9. Find an accountability partner or reward system

This one is optional, but can be very helpful. If you have a partner or roommate, see if they want to do it with you, if not, ask them to encourage you while you’re working on it. Talk to them about what’s going well, and what you’re struggling with. Share your results with them, as a way to help keep you accountable to not only them but also to yourself.

If you don’t have an accountability partner, consider implementing a reward system. An example would be, for each week you’ve successfully woken up early every day, you get a sweet treat from the local bakery or something else that would make you feel rewarded for your efforts. Make it fun and enjoyable.

Tips To Become A Morning Person

10. Enjoy the morning

Figure out what it is you love most about the mornings and take a few minutes each day to just enjoy it. For me, I love that it’s calm, no one is on the roads yet, and the air is crisp and refreshing. It’s almost like you’re the only one around for miles. This is reason enough to get up early.

I promise you, if you put a little time and effort into it, you can become a true morning person. I know, because I’ve personally done it, and I believe in you! If you want more encouragement in this area there is a fantastic (and very short) book I’d highly recommend called The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM). It’s hands down the best book I’ve read and shares plenty of additional tips to become a morning person.

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Still have questions about our ten tips to become a morning person? Comment below or message us on Instagram.

Xx,

~Nika

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