So you wanna become a morning person. Whether it’s a New Year’s resolution, or just something you’ve been eyeing for a while, I got you!
I used to label anything before 7AM as ‘adventure time.’ That meant that any wake-up in the 4s, 5s, or 6s was strictly reserved for catching early flights or getting a jump on a special hike. But now, I am one of those people, who gets up every single day of the week at 5 o’clock in the morning. I can now proudly call myself a morning person! But that doesn’t mean it’s suddenly become super easy. It still takes some planning and a little… trickery?? However, it is 100% worth it. My mood is better, my productivity is higher, and my training is much more consistent! Now that I feel like I’ve got my routine down, I want to share my favourite tips to try to convert everyone I know into early birds!
Why tho?
First, let’s chat a bit more about why anyone would even bother to change up their sleeping hours. I have so many reasons!!! Let’s make a list.
- Enhanced Productivity: Early mornings (most often) offer a quieter and less distracted environment, allowing you to focus and get stuff done. This is especially true if you have work you can do from home. There’s nothing like banging out key to-dos before you even receive your first email!
- Establishing a Peaceful Morning Routine: Waking up early gives you the time and flexibility to establish a morning routine that sets a positive tone for the day. There’s nothing worse than the feeling of being rushed and stressed out cause you’re gonna be late again… every single day.
- More Me-Time: I cannot speak from experience, but this one is big with parents! Early mornings can be an excellent time for time to yourself before other people start needing your attention.
- Improved Mental Health: Starting the day with a sense of accomplishment from completing tasks or literally even just being proud of getting up when you said you would get up can significantly improve your mood for the whole day!
- Better Work Outs: Prioritizing your workouts allows you to get them done before daily stresses deplete your energy stores! It also removes the ability to make excuses or “run out of time”. I really enjoy getting up and starting my workouts first thing, before my brain even really registers. No time to dwell on how hard it might be or to talk yourself out of it! It’s getting done!
- Maximized Daylight Hours: My Canadian pals KNOW – we gotta make sure we’re awake the whole time the sun is up!!
These are the main things I have noticed since switching up my routine, and they will of course be a little different for everyone. But don’t those all sound pretty great??
1. Bite the Bullet
I wish I could recommend a way to do this without feeling tired ever, but that’s not reasonable. To kick things off, you’re gonna have to spend a day tired. Bite the bullet and set that 5AM alarm. It’s gonna suck for the first day, but that’s part of this trick! I promise! By the end of the day, you’ll be super tired, and ready to tuck into bed nice and early. Boom. We’ve established a routine!
2. Plan Your Outfit
Remember planning your first day of school outfit as a kid, and laying it out on the floor? We’re back to that!! I used to imagine I was in Art Attack (extreme niche reference), and lay out my clothes on the floor in a cool pattern. Cool pattern is not necessary, but you can simplify your mornings by laying out your clothes the night before. Removing the task of deciding what to wear in the morning gets rid of the chance to make excuses, and helps a lot with decision fatigue. Whether it’s picking out a snazzy professional fit for work or your fav comfy workout gear, having your attire ready saves mental energy and removes some of the resistance to getting out of bed.
3. Prep Your Breakfast
In the same vein as planning your outfit, prepping your your breakfast is another way to decrease resistance in the mornings. Whether it’s prepping ingredients for a quick smoothie, setting up overnight oats, or just having an idea in mind, this proactive step removes the effort of having to try to think too hard! I personally like to plan a little treat, as something to look forward to. Some days it’s just a new yogurt flavour or a different tea blend, and some days it’s a brownie or an extra tall glass of my favourite juice! Whatever fires you up.
4. Ditch Your Phone
This is my BIGGEST tip: put your phone in a different room. This has completely changed things for me!! When I head to bed, I leave my phone downstairs. This does three things…
1: I don’t stay up too late in the black hole of social media;
2: I can’t grab my phone as a distraction if I wake up in the middle of the night;
3: I cannot waste time scrolling in the mornings when I wake up. When the alarm goes off, I am physically out of bed. If you just reach over and grab your phone, but stay lying down while you check your notifications, it’s ridiculously easy to feel sleepy and doze off again, or to just accidentally lose an hour to scrolling.
I take it one step further, and don’t even look at my phone until after my first workout of the day. This was mostly as a choice for my own mental health, but I would recommend it to yall as well 🙂 It doesn’t have to be a workout necessarily, but try to move your body before going after screen time. Whether it’s a dog walk, a run, a gym session, meditation, stretching, or even just a shower/skincare. Anything to connect yourself to your body, before checking in online.
5. Get to Bed Early
Duh. If you’re gonna be waking up at 5AM, you need to be in bed by 8-10PM, depending how much sleep you need. I shoot for 8 hours, and function pretty well with at least 7.5. Less than that and I fall apart. Figure out your magic number, and then work backwards from there!
Important thing here is to try to keep the routine up, even if you do not feel tired. Head to bed at the time you know you need to, and try to sleep (or at least lie there and rest). A lot of the time, your body is tired but your mind is distracted, so putting yourself in a sleepy space can help!
6. Get to a Sleepy Space
Trying to sleep when you don’t feel tired can be frustrating. So let’s get some tools to help avoid that! First thing I think of is some advice from my dad: just lying in bed relaxing is still beneficial to your body and mind. It’s not wasted time. It may not be quite as useful as sleep, but you’re still doing something right! Reframing the “UGH I can’t sleep” as “my body is still at rest” can help to alleviate the anxiety around falling asleep, making it easier to… fall asleep!! This was my go-to trick for pre-game day or pre-race day nerves.
You can also use certain physical tools to help relax before bed, such as Sleepy Time Tea (my fav), melatonin (Ty’s fav), or magnesium (a triathlete fav).
It also helps to make sure your sleep space is cozy. This means free of clutter, preferably free of screen time, no unnecessary lights or noises, etc. I like to keep a notepad beside my bed, so that if I get any grand ideas from my dreams (or more commonly, if I randomly think of to-do list items that feel critical), I can write them down and allow my brain to forget them and just relax, knowing I can check my notepad in the morning and don’t need to stress as I’m trying to sleep.
7. Do Not Snooze!
I know, it’s hard… but we’re gonna get into some science here and I find things easier to play along with if I have a logical reason. Hitting snooze might feel like you’re getting a few precious extra minutes of rest, but in reality, it disrupts your body’s natural wake-up process. When you hit snooze and go back to sleep, your body begins a new sleep cycle that it can’t complete in just a few minutes. So when the alarm goes off a second time, you’re being woken up in the middle of a sleep cycle, which leaves you feeling groggy and disoriented. This is called “sleep inertia”, and it can actually affect your alertness and productivity for the entire day!
8. Light it Up
Convince your body it really is time to GET GOIN by turning on lights and moving your body. The ideal scenario would be exposure to sunlight as soon as you wake up each morning, as light tells your body’s internal clock that it’s daytime. However, if you live somewhere the sun doesn’t rise until later in the day (Canadians represent!), you can simulate the sun with bright lights in your house, or even a lightbox. Other things that help kickstart your body include upbeat music, cold water on your face and hands, a quick shower, and exercise – which could be a gym class, a run, or even as simple as a little kitchen dance party for one.
9. Do Something You Enjoy First Thing
Make getting out of bed fun! Do something that you really like to do first thing in the morning. It doesn’t have to be the same every day either! For me, it’s a mix of reading, cuddling with Mr Hound, and going to group workouts with my friends. Try to think of something that makes you WANT to get up, so it doesn’t feel like a chore.
10. Be Consistent
Yes, that includes weekends! You can allow a lil sleep-in here and there of course, but nothing crazy like a 3 hour swing. That makes it too tough to get back into a routine! I used to only get up early twice a week, for our two 6AM group workouts. Now I do every day and it’s honestly much easier and I’m way less tired. Keeping a consistent bedtime when you’re constantly changing your morning alarm is so difficult and so unnecessary! You just gotta commit. It’ll pay off 🙂
Now Go to Bed!
That’s all I got folks. There are so many other “hacks” out there, like sunrise lamps and setting a timer to blast your fav playlist, but this is just what has been working super well for me lately. No phone before bed or in the mornings until after my workouts, removing all morning decisions, getting to bed early, planning to do something I enjoy first thing, and never, ever, hitting snooze.
Give these little tricks a try for a week, and if you don’t notice a change in your moods, productivity, and sense of accomplishment, leave me a hate comment. <3
PS – Here’s my YouTube where I go over the 10 tips in detail:
