How I Magically Became A Morning Person

Anyone who’s spoken to me in the last couple months has heard me talk about, The Miracle Morning. It’s a book about a guy named Hal who nearly died in a car accident, then came back to life as a successful leadership coach. All to have it all taken away when the economy crashed and sent him into bankruptcy. Talk about horrible luck!

Through the challenges, Hal created what he deemed The Miracle Morning, a mixture of meditation, affirmations, visualizations, reading and journaling for one hour. All I can say about this is: it is insane what an hour of personal development can do for your day. But that is a topic for another post. Today, I want to share a handful of strategies from Hal that I use to actually get up at 5:00 a.m. to workout, or do my miracle morning that actually work!

TALK TO YOURSELF BEFORE BED

This one sounds strange, but the way you talk to yourself about waking up in the morning has a big impact on how you feel when it's time to pull your lifeless body out from under the covers in the AM. As you're laying down say things like, "I will be getting 7 hours of sleep. That is plenty of sleep for me." Or, "Waking up at 5am tomorrow will make me feel so accomplished." This will put you in the mindset to fight through the uncomfortable and make big things happen before 6am!

PUT YOUR ALARM CLOCK ACROSS THE ROOM

I fall asleep 10x faster because I’m not able to swipe through social media while trying to fall asleep. Secondly, when your reach over to turn off your alarm while in bed you’re basically still asleep. Meaning you’re not making a conscience decision to sleep though your alarm. When you walk across the room, you have a few moments to think about what is important to you and why you want to get up early and seize the day because your mind and body is awake.

 

BRUSH YOUR TEETH

Simple way to invigorate you and signal to your body that you’re ready to get up for the day.

 

DRINK A GLASS OF WATER

When you wake up you are dehydrated. Dehydration makes you tired. So, drinking a big glass of water helps you wake up and stay up.

 

GET OUT OF YOUR PAJAMAS

Put on your workout clothes and get out of your comfies. Yet another signal to your body that it’s time to get up! P.S. Sometimes I sleep in my workout clothes. Other times I’ll set them out the night before. Both help a ton in the AM. 😊

I know these ideas sound simple, but creating habits often is. It’s all about eliminating the friction. Humans do what is easiest and most convenient. So, if we create an environment that makes it hard to go back to sleep, we are less likely to do so. That is why doing something as silly as sleeping in your workout clothes can make all the difference in getting out of bed for your workout class.

Lastly, it takes about 30 days to create a habit. Remember that the first day feels exciting because you’re reaching toward your goals. The following days feel unbearable because the excitement has died down, and you haven’t built the habit. Then it turns into uncomfortable, but doable, but still not great. Around day 21+ it starts to feel easier. And by day 30, your body is used to it and it starts to feel easy! So keep this in mind as you’re building this habit and others. It’s not going to feel easy in the beginning, but it will get easier as you approach your 30 days.

Good luck!

-Ronnie