Why Waking Up Early Can Help You Achieve Success

“Dream big but wake up early to actualize them.”

-Prince Hopkins Amachree

I know many people don’t like to wake up early. I have never had a problem with that. I was required to wake up at 4 when I was a kid, that stayed with me. Although now it’s a bit unhealthy where I wake up at 2 or 3 or sometimes even before that, that’s what stress does to you.

Anyway, waking up early has only benefits related to it and as the saying goes,

“The early bird gets the worm.”

People who wake up early will tell you to do the same, and people who do not will tell you how they wish to wake up early. One of the things that motivate me is that I get to do my work without any distractions.

When I was in college, this is what I did to finish my assignments with no one to disturb me in the mornings.Now that I am an entrepreneur running multiple businesses, I find it to be the same.

Most people don’t wake up early. There’s no traffic noise, there’s no family disturbance, your phone doesn’t go off much and even social media is not that active. When you are up early, even if you want to talk to someone you are not going to have many options because others are asleep.

Serenity

“I love that this morning’s sunrise is not defined by last night’s sunset.”

-Steve Maraboli

There’s something delightful about the morning time. The air hasn’t had the chance to be tainted with pollution, and the sound is filled with happy chirping than loud horns blaring. Everything is covered with a blanket of serenity.

This is the perfect time to get your biggest task done, or as I call them, your big rocks or MITs (most important tasks). Starting early lets you wrap up early, meaning you get more time for yourself and your family. You are not working every second of daylight. You get to learn something, go out and explore, and in general focus on things you never got time for because you were working. Also, it gives you time to enjoy nature! On most days, I get much more accomplished by 9am than most people can accomplish in the whole day.

Increased Productivity

“Lose an hour in the morning, and you will be all day hunting for it.”

-Richard Whately

Waking up early is also advisable because you have reduced stress levels in the morning, you are more energetic and that boosts your speed, which in turn helps you complete any task in lesser time than it would take otherwise.

Most of my work entails writing, over the years I have realized that I write faster in the morning, which is why I start my workday early. Being a morning person, I have always been a ball of energy at the start of the day, so I just channel it into my work. This helps me slow down in the afternoon yet complete my tasks. I don’t have to always be running to get my work done.

Optimistic Outlook

“The world belongs to those who get up early – up to the minute while others do not wake up either.”

-Jules Renard

When you get a big chunk of your work done in the morning, you feel happy, and you feel satisfied. This feeling carries on for the day, surrounding you with a positive air. Our mood for the day is set by how the time after our morning goes. If you start the day productive then there’s little room for negativity to seep in. Even if a problem does manifest, you don’t waste all your day because of it, and your work takes a much smaller hit.

Mental Fitness

“Work hard, stay positive, and get up early. It’s the best part of the day.”

-George Allen, Sr.

Like I mentioned before, in the morning you have low-stress levels. Working in that frame of mind is not only beneficial to your work but has a positive impact on your mental fitness as well. Picture yourself working with a calm mind versus working with a mind filled with other tasks to do, other things to handle. You don’t need a study to tell you what is preferable, the mental picture of the situation is enough.

Sleep Quality

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

-Benjamin Franklin

When you make waking up early a routine, you start going to bed early. This lets your internal clock adapt to the routine, resulting in better sleep quality. Having no sleep pattern messes up  the body, but now that your body gets to get the rest it needs, you will see a lot of aches and pains go away.

Exercise

“Morning is an important time of day because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have.”

-Lemony Snicket

Early morning is a great time to workout, especially if you like to workout outdoors. No rush, lesser pollution, fewer people, fresher air, pleasant environment. Sounds good, doesn’t it? A lot of people who have made it in life will tell you how and why they schedule their workouts in the morning.

Some people make it one of their main agendas of the morning. A healthy body is essential to achieve anything in the world. If you aren’t fit, how can you expect your body to work round the clock? Take care of your body, and it will take care of you.

Breakfast

“One key to success is to have breakfast when other people have lunch.”

-Robert Brault

Breakfast is said to be one of the most important meals of the day. I, for one, can’t live without breakfast. I can skip lunch and dinner but breakfast, no ways! I actually have two breakfasts. Since I was a kid, I would wake up at ungodly hours and ask for food, so my mom started keeping a covered dish with food and a glass of water in the room. I would wake up at 3-4, eat and lie back down.

That is still there, I wake up and need proper food not just snacks, so an extra portion is cooked the night before so that I would have something to eat in the morning. After eating, I get on with my work and then the second breakfast is when normal people eat, that is, around 8:30-9:00. I am not telling you to be weird like me, but listen to your body and don’t skip breakfast. Waking up early gives you the opportunity to eat in peace without having to rush and skip the food.

My Tried and Tested Tips to Wake Up Early

It wouldn’t be fair if I told you about all the benefits of waking up early and didn’t tell you how to do it. Here are some things that have worked for my friends and people I’ve coached.

“The time just before dawn contains the most energy of all hours of the day. This has helped me become an early riser and an early doer…. When I wake to see that it’s light out already, I feel the world has started without me.”

-Terri Guillemets

• Don’t make drastic changes- If you wake up at 10 every day, then it is not a good idea to start waking up at 4, that will mess up your body and do more harm than good. A good way to get into the routine is to start taking smaller steps. Start waking up at 9 for the week, then go for 8, then to 7, until you reach your desired time. If one hour is still a big difference, start by half-hour or fifteen-minute increments.
• Sleep early- If you want to wake up early, you have to start sleeping early as well. The goal here is to have a well-rested body. You need to complete your sleep cycle, otherwise waking up early is of no use.
• Don’t snooze- Snoozing your alarm can be tempting at the beginning, which is why you need to keep your alarm away from your bed. You will have to get up to shut down the alarm. Once out of bed, you might as well wake up.
• Interesting task- Try to make waking up early worth your while. Put something interesting as the first thing to do on your list, and that will give you another reason to wake up.

Waking up early isn’t only about bragging about how put-together your life is, it is actually about working on getting your life that way. If you still need the motivation to wake up early, then try doing this for 10-15 days, so that you can experience the benefits for yourself.