I'll give it a shot. I've been getting out of bed at 4-5 am for the past 5 months when I have no need to other than to accomplish more personal stuff.
1. If you need to get up early for work, leave a good handle on it the night before. Like leave detailed notes on how to accomplish the next step or steps. Detailed enough that your first half hour to hour will be brainless peace and harmony.
2. Leave an exciting reveal for the morning. Say you finished building a cool new feature. Don't try it out until you wake up. I like to leave a 3D image or animation rendering overnight.
3. If possible change your schedule so that the early morning can just be full of fun stuff.
4. Plan to lay in bed for about an hour before you fall asleep. Incentivize it with a bedtime-only iPad or a pile of good books for bedtime only.
5. Lay out your clothes for the morning, the night before.
6. Do not get out of bed cold unless you find that invigorating. I bought 5 long-sleeve cotton shirts and sleep in those and some comfy pants and short socks. If I get hot, I use fewer blankets. I also keep a coat ready to put on.
7. Make breakfast or a cup of tea/water beforehand.
8. Make a fun routine. I bought a nice radio for early morning use. It picks up stations far away and I listen to it while I work.
9. Plan to take a nap later whenever needed. Schedule in the downtime.
10. Lay out a plan for your entire tomorrow. I do a mind map on paper. With this done the evening before, there should be nothing left to avoid thinking about in the morning, making it easier to consider getting out of bed.
Edit: And yes, it will change your life and people will wonder how you do it. Also I consider this practice a great burnout-prevention tool if you can keep work out of it (or out of the rest of your day).
6. This is terrible for sex and sensual cuddling. You need skin contact. I'd say have a bathrobe ready close to the heat source so that you can sleep naked, but don't suffer from cold when you get out of bed by getting inside its heat.
4. It's terrible advice if you have trouble getting asleep. You should be in bed only to sleep, otherwise you associate bedtime with being awake. Following this advice worked wonder in reducing the time it takes me to fall asleep.
9. Naps don't work for everybody, and can reduce sleep quality for the temporary gain of efficiency, so I've mixed feelings about it.
You seem to have scheduled your life well, but I wonder how you manage things that break the routine. Friends, exceptional crunches quickly break the good patterns and I find it difficult to come back to cruise mode after a lost night.
6. Opposite is true in my case. In fact going to bed late was causing more bickering in the morning, and my relationship with my SO was suffering from that. Plus she was always saying, "I wish we could get up earlier." Since I started going to bed earlier, she's able to do that more often. My own life plans accelerated too; I'm more an ambitious and energetic. Since late last year, I lost 80 pounds to reach a healthy BMI. Getting more specific, I received feedback that "physical affection between us is more frequent now and I wonder why?" Etc.
4. I had read about this too. However, it isn't true for me, or at least I associate my bed with general pleasantry and I sleep great. The biggest sleep aid I found back when I had insomnia was writing 1,000 words before bed every night, but I don't have that problem now.
9. Not sure what to say; I read a lot about naps and as a result I think it's OK to have mixed feelings about naps. If you don't want to nap, there are lots of alternatives depending on your schedule. Some people slow their schedule and get more done. Others meditate. I hope you take whatever steps necessary to maintain optimal cruise mode.
I'd like to emphasize the first point. For about six months, I woke up at 4am Monday of every other week to catch a plane to another city to start work at 9am till 6pm. I would not only get everything ready to pack in the morning, but I'd leave notes throughout the apartment listing what I needed to do before leaving, things like "take this or that item", "turn the power off", etc. I'd put the notes on door handles, to the toilet, main entry door and the only way I could forget something was if I had a stroke and couldn't read.
So as parent said, it was "brainless peace and harmony" all the way to the airport.
Similar, I had to get up just before 5 each Monday to drive to London, to spend some of the week working there.
It was easy when everything was easy... When my clothes were laid out, when the car was full of diesel, when even my coffee was ready, just needed to boil the kettle. On those days it was really simple to just get up shower dress and leave and before I knew it the 3 hour drive was over and I was getting on a tube to work ready for some London time. But if anything tiny thing was left to be done in the morning, that I would tell myself wouldn't take 2 minutes, it always seemed to take 20.
Hey awesome list! Do you feel like the additional work required on the front end is repaid by the productivity gains in the morning? Like one hour of added prep, two hours of morning work?
Thanks! First, I'm not as likely to do any planning or detailed planning when I wake up at say 7:30 and immediately need to get kids to school. It probably won't happen at all. So with that taken out of this equation, the rest takes me maybe 10 minutes to do. In the evening just laying in bed now puts me to sleep in about a half hour. And pre-sleep in-bed stuff is remarkably similar to my normal couch stuff anyway.
I can't give exact figures but even being conscious that early in the morning seems to be some sort of amazing life hack, like you are sitting there going "I did it. I did at least that much today." There is some holistic benefit outside of the spreadsheet, in other words.
But regarding planning in general, I know I have made some astounding productivity gains with planning. The first time a planning session saved me four hours of work off of a six hour estimate, I put away my hotshot coder/designer mentality, redoubled my planning efforts and started flow charting, mind mapping, etc much more frequently. I don't plan everything out with exactitude, but let's just say that while I used to laugh at those obsolete books on flow charting, now I pore through them to see if I've missed any tips. And I use them for all kinds of things, not just coding. A design agency asked for my template a while back and I made it available on the web for libreoffice users.
I'll echo and expand on point 6: sleep in warm clothes. Marcus Aurelius asked:
> is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?
The mental barrier of throwing off the warm covers can inspire a lot of time wasted snoozing in the morning.
It may take some adjustment, but wearing warmer pyjamas with a lighter blanket is one of the few things that can make the very act of getting out of bed easier.
I agree, warmth in the morning hours is the number one incentive to get out of bed for me.
I do a slight variation of the same concept: I've set the a/c timer to raise temperature to an almost tropical heat 20 minutes before alarm time.
I sleep under heavy covers and a somewhat low temperature, which is also part of the program.
The idea here is to sleep tucked in and warm like in winter, then wake up to a excessively warm but welcoming environment. If I remain in bed, I'll start sweating profusely and I'm forced out of my covers. So getting out of bed to me is actually inviting while undressing and getting into the shower is less painful.
The same way anyone gets good at anything - practice it. This may sound crazy but don't write it off. Go into bed during the day for 1 minute and don't fall asleep. Set an alarm and when it goes off, get out of bed. Repeat 5-10 times a day for a few weeks and getting out of bed when your alarm goes off will become habit.
Morning habits are important because when people wake up in the morning they are extremely tired which impairs their cognition and willpower, which often leads to bad decisions like the snooze button.
That's an interesting idea! I have definitely never heard that particular advice before, but it certainly sounds logical. I assume you've tried it. Has anyone else reading this?
1. Going to bed early. I switched to 9.00 PM instead of 12 midnight.
2. No TV/screens for the last hour to help with that.
3. When the alarm rang, no snoozes. Get up no matter how shit it feels. It gets better.
4. When I get up, no screens near the bed. That stuff just left me in bed with the phone.
Took me two weeks of work, but I started getting up earlier after that. Lasted for about half a year and then I went on vacation and it lasted partway through that. I've been working remote on a different timezone for the last month and that's gone and ruined it.
Having a dog gets me up every morning at the same time even having no need for an alarm clock. He gently paws at me until I do what I'm told. Up or down, good or bad, rain or shine that dog gets me to walk him 4 times a day. He has helped me make all kinds of new friends on our walks and brought immense happiness to my life. Does that count?
Having a dog always counts. I once read (somewhere?) a story about a woman who had many dogs over her lifetime. She felt that dogs give us pieces of their hearts every day but of course, when they leave us, they take great chunks of ours. The writer was hoping that, by the time she died, she might be lucky enough to have the kind heart of a dog.
For me, psyching myself up to wake up at a certain time and making a point to get to bed 8.5 hours before then does it. I'll set my alarm 15 minutes past the target time and I'll always beat it. I have no idea how this works or why it works or why I can do it when I'm not in a pattern of getting up at that time. I just basically convince myself that what I'm getting up for is actually very important (like say I have to make an early meeting) and it works. I'm very lucky for sure; YMMV but curious if anyone else does this.
Whenever I have something to do where someone else is relying on me to be some place at a certain (early) time or if I had a competition (long ago) etc I wake up well before my alarm totally awake and ready to go. Otherwise I can sleep forever. I guess adrenaline is a significant factor. When I was competing in individual sports I could barely sleep two hours before a big event.
On a pragmatic note: leave your phone(alarm) on the opposite side of your bedroom or in another room altogether. You will have to physically get up to shut it off and benefit from not using it(and more importantly, thinking about email, work, social network junk, etc...) right before bed and again when you wake up in the am.
That may work for some, but it doesn't work for me. I got the point where the alarm would go off, I'd roll out of bed, take two steps, slap the snooze button, two steps and roll back into bed. I learned the hard way that my alarm clock would simply give up after three hours (I must have been particularly tired that day).
The best alarm I had was an old cell phone (pre-smart phone days) where the alarm would start off nearly inaudible and slowly get louder over the next minute or so. The gentle nudge awake was much better than a sudden jolt of noise.
The only better alarm would be one that is arrhythmic in nature. That's the only type of noise I can't sleep through.
I think it's similar to procrastination: Have a good reason to get out of bed early. If you have to get out of bed early but really really don't want to, maybe it's not the getting up that is the problem.
I cheat- on work days, I have a big glass of water and a 200mg caffeine pill. I have an alarm go off one hour earlier than I need to, take the pill, drink the glass of water.
By the time my actual alarm goes off the caffeine has kicked in and I really have to get up and pee.
The best thing is to have something to do, like go to the gym or walk the dog.
Then find a kindred spirit who will provide you with a little peer pressure. The dog will be happy he got to poop, and your friend will be happy to see you at the gym.
One thing comes to mind: physical exhaustion. Much very often after a day of physical activity, I know the next morning I'll wake up sore, but not wishing to stay in bed.
I typically get up at 6am to start work for the day at 7am.
I use an alarm clock, my iPhone, set to the obnoxious "alarm" sound, and keep it on the desk across the room where the phone charges, next to it as a large glass of water. Alarm goes off, while it's still going off drink the water and look out the window at the light. I've been doing this for ~5 years and it works really well.
I was gifted a combo bedside lamp/alarm clock that lights up gradually a little before and starts chiming (in a variety of "natural" sounds) at the set time.
Thought it was pretty useless until I actually tried it for a week and realized it was a lot less jarring and stressful than an ordinary alarm clock.
I still tend to hit snooze and only get up on the second round, but by then I'm usually awake enough to enjoy real sunshine and looking forward to it.
Light tends to have a very positive effect on me in the mornings, so taking as much advantage of it as possible would be my advice.
1. Swing right leg over edge of bed. Continue extending until your foot is planted firmly on the floor.
2. Swing left leg towards the right so it dangles off the bed.
3. Plant right hand palm down on mattress.
4. Push down into the mattress with your right hand, lifting up your upper body while moving your left foot to join the right one firmly planted on the floor.
5. You should now be sitting upright on the edge of the bed.
A lot of advice posted so far is for people who can adapt to a new sleep schedule after a week or so, which I hear is normal, and seems like it was for me when I was young. However, if you revert back to your old schedule on the weekends and feel agitated and tired more and more during the work week, consider seeing a sleep specialist.
The day before lie down on your bed and practice standing up and starting your routine (brushing teeth).
When you wake up you shouldn't give yourself time to think because then you will start procrastinating, instead autopilot should kick in and before you know it you're brushing your teeth.
this anecdote might be only placebo, but once i started wearing compression pants to sleep it's been really easy to get out of bed. i'm guessing it keeps me warm so i no longer want to stay in the blanket's warmness in the morning
Compression clothing, from socks to tops are magic. I can definitely confirm that the compression socks I have, despite being very thin, keep my feet warmer than 100% wool socks with added bonus of preventing swellings after long walks/sitting.
If you're a coffee drinker prep the coffee pot the night before. It is nice to just get up and hit a button. If you're super lazy they have coffee pots with start timers on them, too.
I think there is no alternate to a good sleeping schedule. Make it a habit to going to sleep and waking up at the same time everyday. It works for me very well.
The "do it" part refers to the physical action of moving ones limbs and getting out of the bed after the alarm goes off. And the qualifier "just" refers to one doing exactly that (and only that). Whereas you have gone astray and tacked on smugness and homeopathy to this otherwise simple physical act. How is being a cultured sophisticate working out for you?
You offer "just do it" as a panacea - it admits of no other options. That implies it must always work. That's what makes it woo-woo like homeopathy.
Someone who needs to get out of bed and struggles with it, is not helped by someone saying "just get out of bed". That's not 'advice', It admits no reasons for being unable to get out of bed, when there clearly are reasons - otherwise the person would already be getting out of bed. It doesn't care about the person or the causes of their problems, or ways of working around them. It only serves to be dismissive and make the person saying it feel better. That's what makes it smug.
Phantasmagoric visions of smugness, homeopathy and, now, panacea notwithstanding - what this "someone who needs to get out of bed and struggles with it" can do (unless they are somatically inept) is just move their limbs and get out of the bed after the alarm goes off (one of the simplest physical acts there is) ... and, hey presto, problem solved! No "ways of working around" are required in the first place; furthermore, such "ways of working around" is an insult to human intelligence (when a simpler alternative, that always demonstrably works, exists it would be foolishness of the highest order to go around in circles based on vainglorious but spurious rationale).
