5 Tips to Help You Stop Hitting Snooze
So you are tired of hitting snooze (see what I did there 😆) and want to be a morning person? WELL I’VE GOT YOU because waking up early used to be the bane of my existence. The Timehop app reminds me that I used to think waking up at 7 AM was a serious struggle. And now, I work for myself and CHOOSE to wake up at 5:30 every day because I am just obsessed with mornings now.
How did I morph into a morning person? Lemme tell ya! I’ve got 5 tips that I actually used to become a morning person:
Step up your nighttime routine game.
But like wait, I thought we were talking about how to be a morning person? GIRL WE ARE! Being able to wake up early starts with setting yourself up for success the night before though, I promise. This is the one part of being a morning person that held me back for so long.It wasn’t until the last few months that I started taking my evening routine more seriously. I like my evening routine to be more open-ended than my morning routine but I still have some ground rules in place that make sure I am equipping myself to get the best sleep possible:
No laptop after 7:30 PM
No phone an hour before bed
I’m in bed with my oils diffusing and a book to read by 10:00 and I’m sleeping by 10:30
I finish my workout around 7 PM and then between then and 10 I’m hanging out with Adam, tidying up the house, and doing my skin care routine. 7 hours of sleep is plenty for me and ever since I started doing the things I just listed (especially no phone an hour before bed) I fall asleep so quickly and sleep through the night. It makes waking up in the morning way easier for me!
2. Have a morning routine that excites you.
Honestly willpower does not get me out of bed. I like sleeping. I like being cozied up in my big comforter snuggled up next to my husband. But y’all know that I am obsessed with my morning routine so I’m genuinely excited to get out of bed when my alarm goes off at 5:30 so I can enjoy a slow, peaceful start to my day! The habits that make up my morning routine fill me up spiritually, mentally, and physically and they leave me feeling grounded and centered which is how I like to start my day. Plus, I WANT to be the kind of person who wakes up early and journals, reads, stretches, and meditates before going into the day. I feel empowered knowing that I’m starting my day off like this. If you want to learn more about morning routines and how to create one, episode 016 of the podcast is called How to Create a Morning Routine You’ll Stick To.
Fill your morning routine with things that you enjoy and I bet you’ll be more excited to wake up! Maybe that’s doing a yoga flow or walking your dog to your fave local coffee shop or spending some time reading + journaling. I can’t really explain it but it’s really satisfying to be doing things that you want to do before the rest of the world is bustling around and asking for your time + energy. I’m very protective over my mornings and having that “me time” every day motivates me to get up when my alarm goes off.
3. Put your alarm out of reach.
And also, make your alarm tone something that is not terrible like a blaring siren. These 2 are very tangible and practical tips. Now this won’t work for everyone, but thankfully my husband sleeps like a dang rock so I can keep my phone (aka my alarm) plugged in over in our bathroom and when it goes off at 5:30 it doesn’t wake him up. My bathroom is like 9 steps away from my bed. That doesn’t sound like much but those 9 steps are what keep me from rolling over, hitting snooze, and falling back into a crappy 9-minute sleep. I don’t know about you, but when I do hit snooze, I feel like a trash can. I get groggy, sometimes I get a headache - it’s just not worth it to me.
Once I physically get up from the bed to walk into the bathroom to shut my alarm off, I am hardly ever tempted to walk back over to the bed. I mean when I’m up, I’m up. So if you can, try putting your alarm somewhere that forces you to physically walk over to it to turn it off!
4. Make it a gradual process so you stick with it.
Let’s say your current routine looks something like falling into bed at like 1 AM after a 2 hour Netflix binge to help you wind down. Your alarm goes off at 7 and you know you have to be out the door by 7:30...you hit snooze 2 times and then you’re rushing around to get out the door.
It’s going to be really tough to go from that to going to sleep at 11 PM and waking up at 6 PM. It’s just like with building any other new habit, you have to figure out a way to adopt it into your life in a sustainable way. I used to be a personal trainer (tbt to my Glisten Fit days - you’re an OG if you know what I’m talking about) and I would have clients who went from NEVER working out to wanting to workout 6 days a week. They did great for like 2 weeks and then they felt burnt out and went back to not working out at all.But I’d do some mindset work with them and teach them how to turn working out into a habit that became part of their routine. And we’d ease them into it. We’d set a goal of working out 2 days a week instead of 0 days a week.
After a few weeks of doing that, typically, my client would notice positive physical and mental changes and want to amp it up to 3 or 4 days a week. We’d continue implementing small, gradual changes until it became part of their routine to workout 6 days a week.
Trying to wake up early is similar. I suggest trying 30 minute increments. So if you’re going to bed at 11 PM and waking up at 7 AM now, and your goal is to wake up at 5:30, try going to bed at 10:30 and waking up at 6:30 for a while. After a week or 2 of being consistent with that schedule, add another 30 minutes, so you’re going to bed at 10 and waking up at 6. I bet by now, after being consistent for a few weeks, you’re noticing the positive effects of waking up early...maybe you’re in a better mood, you’re able to work on your side hustle before work, you’re spending more time with God and growing spiritually.
Celebrating these kinds of things is going to make you want to continue waking up early! Then before you know it, you’ll be stoked AF to wake up at 5:30 because you know that you have a bomb morning routine waiting for you! So again, make it gradual so that the changes are sustainable!
5. Maintain a similar sleep schedule on the weekend.
Ugh, I know this one is annoying to hear BUT girl, I’m telling you this made such a difference for me. When I first started waking up early, I would stay up until like 1 and then sleep in until like 8 or 9 on the weekends. My body would get acclimated to that and then when Monday rolled around and I tried to wake up at 5:30 it was hard again. I wouldn’t get re-adjusted until like Wednesday and then BAM it would start all over again on Monday. It’s a vicious and exhausting cycle, really. Sticking with a similar sleep schedule on the weekend has really helped me have more sustainable energy throughout the entire week.
Now I’ll be honest, I don’t wake up at 5:30 on the weekends. I wake up around 6:30 on the weekends and go to sleep around 11:30. So it’s not exact but it’s pretty dang close to my weekday routine. I don’t even set an alarm on the weekend - my body naturally wakes me up around 6:30 because I’ve trained myself to be a morning person.
I know it’s so tempting to stay up super late and sleep in super late on the weekend but if you think about it, the weekend makes up 1/3 of the month. If you’re willing to give up filling up your cup first thing in the morning that often, well that’s up to you but I’m not trying to sacrifice all the benefits of being a morning person for like 10+ days out of the month!
My fave part of my morning routine:
If you enjoyed this post, you’ll love episode 029 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast!
