How to Wake Up at 5 am
I'll be the first to admit it: waking up at 5 am everyday was not a natural thing for me.
When I was in high school my parents took the nice approach at first. My dad would come in and wake me up with a tea every morning. And then I would doze off and he would come back with a hot face cloth. And then I would doze off again. Finally after one morning of threats my dad just left me and I woke up at 8:13 am in a complete panic – it was December and I had to bike 7 km to school to write a test. BAHHH. I got there and figured, 'ok, that was brutal, there's no way he will do that again.' The very next day I woke up at 8:14 am BAHHH HAAAAA. He did. And it worked. From that day on I set my own alarm and hauled my bum out of bed.
Here are the four things I do that help make the mornings easier:
1. Snooze button is not an option. Snoozing is the absolute worst thing you can do if you're trying to become a morning person. Do not fall prey to the snooze trap. Set your alarm for the time you need to get up and like a bandaid you should rip out of bed. Go! Snoozing not only makes you feel gross but it will also REALLY bug your bed buddy. So be good to yourself and your fellow sleepers and stop the snooze.
2. Don't think about "balance" first thing. Here's the #1 excuse I get for early morning e-mails about missing Bod Squad – "my body was out of balance and I needed the rest." Ok, no. Stop that. If you're getting up for something anyway your body will be up to write that e-mail then when you actually go back to sleep for 40 more minutes you're not getting a full cycle of sleep so it's not that helpful. If you've decided the night before that you're going to something then gosh darn it you're going. Don't give yourself the option to not go. Just do it.
I like to "balance" out my early mornings once a week with a 3 hour long extended nap. I usually take Friday afternoons off and I need to nap then so I can be a normal person and stay up past 9!
3. Don't drink coffee. I don't like to NEED anything ever. So the idea of NEEDING to make coffee before I can function properly just seems like a waste of time. I'll maybe grab a coffee later in the day but water works great first thing!
4. Be ready. I usually plan my outfit and food the night before I need to be up early so that I'm ready to go right away. This helps save time and I just feel like I've got a step up on the day if I have everything ready to go.