A few years ago I quit my night owl tendencies and learned how to become a morning person. Here’s what worked for me, and how I completely shifted my life to wake up earlier and get more sleep.
Let’s talk about how to become a morning person. For my entire life, I’ve been a night owl. I love staying up late, and for most of my adult life my bedtime has been between midnight and 2 A.M. Although I’ve been known to reach 3 A.M. on occasion.
That’s all fine and well if I could sleep in til nine or ten in the morning, but with three little kids I have to be up early for breakfast and school drop off.
So a few years ago, I decided enough was enough, and it was time to start getting more than an average of four hours of sleep a night. I wasn’t eighteen anymore, and the lack of sleep was taking its toll on me.
In the course of a couple of weeks, I went from going to sleep at 2 A.M. and sleeping four or five hours to a bedtime of 10:30 P.M. and getting at least seven hours of sleep per night. I was a night owl, and suddenly I had become a morning person.
Here’s how I dropped my night owl tendencies and became a morning person.
1. Create a daily schedule or routine.
I’m telling you, this made the biggest difference for me. During the school year, I knew I had to be ready for the day by 7:00. to get my kids fed and off to school on time, so I started there and worked backward. I scheduled in my workout, my daily scripture study, and also showering/getting ready time, and determined I needed to get up by 5:30 in order to get everything done. This helped me determine my bedtime, and my kids bedtime. I did this with other parts of my day to help me come up with a pretty straightforward daily schedule.
I don’t need my life to be planned down to the minute, but having a routine helps me plan ahead and be prepared for my daily bedtime and wake up call.
2. Get up around the same time every day.
Your brain loves consistency. I’ve found that I’m most successful at getting up early if I just do it every single day. I don’t get up at 5:30 A.M. on Saturdays or Sundays, but I don’t let myself sleep in either. I’m up between 7-8:00 A.M. on the weekends and that helps keep my brain and body consistent. It’s tough at first, but you body acclimates and you’ll find it gets easier.
3. Choose the right alarm.
My husband got me an apple watch for Christmas a few years ago, and since then I’ve been wearing it to bed and using it as my alarm. It gently buzzes on my wrist, and it’s like a nice gentle nudge to wake up. Much better than a blaring alarm clock I have to reach out of the cold covers to shut off.
I know some people like to wake up to music, so figure out what works for you that will help you wake up as happily as possible.
4. Don’t push the snooze button.
I’m not 100% on this, especially during the summer, but as we head back into school in the next few weeks I’m committed to being more disciplined. Lots of studies show that hitting the snooze button actually makes you more tired once you have to get up. For me, it’s like having to wake up twice every morning, and I’d much rather only have to wake up once. If you want those 10 extra minutes, set your alarm for 10 minutes later so your sleep isn’t interrupted. Then toss off the covers the second your alarm goes off.
5. Determine how much sleep you actually need.
Everyone is different, so the amount of sleep you need might be different from me. I’ve found that I need seven hours in order to feel completely rested, focused, and energized. I can survive on less, but seven is my optimal number. So if I need to get up at 5:30 A.M., I have to be in bed by 10:30pm. If I don’t get in bed until 11 p.M., then I adjust and set my alarm for 6 A.M. and my morning workout gets cut short.
My day goes so much better when I have all seven hours of sleep.
6. Enforce bedtime for my kids.
When I realized I had to be in bed by 10:30 P.M. each night, I suddenly was super motivated to get my kids in bed on time so I actually had some time to spend with my husband and wind down at the end of the day.
I read aloud to my boys every night, and they know I will not read if it’s past 8:30 P.M (during the school year). We start getting them ready for bed around 7:30 P.M. so that their nightly routines are done by 8 P.M. and we can read together. My goal is to be done reading by 8:30 P.M. so I have two full hours before I’m in bed.
7. Eat better during the day.
I’ve been paying close attention to how foods affect my body this year, and it’s incredible how what I eat affects how easy it is to get up in the morning. If I’ve eaten processed or sugar filled foods the day before, a 5:30 A.M. wakeup call is really hard. I make a homemade dessert once a week on Sunday nights (Yes, Monday mornings are always harder, but I’ve got to treat myself once a week!), and the rest of the week we eat mostly whole foods, lots of protein, lots of veggies, and fruit.
One of our favorite after dinner snacks is frozen grapes — TRY IT.
8. Put your phone and electronics away
You’ll find this in any article about how to get better sleep, or how to wake up early. We all know phones and TV’s are a huge distraction, and ten minutes can easily turn into an hour. I plug my phone in every night and, as cheesy as it sounds, I literally say “Goodnight, phone.” I’ve been trying to do it at 9 P.M. every night, but I’m definitely not consistent. Always trying to be better!
9. Change your attitude.
Let’s face it, waking up early is not that fun. Even after a year, I’d definitely prefer to stay up late and sleep in. But I do it every day because I have goals and ambitions, and the way to accomplish them is to push and stretch myself!
My friend, Tara from Rad and Happy, told me that right when she wakes up in the morning, she thinks of something to look forward to that day. It might be something big like leaving on a trip, or something small like drinking a glass of chocolate milk, but she does it every single morning and it helps her have a happy and positive attitude from the moment she wakes up. Waking up grumpy and annoyed is never a good way to start the day. There is always something you can look forward to day to day, and if there isn’t…make some changes to bring more happiness into your life.
For me, I always look forward to listening to a podcast while I exercise, and I know that after a 30 minute workout I’ll feel amazing. That motivates me day after day!
If you’re a night owl, trying to change your habits and become a morning person, try some of these and tell me how they go!
Or share some of your advice in the comments!
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I love this post, great ideas, thank you!
Becoming a morning person can be a challenge, especially if you’re used to staying up late and sleeping in. However, it’s definitely possible with the right strategies and mindset AND YOU HAVE TOLD US BY YOUR BLOG.. rEALLY THS IS VERY INTERESTING AS A WEBSITE developer IN usa AND uk THIS WIill much helpful for me.
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Love this. I read your other article and it helped me A lot and i felt So much better. During the summer, i fell off the trolley. Thanks for posting this. I needed the encouragEment and boost to try and do it again. Im such a night owl and it is so hard. Looking forward to trying again. Gotta get the kids into a good routine too!
Thanks for this post! I have a different schedule every day (which is not how my brain works best). I find it is really tough to keep to a consistent schedule in the mornings when some mornings I have to leave the house by 7:15 AM or earlier, which means I need to have myself taken care of, the chickens and dog taken care of, and meals and clothes and things of the like prepared for the rest of the day for my husband and I. This article is good motivation for me to keep trying until I find something that works. thank you!!
I learned how to get up in the morning after my boyfriend sent me different images every morning via whatsapp. He did it so systematically that I developed the habit of getting up in the morning and reading his wishes with good morning, which he found on this site
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[…] How to become a morning person […]
here i am, two years later reading this post again. Haha I do want to be a morning person. This die hard nightowl is struggling to stick with it. 🙂 so im about to try try again. Wish me the best.
Maybe an odd question, but if you weAr your watch all nighT when do you charge it?
It is impossible to remain equally productive if the forces are already at the limit. You need to be able to put all things on pause in time, and rest. The most important thing for cheerfulness and productive days is to get enough sleep. Lavender foot patch helps me a lot in this. Just total relaxation and calming, thanks to which you sleep like a baby
Thank you for your advice, healthy sleep and proper morning habits are very important for your well-being. In fact, I suffered from insomnia for a very long time until I tried this product. Also, I changed his sleeping place and made it nice for sleeping
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Two years ago I would never have thought that I could be a morning person. I slept till late afternoon and never wanted to change anything.
But now I study and work and I just don’t have the possibility to sleep so much during the day that I had to change my sleep regime. And at first, it was awfully hard, but now I get used to waking up at 7 (sometimes at 6) in the morning and feel good and productive during the day.
Sleep routine and schedule are the basis without which nothing can be done. And you really quickly get used to it.
Hi everyone! It’s been a year since I woke up at five in the morning – and I feel great. Before that, I considered myself an owl and woke up in the afternoon, but now my day has been changed beyond recognition. This gives me an extra three hours of productive work until eight in the morning. I am impressed with the career of Nicolas Krafft, who started as Product Manager for the L’Oréal brand and rose through the ranks to International General Manager. I think he woke up early too 🙂
Me too, a few years ago, I decided that it was time and time for me to start sleeping more than four hours a day on average and to pay more attention to my sleep and mental health. After all, sleep greatly affects our psyche. and lack of sleep took its toll on me.
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I need to have myself how to become a morning person taken care of, the chickens and dog took care of, and meals and clothes and things of the like prepared for the rest of the day
I absolutely love your weekly menu ideas! They’re not only creative but also incredibly helpful for someone like me who’s always looking for new recipes to try. Your attention to detail in planning meals is inspiring.
On a related note, I recently came across a fascinating article about the importance of mental health, specifically dealing with depression. It discusses the benefits of online depression screening and even provides a free test. I thought it might be a valuable resource for your readers who may be interested in taking proactive steps towards their mental well-being. You can check it out here: https://calmerry.com/blog/depression/the-benefits-of-online-depression-screening-free-test/
Thanks again for sharing your wonderful content!