I must admit, I am a total early riser. I get up at 4 a.m. everyday. Weird, right? I wasn’t always that way, but once I had kids and they needed my immediate attention when they woke up, I realized that the only way I was going to get some things done {and a little bit of quiet and solitude} would be to get up before anyone else.
I’ve heard some people say that you are either a morning person or night owl, but I totally think you can train yourself to be either. I swear, I get more done from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. than the rest of the day. So, if you need to add a little personal quality time into your day {or just need to add more hours to an already busy day}, I think you can get into the practice of becoming an early riser. It will be painful, at first, I’m not going to lie, but eventually, you will just wake up naturally…heavy emphasis on the eventually.
Here are a couple of tips to get you started:
- First, you have to get into the habit of going to bed earlier. I always used to think I would do the things I needed to get done in the evenings, after the kids went to bed, but really, by then I was exhausted. I ended up piddling around the house and then plopped down to watch t.v. I would’ve been better just going to bed. The point is that if you are exhausted when the alarm goes off, you won’t be super unmotivated to get up.
- Put the alarm on the other side of the room so that you have to physically get out of bed to turn it off.
- Before bed, make a list of all the things you would like to accomplish in the early hours. It sounds cheesey, but it gives you a bit of motivation to get up.
- Eat breakfast right away, it will give you a boost of energy and wake you up.
- Exercise. For a lot of moms, this might be your only chance. In the summer months, go for a walk outside. In the winter months, do some stretching, etc. indoors. It will wake you up, and then “exercise” won’t hang over you like a looming to-do all day.
- Build personal time into the morning. Yes, I like to get stuff done when I get up, but I also have some tea and I usually get to see the sunrise. It’s one of the simple things in life that most people totally miss. In those quiet moments, I usually am able to sort out all of the thoughts buzzing around in my head too.
- For the first little bit, make things easy for yourself. Set out your clothes the night before. Make the kids lunches right after dinner, etc. It will make the morning more zen-like–which will push you to want to experience it daily.
- Stick with it. It will take at least a month for it to become habit {kind of like when the kids go back to school–the first month is brutal, and then, you get into a routine}. I guess what I am saying is power through the pain of getting up.
Are you an early riser? Any tips for night owls hoping to change their ways?
~Mavis
Mary F Campbell says
I get up at 4:00 am without setting an alarm (bed time is 9:00 pm)!
Susan says
Same here!
Sharon Rafter says
YIKES!!!!! I have friends that wake up at 4:30 and I thought that was early.
No can do, must have 9 hours of sleep……….please give the sunrise a big hello from me (I do miss it).
Sara says
I love getting up early. I am with you the amount of work I get done in the early AM is amazing. I think I get this from my grandmother she would get up early do laundry house work prep a meal for supper then off to work. That is now what I do. I love having all this done plus kids on the bus. When I get home I finish dinner. Bed early as well.
Laura says
Although I prefer waking up early versus staying up late, I still have problems dragging my butt out of bed in the morning. Although recently I started using a phone app that monitors your sleep pattern (based on how much you move around in your sleep). The alarm will then go off when you are in the lightest part of your sleep cycle (you set a time range for waking up). It has surprisingly made a big difference in how I feel when I wake up at 5am for work…much less groggy.
Cecily says
What is the app you use, please?
Sarah b says
Yes, what app?
Angela says
I have an app like that…mine’s called Sleep Cycle.
Cecily says
Thank you Angela.
Laura says
That’s the one that I use too….Sleep Cycle
Ashley says
What is the app you use?
Cru says
#2 is where it’s at. Slept an extra 90 minutes until I figured that trick out.
Julie F says
I have a hard time getting up at 4 due to the couple of days I go to my “real” job and have to get up at 4. I have to be in bed and going to sleep at 8 to get 8 hours of sleep. It’s hard to shoo the husband and kid away. I have been able to get up when the sun is rising and I have gotten my garden ship shape before anyone else is up.
lynn A. says
Hi Mavis,
I get up at 4 a.m. every morning too and love it. I’m just curious what time you usually get to bed.
Thanks
Mavis Butterfield says
Between 9 – 10. 🙂
lynn A. says
Oh and p.s. what does your husband and son do every friday night while you and your daughter have movie night?
Mavis Butterfield says
Play video games. 🙂
Carol says
I can totally identify with the need for getting up early. I don’t have to anymore, but after years of getting up at 4:30-5:00 to exercise before going to work, I still have my built-in alarm clock. I was an elementary school teacher, and there was just no way that I could exercise sufficiently after work. I usually didn’t get home until 6:00, what with meetings, planning and communicating with parents. Then I would come home, eat dinner, do the work I didn’t finish at school and try to be in bed by 9:30-10:00. Getting up early was the only way I had time for an hour of exercise, without anyone competing for that time. I’m surprised no one has mentioned a dawn simulator. I used one religiously during the dark months. What a great tool! It is a timer that is attached to a lamp that starts out dim and gradually brightens the bedroom. It wakes you up gradually–you can set the length of your dawn. Makes it much easier to roll out of bed without being groggy at that early hour. I got the idea from a friend of mine, who is a physician.
NCJill says
Since you’re up early, try hellomornings.org, a favorite of mine.
CathyB says
I have done both waking up early and staying up late at different times in my life. But while I can do either, I can honestly say that I feel like I accomplish way more at night after everyone else has gone to bed than I do in the morning. I find that in the morning I just piddle away my time easier. I DO get up early enough to exercise before the day starts, but that seems to be about all I can accomplish early. So I guess we are all just wired differently.
Angela says
That app looks awesome; I want to try that! Once I get in a routine, though, I usually wake up on my own at the new time.
One thing that helped me turn into an early bird was putting in a programmable thermostat. I HATE getting out of bed in the winter when it’s cold. Yuck. But I found it a lot easier to wake up early when the house was already warm. Especially since I sleep better in a cold house, too.
Ellen in Clackamas says
I also am an early riser ,4:30 (due to work and bus schedule). And use my phone as the alarm. Into bed by 9 (and it doesn’t matter what inning the Mariners are in!) The dogs know when the alarm goes off it is breakfast time so there is no snooze button pushed….but on the weekends their internal clocks know what time it is so there is no sleeping in! But I do like to get up early on those non-work days and get stuff done then in the afternoon I can take a nap or just relax or do more in the garden.
May in Cape Breton says
I have tried to be an early riser, in fact for a while before I became a parent I was. I would get up swim 3-4 thousand meters then get ready for work and eat. Since having children not so much. It seems no matter how early I try to get up before them, it’s like they have a sensor that says Mom is awake it’s time to get up. I miss having an hour or two in the morning to myself.
Liz says
My kids have the same sensor! I really want to get up before them and have some time to myself but no matter what time I get up or how quiet I am, they are always up 10 minutes later.
Stephanie says
My husband recently started a job that requires a 4am wake up, which means an 8-9pm bedtime. I have been following the same sleep/wake schedule most days and am surprised at how well it is working. And you are right – I get wayyy more done with this early bird schedule. Evenings were mostly wasted on TV. I feel like I have gained two hours of productive time in my day.