Not an early riser? It can be very tempting to hit snooze on your alarm and stay tucked up on your warm comfortable bed. Let’s face it that usually seems the more appealing option when the alternative involves sweat and pain. This aside there are considerable benefits and advantages to getting moving early that you might not be fully aware of. Here are some tips below on how to get up, get moving and reap the reward.
1. Have Motivation
Let’s start with why you want to get up early. This needs to be a real driving force in your motivation to get up early. Whether it’s that you can’t seem to fit in exercise in the evenings and rather do it in the mornings because of other commitments you have, or you just want to make a habit of prioritising daily exercise, which of course we all know benefits for our overall health and wellbeing. It’s time to stop making excuses and really put the reason why you are doing this at the forefront of your mind and work on it every day until it becomes a habit and is now your new normal.
2. Setting Your Alarm
If you are somebody who is used to getting up at 7am and then you suddenly want to start getting up at 5am, let me tell you, you are setting yourself up for failure. So it’s either you will hit snooze straight away when you wake up, or it will only take a day or two before you start thinking this is too tough and you will give up. To get pass this problem, start changing your alarm in increments of an easy 15 minutes. For example, if you normally get up at 7am, try to set it for 6:45am for the next two days and if you’re able to get up without hitting the snooze button, then set the next day for 6:30am and so on until you reach the ideal wake up time you want to start your day at.
3. Head to Bed Early
Set yourself an early bedtime routine. This will help you to get enough sleep in while waking up early, rather than losing out on precious sleep. It may feel like an adjustment at first, like eating dinner a bit early, walking the dog straight after work, or swapping a gym session from evening to morning. Once you have made all these changes to your routine, you will looking forward to going to bed early knowing you will still get that quality sleep and you will have achieved more out of your mornings.
4. Bedroom Set Up
This is a good tip for snoozers out there or those who find it hard to creep around the house without waking up the rest of the family. Setting up your gym gear beside your bed the night before, will help motivate you to put it on. Here are a few other tips:
– Always have a glass of water ready next to you. That way you will be inclined to drink that first glass of the day before you go and work out.
– Have your water bottle ready. Either full or empty, at least you will remember to take it.
– Have available everything you would normally put on like your clothes, shoes, watch, and headphones. Also put your keys and wallet next to your bed so you can head straight outside.
5. Use Your Morning Time Wisely
Now that you have woken up early without a hitch, stop yourself from heading for the tv or from tidying up the house from the night before just because you couldn’t fit these in last night. Head straight for that morning workout.
6. List Your Daily To-Do’s
Now that you managed to include your workout in your routine, write down the things you need to do today. Listing your tasks for the day will help you maximise it with everything you set out to do and that way by the time you have gone to bed at night, you won’t feel like you have missed out on anything and failed to do something. I would encourage writing two lists. One for tasks outside of home, like for errands or meetings and one for at home like mopping floors or meal prep.
7. Reset with A Firm Mindset
There are a couple of ways that can help you achieve this:
First, create a vision board. A Vision Board is a collection of images and words that you should display in a prominent place that will remind you why you do what you do every day. It’s great to use something very specific for your goals so that you have a timeline that will keep you accountable. Second, don’t forget to reward your achievements. If you managed to consistently wake up early, reward yourself an evening of self-care, a movie, or dinner with a friend. Just remember to stick to your bedtime.
Following all 7 tips or including one of the above tips to your daily routine will help you set out your overall motivation to include working out as a daily habit to prioritise.