You've likely heard that successful people rise early. Steve Jobs, for instance, used to wake up at about 5.30am, sparing him enough extra time to get started on Apple. Mornings are the most productive time of the day. When you wake up, your mind is clear, your body, well-rested, allowing you to concentrate on important tasks and set goals for the following day. Getting up this early gives you more time to get things done. Switching from a night owl will also give you a significant boost to your productivity in your professional and personal life.
2. You take your time
When you wake up late, you rush to get yourself ready, arriving late to work looking disheveled and grumpy. When you change your regimen and become an early riser you give yourself enough time to prepare for the day ahead. You get organized, can indulge in a cup of coffee, or read a couple of pages from your favorite book. When you are not in a rush, you have a refreshing start to the day, feeling calmer and more confident.
Developing new habits is crucial to self-improvement. The extra hours you get in the morning are a perfect time to make it happen. During this time you can create your own morning ritual and can help form new habits. Your morning may be simple and involve a visit to the bathroom, brushing your teeth, shaving and getting dressed. You can now use this extra time drinking a warm glass of water and spending some time reading or making plans for the day.
4. You get in shape
The extra time you get in the morning when you wake up early gives you the flexibility to work out - it may include a visit to the gym or a walk around the neighborhood. Planning to exercise after work may tend to get called off, so best get started in the morning.
When you wake up early, you are not awoken to kids yelling, babies crying, cars honking or television noise. The early morning house is incredibly peaceful and nothing can distract you from important tasks. The former general manager of Microsoft, Jeremy Krost, wakes up at 3.30-4am for two reasons: clarity of thought and quiet time. In the words of Blaise Pascal, 'the sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.'This couldn't ring truer and when you develop your morning habits you will see that you can find your peace and happiness in the morning hours.
6. You save time and energy on commuting
Rush-hour traffic can be stressful, so getting an early start can improve this part of your day too. If you have a morning commute you can take an earlier bus or train that is less busy, more pleasant to travel on and will ensure that you arrive more quickly. If you drive, you can avoid heavier traffic and reduce your journey time significantly.
Bonus: How to become an early riser
If you are not an early riser, here are a couple of tips that will help you transform from a night owl to an early bird:
1. Open your curtains before going to bed so that you wake up to the first rays of sun in the morning.
2. Studies show that electronic devices make it more difficult for you to get to sleep because the blue light restrains the production of melatonin, the hormone that controls sleep cycles. so turn off your phone, television and any other electronic device an hour before you sleep.
3. Go to bed earlier. If you find it hard to go to sleep read a book or listen to a podcast.
4. Put your alarm across the room. Having an alarm right next to your bed will probably mean that you will hit the snooze button and fall asleep again. But if it is out of your reach it won't be easy to continue sleeping.
5. Once you've gotten up, go out of the bedroom and start doing your morning ritual. Go to the bathroom, brush your teeth and so on. By the time you've done that you'll be awake enough to face the day.
6. Make plans. Set something to do early in the morning that is important to you. The reason will motivate you to get up.
7. Reward yourself. Find something pleasurable for you and allow yourself to do it as part of your morning routine. It could be having a cup of herbal tea, or reading a good book, or treating yourself for breakfast, or watching the sunrise - anything you can take pleasure in.
