How to Get Up Early in the Morning

They say there are two types of people when it comes to sleeping habits: night owls and early birds. Somehow I am a little bit of both. As a morning class student for almost 8 years now, I have a little bit of experience on how to get up at the crack of dawn. Here are some of the techniques you can use to get that lazy bottom out of bed early in the morning (earlier than anticipated of course).  And no, it does not include having someone dump a bucket of water over your head, but you can try that if you would like: I would not judge you at all.

Be clear of your purpose:  “mann ko kura” as my mother always says, or “mann ko Shakti”. When we know we have to do something, it doesn’t seem as hard.  Perhaps our purpose makes it seem a tad bit easier. When you know you just have to take that shower to look good for that party, the cold water doesn’t seem as bad. When you know you have to eat that plate of momos to fulfill that craving, that extra half hour of waiting doesn’t seem as long. You get what I’m trying to say, right? If you are clear why you need to do this, you can do it; whatever your purpose maybe: hitting the gym, attending morning classes, dropping someone off at the airport, morning walk, whatever it may be.

Know why it is important: when we hit the road for a night out at places like Dhulikhel or Nagarkot, we get up early in the morning to catch that sunrise, don’t we? Because we know that if we sleep just a minute more, we might miss it and we don’t want that.  We get up no matter how hard it is to get out of bed because we have made a long journey for that sunrise; the sunrise is worth it, that sunrise cannot be missed. We know why that sunrise is important. And you should know why getting up in the morning is important for you. If its dropping someone off at the airport, maybe it is someone important for you, if its hitting the gym, maybe it’s important that you be persistent for that body you want; if its morning classes, maybe it’s the catching up with friends and the discussions in class.

Try to set up a schedule: once you have this schedule of going to bed, you might want to persistent and stick to it. This way it will be a sort of habit. Maybe this might not happen overnight, but with time it will. Try going to bed at around at least 10 pm. And wake up around 5 the next morning. Once you do this for a couple of days or weeks, it will set in. You will eventually start getting up at 6 without any aid. What? No one else? Just me? Okay.

Set up a list of follow up alarms: the morning “5 more minutes should work” is the most dangerous game ever to mankind. Do not, I repeat do not, go into this! No matter how tempting it might seem. If you are one of those weak ones, set up a list of follow up alarms to get you up.

Freshen up as soon as you wake up: there are two instances I can see people doing this. One you wake up late and, two you just do instantly get up and wash up. If you are the latter, I would consider you to be extremely active. And this is actually what you should do. Freshen up as soon as you wake up would put a stop to your 5 minutes more.

Have your friend give you a ring: have a friend ring you up in the morning to wake you up. It may or may not work but its’s worth a try.

Blast some loud music: if you can, by the grace of god, wake up but just do not want to get out of your cozy bed, blast some loud music. Blast some loud music that will motivate you to get out of bed, and want to dance around or move around or get ready, but not as loud as to disturb your family members or roommates or neighbors, of course.

Go ahead try these. See if these work for you.