How to Get Up Earlier [2011 in Review]

Throughout my L.A. years, I’ve gone on jags of trying to get up earlier. They’ve never stuck — until this year. I’m now out of bed by 6:30am every morning either exercising or doing work. And it was super simple to do. Here’s how I did it:

1. Find the right time. Originally I wanted to get up at 5am g, because this (I’d heard) was how Michelle Obama managed to fit exercise into her busy schedule. 5am worked for a little while. I’d roll out of bed and hit the gym. But by Thursday, I’d be exhausted, barely able to put my daughter to bed before crawling in myself, leaving no quality time with the hubs. I eventually figured out that I needed at least 7 hours of sleep a night, but my husband has a weird schedule that doesn’t allow for going to bed early if I really want to spend time with him. I solved the dilemma by setting the alarm to 6:30 am and getting in bed by 11am, so that I can be to sleep by 11:30. End-of-the-week exhaustion problem totally solved, and I’m still exercising (come back next week for my “How to Exercise” post).

2. Make your smartphone your alarm clock and make it inconvenient to turn off. This has worked even better than the getting seven hours of sleep trick. I set my iphone to the non-abrasive “Sonar” alarm and then I leave it charging on my desk before I go to bed. This nips two problems in the bud. 1) I have to get out of bed to turn off the alarm, which means I have to physically “get up” (as opposed to lying there trying to convince myself to get up) when I wake up, and 2) I no longer waste valuable morning hours reading in bed when I should be exercising or doing work.

3. No caffeine after 5pm. I think you all know this one, but just in case….

So that’s how I managed to transform myself into an early bird. Any other early bird converts out there? If so, let us know how you did it in the comments!

featured image credit: Steve-h