I’m always looking to better myself and get out of my comfort zone. Sleep is one comfort I strongly hold onto in the morning.
The sheets are so warm and my inner-self tells me, “Sleep a little more, the day can wait.”
I’ve currently been waking up around 6:40am each weekday for my full-time job, and anywhere from 9 to 11am on Saturday and Sunday. However, I want to stretch myself further and be more productive during the week and weekend.
So, I decided to take on a 30-day challenge (starting today, June 22nd) to wake up at 6am each day. And my strategy for accomplishing this goal is to publicly declare it, and then honestly report my progress. I believe a little social pressure can go a far way in staying committed.
Why do I want to wake up earlier when my bed can feel so good?
Many Successful People Are Early Risers
Through what I’ve read, there is an association between waking up early and being successful. Major advantages of waking earlier, among others, include…
- productivity. The early morning is best for an uninterrupted, distraction-free time to focus. You can complete one to two hours of activities while your house and time-zone is sleeping (talk about getting an edge). Also, you achieve a quick win—when you ignore the part of you that wants to roll over and go back to bed—to propel your momentum to greater wins throughout the day. You’ll feel and act like a man or woman on a mission with complete control.
- organization and goal-setting. Before the craziness of classes or work, early risers have extra time to organize and plan ahead. This will save you the stress and anxiety that disorganization brings.
- more restorative sleep. Going to bed earlier and waking up sooner will coordinate your body’s natural clock with planet earth’s circadian rhythms. Just trust the sleep experts on this one. I also read that sleep is similar to eating: Our body usually wants more than it actually needs.
- health and fitness. You’ll have time for a morning workout that will leave you feeling happy and empowered. Let those endorphins do their magic to protect you from stress the rest of the day, and improve your interactions with friends and family.
- more time living. If you spend less time sleeping, you naturally have more time in your day to be productive, relax, build relationships, have fun, and entertain hobbies. While this argument has its limitations, it works on a basic level.
Regulations
Any official challenge needs rules, and I’m taking this serious. So, these are the regulations for The 30-Day Challenge: Waking Up At 6 AM.
1. I have to go all in on this challenge for maximum growth. That means I’m including weekends in the 6am regime. So, it’s out of bed at 6 every single day for a month.
2. I’ll daily record my results in a planner. Then I will tally the results and publish a blog post about my performance and what I learned biweekly.
3. There will be no quitting of the challenge, even if I fail one day and sleep past 6.
My end-goal is to form a habit of waking up at 6am (or maybe improve to 5am in the future) until my retirement. But, I can’t look that far at this point. I need to take it one day at a time.
Please Join Me!
I would love for you all to join me. You don’t have to wake up at 6am if you don’t need to.
Maybe you normally get out of bed at 10 or 11am each day (no shame), and you want to get up at 8 or 9am. Or maybe you’re going to bed super late and want to improve on going to bed earlier.
The specific details of when you get up, or when you go to bed, don’t matter as much. What is more important is the personal progress you are moving toward to increase your productivity and daily happiness.
Like I said, look out for the biweekly updates until the end of the challenge. Here’s to early mornings and shorter nights!
Readers, how much more productive could you be if you woke up one or two hours earlier? Are you willing to test this experiment out? If not, what’s holding you back? Any other thoughts?
Related posts
The 30-Day Challenge: Waking Up At 6 AM (Week 1-2)
The 30-Day Challenge: Waking Up At 6 AM (Finale & Recap)
My only question would be how to manage having a fulfilling social life as a 22 year old when waking up that early every day
That’s a really good question. I think two effective solutions for waking up early and maintaining a strong social life are to.. 1) take a nap during the day or after your job/classes and 2) give yourself a reward for your hard work during the week and let yourself sleep in on Saturday and/or Sunday morning. These will give you more time at night with your friends.
I will join this challenge as I feel it will 1) help me have time for a morning workout and 2) make me more willing to wake up with plenty of time for 8 am classes fall semester. Thanks a ton for the motivation!
Great to hear Brittany! If you can combine an early wake up and a morning workout, I guarantee you’ll feel amazing the rest of the day. And you’re right that 8am classes won’t be a struggle in the fall when you consistently get up two hours earlier.
I am in!! 🙂
Ya Reginald!