YOUR GUIDE TO GETTING UP EARLY

Not an early riser? Perhaps you would prefer a sleep in then set your alarm for an early gym session? Let’s face it, if everybody woke up early to get to the gym, it would be packed out but getting up early to start your day with a bit of you time has its mental and physical health benefits. Here are 7 tips to help you get up early in the mornings. 

1. Have Motivation
Let’s start with your overall reason 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 because of other commitments, or you just want to start prioritising in that daily exercise, which we all know benefits for our overall health and wellbeing. It’s time to stop making excuses and really put your reason at the forefront of your mind and work on it every day until it becomes your new normal.

2. Setting Your Alarm
If you are somebody who always gets up at 7am and then suddenly wants to start getting up at 5am, you are setting yourself up for failure. Either you will hit snooze straight away, or it will only last a day or two before you start thinking it’s too tough and you give up. To get pass this, start changing your alarm in increments of 15 minutes. For example, you normally get up at 7am, set it for 6.45am for the next two days and if you’re able to get up without hitting snooze, then set the next day for 6.30am and so on until you reach the goal 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 whilst waking up early, rather than losing out on 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 sesh from evening to morning. Once you have made these changes to your routine, you will be happy to go 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 one for the snoozers out there or the ones who find it hard to creep around the house without waking the rest of the family up. If you set up your gym gear beside your bed on the night before, this will help motivate you to put it on. A few other tips:
- Have a glass of water next to you. That way you are inclined to drink that first glass of the day before you work out.
- Have your water bottle ready. Full or empty but at least you will remember to take it.
- Have everything you would normally put on like your clothes, shoes, watch, headphones even putting 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, Do not head for the tv or start tidying up the house from the night before just because you couldn’t fit in the time last night. Head straight for that morning workout. If you are not feeling like leaving the house, wake up, hydrate and set yourself up with one of our FITLIFE On-Demand sessions, so at least you have achieved a work out and made good use of your early wake up.

6. List Your Daily To-Do’s
Now that you managed your workout, be it short or long. Write down the things you need to do today. Listing your tasks will help you maximise your day with everything you set out to do and that way by the time you have gone to bed, you won’t feel like you have missed out on anything. 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 to achieve this:
Firstly, create a vision board. A Vision Board is a collage of images and words that you should display in a prominent place to remind you, why you do what you do every day. It’s great to use something very specific as a goal so that you have a timeline to keep you accountable, for example a social event. Secondly, don’t forget to reward your achievements. If you have managed to consistently wake up early, give yourself an evening of self care that includes no chorus. A movie, a facial or dinner with a friend. Just remember to get stick to your bedtime.

Whether or not you follow all 7 tips or include one of the above tips to your daily routine, this will help you set out your overall motivation to include working out as a daily habit to prioritise.