Have you ever noticed that when you have an early morning flight to catch that you don’t have a problem waking up at 3am to get going? Or when you have a big presentation at work and you want to make sure you’re showered and at the office in time to run through it “one last time”, you suddenly have wake-up-early-as-hell super powers?
Or how about — a kid on Christmas morning. My siblings and I definitely woke our parents up at 6am begging to go downstairs on Christmas morning, but for the other 364 days we were peeled out of bed.
Before I worked on my morning routine and really made it a habit, I noticed it was really easy to wake up when I had something I was waking up for. When there was a reason to wake up early. When my why for waking up earlier than the sun was something to look forward to (or something that I didn’t want to miss, like prepping for a big meeting).
It’s easy to wake up when you define your why
If you’re struggling to wake up consistently every morning chances are you haven’t truly identified a good enough reason to put in the effort (pain?) to set your alarm and make 5am (or whatever time is early for you) a thing. I totally get it. It took me a while to figure out what kept me from hitting snooze and climbing back into bed.
For me it’s a combination of things — I feel better when I wake up early, I get time for myself, I don’t have a chaotic start to the morning, and, most importantly, I can be present with my favorite people after work if I put in the work before work. (work work work work work work).
The first five minutes after my alarm goes off are usually not my best, but the fact that I get a sweat in, read, drink water, eat breakfast and shower before my daughter wakes up? A win. The fact that I don’t have 28 things getting in the way of me working on my fitness for the day because I checked it off early? A win. The fact that I am more focused and energized at work? A win. The fact that I get to spend my whole evening soaking up time with Hayes and Jeff? THE BIGGEST WIN.
The fulfillment that I feel from starting my day by taking care of myself is worth every minute of pain that I feel when I turn my bathroom light on at 4:50am — I might never get use to that. I like my mornings so much that somedays I find myself wondering, “what if I woke up 10 minutes earlier…?”
Define your why
If you’re a working mom chances are your why might align with mine, but you also might not be sure what your why is. And honestly, it might take some exploring. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to get there.
- What is something that you never seem to get to in the day?
- When you find yourself thinking “there’s never enough time in the day”, “if only I had time for that”, or “if only there was one more hour in the day”— what are you hoping to fit in with that time?
- What’s a goal that you’re struggling to reach?
- How many days a week do you catch yourself paying attention to your phone when you could be engaging with your family?
- When was the last time the days you worked out in a week matched your goal for the week?
- Do you often feel like you’re not enough? Like you’re failing because you aren’t accomplishing what you think you could be in a day?
- If you had free time, what would you do with it?
Use your why to your advantage
Once you’ve define your why(s) use that as fuel to get yourself to bed earlier and out of bed earlier. Think about it when you wake up, write it down, say it to yourself when you jump into bed for the night. Find anyway possible to remind yourself WHY you are waking up early.
Some mornings you can literally find me standing over my bathroom sink throwing water on my face and saying, “it will feel so good this morning to workout” or “if you workout now, you don’t have to choose between working out and hanging out with Jeff once Hayes is in bed tonight”.
Reminding myself why I am up so dang early is critical to me staying up instead of hitting the snooze, climbing back into bed, and thinking those extra 9 minutes are going to make a difference.