No Snooze Solution
During this series on my mornings and how I try to set myself up for a great day, I have discussed my big WHY for getting up earlier, which is my Miracle Morning routine. However, I skipped over something very important, which is my big HOW. I have described how I have not been an early riser all my life and how difficult it used to be getting up any earlier than 10 minutes past my alarm. In this post, I will give some of my tried-and-true tips on getting up early in case you’re having similar issues.
In my last post about how I implement the Miracle Morning, I wrote about how I was NEVER a morning person. Ever. In High School, I would sleep as late as possible on the weekends, which was usually passed noon. Which is probably normal for most kids that age, but it continued throughout my life. My freshman year of college, during my first semester my earliest class was at noon. With all my jobs after college, I would sleep until the very last second, then snooze for 9 more minutes. I was always so close to running late that any traffic issue would cause a terrible morning. Then, after I had kids and found myself missing so much sleep, my sleeping in issues just got worse. I was in that parenting stage that just has to be “gotten through”.
Finally, I found that Miracle Morning book. I knew I wanted to try some of the ideas in that book and I was excited for some “me” time. Instead of inching my way into it, I just went “cold turkey” and set my alarm to the earliest I wanted to get up. I was lucky that my husband’s job at that time required him to get up around 5AM so I used that to help me get up as wellI would read, jog on the treadmill and even sometimes work on a side project here and there. I absolutely found myself LOVING my mornings and I was very excited when I went to bed at night thinking of all the things I would accomplish in the morning.
However, I still had issues with “snoozing”. I would set my alarm but snooze it a few times. I would always make sure to add enough time into my alarm so that I had a buffer and could snooze but still have time for my routine. Sometimes this would cause me to fall back asleep for good and I would miss my routine that I love so much. This was extremely frustrating.
Finally, I found a combination of strategies and one final trick that allowed me to never hit snooze again. Here are my top strategies that finally helped me stop snoozing:
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Have something you look forward to in the morning
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I really look forward to my workouts or runs in the morning now, so it is much easier. After I started seeing amazing results working out, I actually craved my workouts in the morning. I will also “spice” up my routine in different ways to keep it exciting. For example, I tried a new overnight oats recipe one week that had me excited to get up and enjoy that breakfast during my Miracle Morning routine. Also, when I have a new book or a new idea for affirmations, these will usually get me excited to get up and get started. If all of the SAVERS feel like one more thing on your to-do list and like another chore, you won’t jump out of bed to do them. Find things you are excited about, because after all, it’s time for YOU.
Use Mel Robbins’ 5-4-3-2-1 trick to launch yourself out of bed
This tricked worked very well for me, and using it to get out of bed was the first place in my life I applied the rule. Mel’s rule is that when you think of something you want to do (or say, or start on), count down from 5-4-3-2-1 and then JUST GO. Do it. Don’t think about it. Counting down distracts your brain from thinking about all the reasons why you shouldn’t do it, and it keeps you from stopping yourself. In the context of getting up in the morning, when my brain starts to think “just hit snooze one more time” or “it’s ok, you’ve been up early all week, you deserve to sleep in”, I start counting down to block out those thoughts and when I hit one, I move. I get right out of bed. It’s amazing and it works in so many different areas.
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Use a vibrating alarm if you have it if you are worried about waking up someone else
This one has been really useful in allowing me to get up extra early without having to disturb my husband, who no longer has to get up at 5:00am for that old job of his. My FitBit has a vibrating alarm on it, so I will set that for my early mornings and it will wake me up without disturbing my husband. Then I 5-4-3-2-1 and slowing slip out of bed. Done.
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Put your alarm outside your bedroom so you have to get up to turn it off
This strategy was another idea I found from Mel Robbins and has been amazing for me. Mel’s suggestion was to put your alarm clock somewhere outside your room. This way, you have to actually get up to turn the alarm off. After that, you’re already up, so why not just stay up? You can put your alarm in an adjoining bathroom, or right outside your door, or even just on a dresser on the other side of the room. Wherever you can put it that will force you up out of bed is all you need.
I have used all of these strategies during my years of trying to get up earlier and earlier without hitting snooze. My final big solution to never hitting the snooze button again was a combination of #3 and #4.
First, I put my phone right outside of our bedroom on a stand that we have right outside the door. I then set my alarm on my phone to the exact last minute I need to get up, which is usually 6:10am (unless I have a long workout, then it is 5:50am).
The next step is I set my vibrating alarm on my Fitbit for 10 minutes before that phone alarm. So, I set my Fitbit alarm to go off at 6:00am (or 5:40am on long workout days)
That’s it. I am ready for my morning. When my Fitbit vibrating alarm goes off, I know I need to get up and turn off the phone alarm before it goes off. Why? One word: KIDS. My phone is out in the main area of our home. If that sucker goes off before I get out there to turn it off, it will wake up my kids. It will WAKE up my KIDS. EARLY. And that’s a hard no.
This strategy works for me every time. I wake up to my vibrating alarm. I know I need to get my butt up or my morning won’t happen (or I’ll have to soothe my kids back to sleep or they will be cranky) and boom, I’m up. Right up. I turn off my phone alarm, and start my routine.
I know getting up early isn’t for everyone, but hopefully if you are getting up early or feel like you might want to try it, these tips should give you some options to try if you’re struggling to get out of that warm bed in the morning. Please let me know if you have any more tips to add in the comments below.
