Waking Up Earlier and Controlling Your Day: Here’s How to Do It!

Today I want to talk about waking up earlier everyday and the immense impact it will have on your life.

Waking up Earlier Skyrockets Productivity

Now we’ve received a lot of feedback.  You know, we don’t need the “me, me, me,” lots of “me” talk, but I’ve gotta just share a story with you today.

I have to share this story with you because today, we’re gonna talk about what happens when you start waking up earlier.

So, to really provide the context for you and for what you’re capable of achieving in your life, I have to share a story about how I felt in my life and the way that I used to wake up in the morning.

Keep in mind this is really a hot button item these days.  There are books that written about what time people wake up, the successful people, they drive their behaviors by waking up early; articles that have been written in magazines.  So what time are you currently waking up?

So let me share a story with you.

Story of Waking Up Earlier

We’re gonna go back about eight years.  Eight years ago, let’s see I needed to start my day at 7:30, had to be at a meeting, and it was perfect.

I would set my alarm for 6:30.  Now why 6:30?

Because if I set it for 6:30, it was perfect; I’d get three snoozes in–three snoozes for the 6:30 wake-up time.

It was perfect.

And as soon as the third snooze went off, I would look and I’d start to sweat because I knew now we’re gonna be tight on time.

So I’d hop out of the bed, I’d jump into the shower, I’d get out of the shower, and now I’m really sweating.  I’d throw my clothes on, I’d run downstairs, and even though I needed coffee, sometimes I would forget to get my coffee, and I for sure would forget to get breakfast.

And, then here was the part that was really tough.  Sometimes, I wouldn’t even be that present and focused when I would say goodbye to my wife.

So think about that.

Are you waking up early enough?

Where are you right now in your day as you start your morning?

Is it this unbelievable race where you feel like if you slow down you won’t make it to what you have to get to?

See and then here’s what would happen.

Then I would leave the house, wasn’t even focused, didn’t have my coffee, didn’t have my breakfast, I’m sweating.  I’d get to the office maybe three minutes early, 7:27 for a 7:30 meeting, and I would say to myself, “Oh, this is perfect; I timed this perfect. I have time to check an email.”  So then I would check an email, and it would be an email with this devastating news–we all get these emails right–and it would be this email where it’s like, my day’s ruined, my day’s over.

How can I focus now when I just got that email?

I’m sweating, and I haven’t had my coffee or my breakfast?  And I finally got tired of living that way.  And I would read these books, and I would read these magazine articles, and finally I started asking myself the question, “What would it look like if I started to wake up earlier?”

How to start waking up earlier

Now one thing that I am not gonna do in our time together today is tell you that you have to wake up at 5 a.m. or you have to wake up at 6:30 a.m. or you have to wake up at 3:44 a.m. like I do.

It’s about you choosing a new time for you and to imagine what your morning would be like 15 minutes earlier, 30 minutes, an hour…

• What could you do with that time?
• Could you connect to your purpose?
• Maybe read a little bit out of a book?
• Maybe do some visualizations to what is gonna happen in the day?
• Get in an awesome workout to release the endorphins to feel awesome to feel confident about what you can accomplish that day?

What would you do with that time?

What would you do if you got so fired up because you’re connected to your purpose every single day by waking up earlier, that as soon as your feet hit that floor, you recognize that was your opportunity and you were ready to get after it.

Now we’ve talked about this before.  I know that change can be tough.

Changing behavior can be tough

That little voice starts to talk to us, our weaknesses become vulnerable.  That Harvard research in July of 2008 told us that when you go through change, there’s gonna be turmoil.

But what if you woke up just a little bit earlier?  What would you do with that time?  Would it change your perspective?  Would it change how you feel?  Would you be less rushed and would you increase your probability of having success personally and professionally?

So here’s the action step.

Get Started Waking Up Earlier

Starting today, starting on a Monday, imagine if you, from this day forward, started waking up just a little bit earlier.

Challenge yourself, maybe start with 15 minutes.

If I told everybody to wake up at 3:44, everybody is gonna ignore the message.  I understand that.

But what is something that you can do that’s concrete?  Start it tomorrow.  Set the alarm clock.  What would that change mean for you in your life?  I’ve seen this movie hundreds of times with many different actors.  What would it look like for you?

Set that alarm clock at a different time.  Be fired up when your feet hit that floor because that’s your opportunity, and you know I get fired up every single Monday to be with you for “New Man, New Woman, New Week.  Until next time, continue to go do great things.

Control YOUR day by waking up earlier! Episode 34