How to Wake Up On Time

Do you keep hitting the snooze button forever? Do you sometimes even turn off the alarm and oversleep?

As I’ve said before, if you wake up tired, you can wake up more refreshed by taking a few simple actions to improve the quality of your sleep. But that might not be enough. You see…

The fact is – most people would get themselves out of bed on time, even after a short and un-refreshing sleep.

It’s absolutely natural to feel tired and “heavy” when you wake-up. The challenge is to overcome the temptation to surrender to that feeling. It’s mainly a matter of self-discipline, which comes from motivation.

Here are a few things that you can start doing TODAY, to get yourself out of bed on time, no matter how long or how well you’ve slept…

1. Motivate yourself to wake up on time

I won’t get into it now, but obviously, you may have to work on your self motivation – set goals, overcome your emotional problems and so on.

Meanwhile, you can focus your ‘mind power’ on waking up…

- Have a strong “WHY”.

You have to give yourself a good enough reason to get out of bed. You have to persuade yourself that you WANT to get up at a certain time, and also think of a good reason WHY. Instead of thinking “I have to get up” Think “I want to get up because…”

- “Burn it” into your subconscious.

Every night, when you’re about to go to bed, go over your plan. For example: “I wake up at…or maybe even before the alarm goes off and go straight to the bath room to wash my face. I don’t go back to bed even if I feel very tired….”

If simple self-talk doesn’t work for you, try one of these:

- Write it down.

- “Meditate” – lie in bed, take a few long breathes, relax your body and your mind. When you’re in that position, do the self-talk, go over the plan, and also PICTURE yourself carrying it out.

- Rehearse - pretend as if you’re going to sleep and rehearse the act of waking up and getting out of bed. Do it a few times, until it feels “natural”. You can even set the alarm to go off in a few minutes.

Smile when you “wake up”. (It wouldn’t be very hard, because you would be probably laughing at yourself, but it’s a good exercise!)

2. Make it easier to wake up (on time)

You should come to like waking up, instead of hating it. Try to think of anything that you can do to make it easier or more pleasant for you to get out of bed.

A few ideas:

- If your mornings are stressful, because you’re always in a hurry, consider waking up EARLIER. This way you wouldn’t be in such a rush. Besides, in that spare time you can do something you like.

(Make sure it’s something that would wake you up, though, like taking a walk, and not put you back to sleep, like reading a book in bed.)

- Put the clock far away from bed, and commit to “not going back to bed after you turn off the alarm”!

- Use the right alarm clock for you – some say you shouldn’t hate the sound of the alarm (and I agree). It shouldn’t be too stressful and annoying.  However, if you don’t even HEAR the alarm, it’s time for a change. Either you’ve gotten used to it, or it’s too quiet.

(Although I could probably stop using one by now, I’ve gotten used to my simple, but powerful alarm clock. It has NO SNOOZE button, and I put it away from bed facing backwards so I don’t see the time.)

- You may want to try a wake up call service »

-  Open the curtains before hand, to let the sunlight in. If you work shifts, or have to wake up before sunrise, consider investing in a Sunrise Alarm Clock. You can find one at Dream Essentials ». (You’ll find it under “Sleep Essentials”)

- If the floor is too cold to walk on when you wake up, put a pair of socks or slippers near the bed. Is it too cold to let go of the blanket? Dress appropriately or put some clothes at hand reach.

- If you’re sometimes too HUNGRY to get up and prefer to close your eyes and dream about food, put a box of cookies near the bed.

Obviously you should also work on improving the quality of your sleep. With high quality sleep, you will wake up much more refreshed and energetic.

There’s a terrific guide that I recommend for that, called the End Tiredness Program » (my review) – a step-by-step guide to eliminating tiredness from your life.

Any ideas of your own? Please post them below!