Inside: Dying to start waking up early but can't seem to get out of bed in the mornings? Here are 7 techniques to motivate yourself to wake up early!
“I’ll never run again in my life!” I told myself through tears. My body had never been in so much pain. The 60+ miles a week I had been putting in didn’t prepare me for this 50km trail race. My husband was somewhere up ahead dominating the mountains, but I was here, totally isolated. And I was feeling absolutely defeated - mentally and physically. Running for 7+ hours on a trail, mostly alone, will do that to you.
I wanted to quit. And I promised myself that I would.
“At the next water station I’m done!” I said over and over again.
Then I got to the next water station and decided I could go a little further. So I pressed on, with the caveat that at the next aid station I would throw up my hands, for sure.
Why Motivation Is Critical To Making Change
Most of us know what habits we wish were a part of our daily routine. But so few of us actually work towards making those things come to fruition. Somewhere along the way there is a disconnect between the knowledge and the action.
Real change happens when we take small, incremental steps every day. And those deliberate steps happen when we are properly motivated. Motivation is what moves us from just “knowing”, to knowing and “doing”.
Motivation is not something that can be created out of thin air. No, motivation is a response to stimuli. So in order to continually be motivated, we must constantly give ourselves something compelling enough to make us take action.
7 Ways To Motivate Yourself To Wake Up Early
1. Write down the “WHY” of your early morning
Writing a goal down instantly makes it more permanent and meaningful. A promise to ourselves that is made in our heads is a promise that is likely to be forgotten or ignored (and knowing your "Big Why" is the first of the 8 early bird habits).
A few years ago I realized I needed some help with a consistent cleaning schedule. As hard as I tried, cleaning “as needed” wasn’t working out for me. So I sat down and wrote a quick and dirty cleaning routine. Monday: kitchen deep clean; Tuesdays: bedrooms; Wednesday: mop floors; etc. I posted that sucker on the fridge and low and behold, the house seemed to be consistently clean.
So put pen to paper my friend. Write it down. Why do you want to wake up early? What craving is an early morning routine satisfying?
The reason doesn’t matter as much as acknowledging what it is and then WRITING that reason down. Feel free to follow this template:
I will wake up early, before the kids, ___ days a week because _________________________________ and I know being consistent with my Mama's Morning will ___________________________.
Now put it by your bed, on your mirror, clipped to your closet door - wherever you will see it daily.
If you are serious about motivating yourself to wake up early - GO DO IT. Like right now. Stop reading, go write it down on a piece of cardstock (or plain old paper if that is what you have), and put it somewhere where you will see it daily. I'll wait for you….
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2. Write down the “WHAT” of your early morning
If I don’t write down my grocery list, there is no way on earth I am going to remember the important things that I need to get. Ask my husband. I don’t seem to forget to grab a bar of dark chocolate or the eggs or the hummus. But the toilet paper that we are totally out of? That is what I am going to forget every time.
Inevitably, once I do write it down it doesn't matter if I bring that list with me or not. I will still remember to grab the TP from the paper aisle. Because when we write, we remember. When we keep it in our brains, it gets lost in the abyss.
So go grab another slip of paper, and write out the actual tasks that you hope to accomplish. Remember, a productive morning routine is not what we are going for. Rather, we are looking to craft a morning routine that is energizing and fulfilling.
Right now I have two basic things I want to get done during my mornings: time reading the Word of God and in prayer, and time writing. Maybe for you it’s a workout and finishing a photobook you have been wanting to get done. Or it could be reading a book you just ordered and drinking a cup of hot coffee. Before you go to bed tonight, grab a pen and a slip of paper and tell yourself what you want to happen in the early morning hours.
3. Give yourself an early morning treat to look forward to
For me a cup of hot tea is enough. But for you it might be something else. If you are feeling really adventurous, go for a chunk of dark chocolate. Science says it’s OK.
This is a great hack to get you out of bed in the mornings. Knowing that there is something waiting for you when you get up, something that you can enjoy alone, without those little hands grabbing and clawing, will help motivate you to wake up early.
4. Start a hobby that you love
A couple of years ago I found myself unexpectedly pregnant with three toddlers. I was quite miserable. But I knew that if I wanted to stay sane and love those three boys as well as I could, I needed to get some time alone to refresh. So I started taking a morning walk every morning, with nothing but a podcast and the cool breeze against my skin.
This morning walk got to be such a fun, energizing and filling thing for me that I would crave my early mornings. I would get out of bed with enthusiasm and joy because I knew it was my 1.5 hours to myself...
Today what gets me giddy about my morning routine is writing. I have grown to love writing. And the idea of writing in the dark, when the house is quiet and the crickets are chirping outside is so enticing to me that waking up early is hardly ever an issue.
So find something that you love as much as I have grown to love writing, or as much as I loved and cherished those morning walks. Start doing that thing every morning. Think about a passion that you had before the kids came along. Or an idea that you have wanted to pursue but have never had the time. Add something into your morning that you won’t be able to resist.
5. Read a quote that aligns with your “why” before you go to bed
Use a motivational quote to help remind yourself of the “why” behind your early morning routine. Write some of your favorites down, and then actually read them before you go to sleep, every night.
That consistent reminder will help you as you work to change your mindset from “I have to wake up early” to “I get to wake up early”.
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well neither does bathing - that is why we recommend it daily.” - Zig Ziglar
6. Have a visual reminder of your progress
Up until he was 21 my husband had probably read a grand total of 2 books in his entire life. Then one day he grabbed a book off of my brother’s shelf, flipped it open, and didn’t put it down until the last word was read. He had found a genre that he loved (business) and was completely hooked. I was thrilled with the idea of him loving to read, so I decided to make it fun - I got a huge poster board and we had a year long competition to see who could read the most books. And did we read a lot of books that year!
The visual reminder and the visual depiction of the progress we were making was pure motivation to keep reading - to flip open a book instead of prying open the laptop or grabbing the remote.
So use some type of visual reminder of your goal and your progress. Maybe it’s a huge calendar that you can mark every day that you wake up early. Or maybe it is two jars next to your bed - every time you wake up early you put a Hershey’s kiss in the jar on the left, and every time you sleep in you move a piece of chocolate over to the jar on the right (and then indulge in the “wake up early” jar once a week 🙂 )
It might sound silly, but it’s the little things that we do consistently that make the biggest impact. Don’t push aside the small actions - because those are what make up the biggest changes.
7. Reward yourself for the small wins
Just like the 50km race and those dang water stations, you need something up ahead to keep you going - something that you can look toward and say “yep, I can get there. And once I get there, I can decide if I keep going”.
Set up a reward system so that when you want to sleep in you can look up and say:”hey, just three more mornings and I can get that new wreath I’ve been dying to put on the door!” Or whatever it is for you. Dangle a carrot out in front of you and get to chasing it.
It’s up to you to motivate yourself to wake up early
Long story short, I ended up crossing the finish line that day for my first 50km trail race. Not because I garnered some great resolve to complete this ginormous task I had set before myself. No, I finished that race because I set up little steps along the way. Instead of looking at the race as one giant task, I just set my sights on the next aid station. And little by little, with each step, I made progress towards the end.
Motivation looks different for everyone. But what is consistent is that we all need to be motivated again, and again.
If you are serious about wanting the time alone that you crave, about wanting to wake up early before the kids and start your day with energy and joy and enthusiasm, these 7 steps will help get you there.
Some of these tips might seem silly or inconsequential. But it is the small actions and deliberate steps we take that are going to compound and make up the big changes in our life.
So if you are struggling to become an early bird, I would challenge you to look and see if you are actually using these techniques. If not, then stop making excuses and start making some changes.
As a quick refresher - 7 ways to motivate yourself to wake up early:
- Write down the “why” of your early morning
- Write down the “what” of your early morning
- Give yourself an early morning treat to look forward to
- Start a hobby that you love
- Read motivational quotes before bed
- Have a visual reminder of your progress
- Reward yourself for the small wins
In the end, it’s all about the actions and steps that you actually take that will affect your levels of motivation. Remember, motivation doesn’t just come to us. We have to encourage motivation by the actions that we take and the reminders that we put in our path.
You can do this, mama! One step at a time, you can learn to motivate yourself to wake up early. I believe in you.
And I’m rooting for you,
