When I wake up in the morning, I start my day by getting three simple things: movement, water, and sunlight.
Together, these three tiny habits quickly get me past that initial groggy stage and enable me to break through walls with only my fists.
But why are these habits so effective?
And if you're trying to wake up early in the morning - how can you get yourself out of bed in the first place so you can do them?
Before we get to those questions, let's lay the groundwork.
First, waking up early isn't something you have to do to be more productive.
There are certainly people out there that will tell you otherwise, but the fact is that different people operate on different schedules.
There's this fantastic infographic on Brain Pickings that shows the wake-up times of several famous authors, and that will clearly show you that while some authors like Haruki Murakami do indeed wake up obscenely early, others got up much later and were just as productive. Ray Bradbury and C.S. Lewis both woke up around 9.
Famous Writers' Sleep Habits vs. Literary Productivity, Visualized
So despite what some YouTubers might tell you while filming themselves running at 4am, it's possible to be live a perfectly productive life as a night owl.
However, I've found that getting up early in the morning and carving out time for a morning routine is beneficial - and that's because I've found that I'm much more likely to use my mornings for productive things rather than my evenings. So by waking up early, I'm setting up a schedule where I tend to waste less time.
You might be in the same boat as I am, which means you've also experienced the following problem:
Many times, you wake up and feel like you've been hit by truck. You're tired, groggy, and all you want to do is hit the snooze button.