A lot has been told about how successful people wake up at 5 a.m. and start their days with an infinite list of well-being routines. But does it work for everyone? If I don’t wake up at 5 a.m. can’t achieve success?
During all my life I haven’t been a morning person. I love sleeping so much and waking up early in the morning has always been kind of torture to me. The alarm gets off every 5 minutes until finally I can leave bed and start my day (because I have to – I mean, I have to work). I can’t understand how someone (my husband) can wake up at 5 a.m. by himself, put on his exercise clothing, and go to the gym to Exercise! Are you serious? I can barely open my eyes at that time.
Well, I think you already have the picture of the kind of person that I was in the morning. Yes, the person I was. Because now I belong to the team that wakes up at 5 a.m. and initiate their days with energy. Okay! How did this happen?
I think it was the result of several things.
Number 1. I have been struggling with incorporating exercise into my life in a constant way. (I have been working out and quitting exercise so many times in my life). I had the intention of changing this.
Number 2. I love reading but I didn’t have “the time” for reading. I had the intention of changing this.
Number 3. My husband gave me a book. The 5 AM club by Robin Sharma. I read the book.
The book, plus my old intentions got together and I started to try. Yes, I tried to wake up at 5 a.m. It was difficult. So many mornings the alarm got off and I just initiated a battle in my mind about waking up OR not. Many days I chose Not to. But I kept trying. I started to check marks on my calendar for every day that I had been able to wake up and initiate my day early. Suddenly, I wanted to see my calendar full of check marks. Suddenly, waking up at 5 a.m. didn’t feel so difficult.
This is my routine:
- Wake up at 5 a.m. (I must be honest, this time is flexible, and I adjust it accordingly with my daily schedule. Could be 6 a.m.).
- Working out. (At the gym of my building. 30 to 45 minutes).
- Meditation (10 to 20 minutes).
- Having breakfast and preparing my lunch bag. (1 hour)
- Getting ready. (30 minutes)
- Reading my book. (Normally 30 minutes).
- Go to work. (Around 8:30 a.m.)
That works for me. I have been able to create a routine of waking up at 5 a.m. Awesome! But I didn’t expect what else I got:
- I don’t wake up anymore because “I have to go to work and can’t be late”. I wake up early for myself and then… and just then I go to work. I feel successful when I wake up early and dedicate the first hours of my day to myself. First, me. Later, the job.
- Exercising and reading now have a TIME in my day. They are important to me. They have a time in my schedule. Not when I get home from work tired to see if I have energy left to exercise or read.
- Since exercising and reading have a time in my schedule, I can be consistent with both. Big achievements. For the first time in my life, I can say that exercise is part of my daily routine. It feels good. For the first time in my life, I achieve my goal of reading 12 books in a year. It feels good.
- If I can wake up at 5 a.m. anyone can. No excuses. You can. (If you want).
- I feel proud of myself for these achievements.
Answering my questions at the beginning of this article I might say: Yes, waking up at 5 a.m. has worked for me. I feel successful. Successful = my day begins for me!