ART/LIFE HACK – 5 Steps to Help You Get Up Early to Do Your Art…and Like It

If you’re anything like I was, you have a heck of a time waking up in the morning.

I’d hit the snooze button a few times after my alarm went off and ended up rushing to work because I was late.

The thing is, mornings are a really good time to get things done that we usually spend sleeping.

I LOVE sleeping, but I’d much rather be able to get work I love done than sleep it all away.  Especially because I have much more energy in the mornings than I do in the evenings. The one thing we have precious little of in life is time.

Ideally for me, the weekends are the perfect time to get art done in the morning.  During the week, I have other things I need to do in the mornings that aren’t art related before work (like exercise).

But how the blazes do I wake up to do what I want to do…and like it?! That was the question that had been bugging me for a while.

Turns out there’s a really good and easy way to do it. The answer came from reading a book called The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM). (Affiliate link, thanks for your support.)

What is “The Miracle Morning?”

The Miracle Morning is a book that systematizes waking up early so it can be made easy AND habitual.

It’s also unapologetically, a marketing book for the author who is constantly leading you to subscribe to his website.  But that’s okay, because the info is so good, you don’t mind too much. Besides, it’s not like I don’t do it myself.

The system it proposes is worth trying.  I started doing it and I found that it works VERY well.

So now I’m going to share with you the waking up part of the system in the book.  This alone is worth reading the book for but there’s a few other things in it that builds on these steps, worth reading.

I’m going to share these steps here.  You can try them out so you can get some art done in the morning and feel really good about yourself.

5 Steps to Waking Up Quick Without Hassle

1. Mentally prepare the night before

The first thing you should do is mentally prepare yourself to wake up when your alarm clock rings.

Simply make a mental affirmation to yourself.  Tell yourself something to the effect of,

“It’s ___ o’clock, tomorrow I’m going to wake up at __am.  I’ll have plenty of sleep and I’ll be energized. As soon as my alarm goes off, I’ll wake straight up and start my day, live life and get things done.”

You can download the “official” version which is much longer HERE.  Anyway, the point is, that the last thing you think to yourself before sleeping is the first thing you will think when you wake up.  So think positive about waking up.

DO NOT say to yourself,

“Uh, I’m sooo tired, I’m going to be sooo tired in the morning,” you’re sabotaging yourself if you do that.

2. Put your alarm clock far away

Put your alarm clock somewhere in the room that you have to physically get up out of bed to turn it off. That will absolutely get your butt up quick.

That alarm clock is so annoying.

Once you’re up DON’T go back your bed.  YOU ARE UP.  Take advantage and immediately do step 3.

3. Drink a glass of water

You’ve been sleeping and have become somewhat dehydrated.  It’s one of the reasons you’re tired.  Drink a glass of water.  Make sure you put it near the alarm clock the morning before.

That way, you’re up and you just drink.  The act of drinking will also help wake you up and you’ll start becoming hydrated.

Once you drink the water all up, you do step 4.

4. Brush your teeth

This is very odd but it actually really helps.  Especially since most toothpastes are minty and burn your mouth.

You can also splash a bit of water on yourself while your at it.

Once that’s done, you move to the next step.

5. Get dressed

It’s official, your up and out of your sleeping clothes. You can take a shower first if you’re not changing into exercise clothes.

Once you change, it should mark the beginning of your work time.  You’re up and ready to get to work.

Conclusion

I’ve been doing this for a while.  Actually, I’ve been doing this and following the rest of the routine, and I found I enjoy it.

The getting up to turn off my alarm clock is a HUGE help and it doesn’t allow me to think about whether I should stay in bed or not. I don’t get the option.

That, and the fact that I tell myself before I go to bed that I’m going to wake up when it goes off.  That last thought thing actually helps.

If you do this for about 30 days, you may find that you don’t know how you lived without it.

There’s a little more to it than I’m presenting here to think about.  So if you really want to get into the whole routine, you should read the Miracle Morning.

It has a little bit of advice about habit building as well, which is very handy to know.

Anyway, give it a try and let me know what you think.

Do you have a morning routine that works for you? Let me know. Share it below.