12 lessons from a man who has learned to wake up early in the morning

- April 2 I gave myself a new challenge. The task was simple: 21 working days I had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning. I'm used to wake up early (at 6 am almost every day), but this time I wanted to go even further. I would like to test yourself and know your limits.

At the same time, I would like to share their achievements with other people so that they can follow my example. I would also like to refute some preconceived misconceptions that society blindly follows.

I have decided to comply with such a regime only on weekdays because the weekends and the holidays - a separate conversation. Of course, some things I do not have time to do during the week, so you have to carry them on Saturday and Sunday, but most of the weekend - this time for fun and night gulyanok.

Yes, of course I would have to comply with such a regime, and every day, but in this case I would have broke your life balance. Since I was planning to continue to wake up as early and after 21 days, it would become a real torture, rather than an advantage.

Why 21 days? Well, I relied on the old as the world, the idea of ​​Dr. Maxwell Moltz, who argues that in order to form new habits, needs exactly 21 days. I do not know whether it's actually, I just have to set a goal.

I have one rule I try to follow: always sets itself specific purpose, because the only way you can understand, succeeded or failed you get what you wanted.







What was the ultimate goal of all this? Increased productivity - I wanted to take each day to the maximum. I always think about how to improve their work, how to improve your life, and I like to think about all the details and take action that will help me to achieve the desired.

I always knew that I was an early bird, and my goal was to get up earlier every morning and make sure whether it will increase my productivity.

So, what I learned during that time? ALL LOTS.

1. If you want to change something in your life, it is important that along the way you had support.
This will help you not to go out of your way when you have (and it certainly will be) a desire to quit. In my case, I decided to share my observations with friends and acquaintances to Facebook. I knew that I needed to tell someone, because it is an additional incentive to move to the target.

But when your new habit to know the people they are interested in, will ask questions. The most useful - you'll be afraid to show his weakness, and one that is already enough to not give up the job. Especially I would like to light someone else his idea. Of course, I knew that if I fail, it will not be a tragedy, but the thought that I might follow other people helped me to move on.

2. People are attentive to the details.
Some people find such early awakening is not quite normal, so I had to actively defend its position in the comments. People were worried about me. People asked a lot of questions. And at the same time, people thought that they themselves could never accustom myself to get up as early.

I had long and meaningful conversations with the people who read my posts, and I was grateful to everyone who responded. These people made me think about many things, and this article that you are reading now, largely thanks to these conversations there.

3. People do not want to wake up early, because they think that because of this they will sleep less.
In the beginning, many people are actually very worried about me. Most asked questions boiled down to one thing: when I sleep? Of course, I planned out in advance.

I knew very well how long it takes my body to sleep. And so I changed the time of its revival, it was necessary to also change the time that I would go to bed. For me it was easy. To sleep, I need 6-7 hours, and I'm not going to sleep less.

So if time 9:30 or 10:00 pm, I know that I must go to bed. To my surprise, most of the people who asked me, when I sleep, in fact, sleeping a lot less than I do. And I began to sleep a lot better than before.

4. Eliminate the obstacles that you meet on the way.
People are very fond of saying that to do something or that something is impossible. Yes, of course, there are certain circumstances that may be an obstacle. But I believe that many people are simply lazy and do not want to put extra effort to improve their lives. They just go with the flow, without thinking about their real capabilities.

Yes, it can be easy for me to say because I have the right conditions: I am not married and have no children, my life belongs only to me. But on the other hand, much depended on my desire and motivation.

If I lived with my parents, would make it much more difficult, because I would have had to reckon with his family, with their habits and pace of life. So, I started this way in advance making sure I do not hurt.

Think about everything that prevents you achieve the desired goal.

This applies not only to the desire to wake up early, but also to the desire to quit smoking, start going to the gym, or, say, eat more fruits and vegetables. How to get rid of all obstacles that prevent you to achieve the goal?

In my case, I knew that I would need: full independence; the ability to fall asleep when I want to; the ability to not wake up at night in a cold sweat, realizing that I have a lot of unfinished business; the ability to work anywhere, anytime ... Fortunately, I had it all.

I usually work in startups, and it means that I have a free and flexible, and that is why I can start work at 4:30 am. This schedule allows me to return home early. In addition, one does not depend on me, and I do not depend on anybody. And, despite the fact that in the same house with me live seven other people, I easily obtain sleep so early.









5. Your physical condition will greatly help you.
If we talk about the dream, that I was very lucky. I fall asleep very quickly (on average it takes me 5 minutes). Good sleep (wake up at night is rare). No problems with the awakening: I get up from the alarm signal.

Of course, this is a consequence of my way of life: I eat well, do sports every day, my life is not permanent and global concerns. And I think that most people are too used to wake up if they decide to change your lifestyle.

All change begins with small things, but after a few weeks or months you will realize the benefits of all of these small changes.

6. Forget the phrase "another 10 minutochek».
Many of us have sinned this: stand not immediately signal an alarm, and rearrange it for another 10 minutes later. Fortunately, I rarely did so, and now finally convinced of the futility of this activity.

If you want to wake up at a certain time, please, forget about this eternal "Well another 10 minutochek." This will seriously affect your day: studies prove that you did not sleep enough during those 10 minutes, moreover, will feel more tired, and this is the most negative impact on your activities.

7. I love to sleep, but my body needs only 6-7 hours to sleep.
After 6-7 hours of sleep I can not sleep, just toss and turn in bed. It is better to get up and do something interesting and useful. In that light otosplyus.

8. It has more time to work.
After I began to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, I had the extra 2 hours that I could dedicate the work. How? As I said above, I'm an early bird and after 6 pm I can not do anything particularly useful, my productivity falls in the second half of the day.

So these two evening hours, I sat useless on the Internet, I suffered in the morning and could devote their work. Now I can finish work early and relax just when I needed it.

9. I had time to clean up the mail.
As a rule, those 2 hours, I have time to answer all emails and plan your entire day. See the digit 0 in front "Inbox" when the time is just 6:30 in the morning - it's wonderful. Most pleased that few can I reply to messages at such an early hour. This is especially true Facebook - is the unfortunate enemy of our time. One post we can hang in correspondence with a certain person for the whole day.

And if you think about it, you will notice that most people did not need immediate answers to all their questions, and nothing bad will happen if you reply to the letter tomorrow.

10. There is more time for training.







I went to the gym and before decided to get up early. But as I started to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, I decided to add one more exercise per week. Before that I missed workouts three times a week, but now this is not enough: I need four or five workouts.

In this I was helped by my early awakening: I do not come to the gym tired, as it usually happens before. Plus, I go into the room with a sense of accomplishment - I had to work 2:00.

11. A new view of the world.
My early wake-up allowed me to notice the details in the outside world, for which I used to practically ignored.

Go for a jog or walk until the sun had not yet risen, - it was not possible before, when I lived on the standard schedule.







12. And, of course, I need willpower to rebuild their daily routine.
If you have no will power, it is more than likely that you will give up. Train your will power to achieve the desired learning. In the end, if you really want to, then no one can stop you will!

Author: Filipe Castro Matos
Translation: Karina Shlapakova, Lifehacker



via lifehacker.ru/2014/09/25/4-30-za-21- den /