Zen Early Revivals: 10 ways to fix a morning ritual

 

Things to think about before reading the article: it has been Proven that early awakening does not affect the socio-economic situation of a person or his productivity. On the other hand, I think that early awakening is truly a key habit that has the potential to create a chain reaction for change and bringing order to other ordinary actions. Before you read this article, think about what you would like to achieve from early awakening. Personally, I like to feel a little fatigue after exercise, a relaxing meditation and confidence after planning my day before Breakfast, but your goal can be very different.

From the moment I started the project "Year of productivity" about 10 months ago, I slowly began to abandon their old habits, to set a tradition to Wake up at 5:30 every day. Stating a fact: despite the fact that I still Wake up at 5:30 in the last two months to achieve this was not easy.

But this time, I made a lot of discoveries.

10 methods, described below, were the most effective in the consolidation of the ritual of morning awakening. Some methods from the list, I learned from the researches of scientists, but most of them I happened to stumble upon through trial and error, haphazardly using them in the expectation that some idea would work. Your goal may differ from mine, but I am sure that almost all methods in my list will help you to fix a tradition to get up early. Good luck!

 





1. Find your "purple pill"

 

Every morning right after my alarm clock wakes me up at 5:30, I take two purple creatine pills that will help me to train longer. And here is the secret: the label of container of the pills clearly stated that they should be taken only half an hour before workout. As soon as I swallow them, they turn into a bomb, which drives me to the gym to 6. It works every morning.

Even if you don't want to include in your morning ritual exercise, you will find its "purple pill" that will kick you out of bed in the morning. Here are some examples:

 

• Purchase a coffee machine with a timer, start it to the time you want to get up, and the machine will present you with a fresh Cup of coffee in the morning.
  
  
• Drink a large glass of water before bed. You have no choice – you just have to get up and go to the bathroom early in the morning!
  
  
• Do not check email after 6 PM. If you were like me, in the morning you will jump out of bed to see if you got something new and interesting.
  
  

 

Your mind is a stubborn beast, so sometimes you have to cheat to get to obey. Finding your "purple pill" is one of my favorite ways to get the mind to Wake up every morning.

 

2. Reward yourself for successes

 

When I interviewed Charles Guiga, author of "Force of habit", he talked about how important it is to reward yourself every time you acquire a new habit. He used the example of getting used to training. "Even if you think you want to begin to engage, your brain believes you're a liar, because you really don't like exercise. You need to teach your brain to associate exercise with something pleasant, for example, a slice of chocolate, a long hot shower or 15 minutes of communication in social networks. No matter what the reward. Important is only the fact of the promotion and what you really enjoy your prize."

Every time you get up early, reward yourself with something that is really enjoyable. My reward is a Cup of coffee. For me it's really good encouragement, which helped to consolidate the morning ritual.

3. Don't be hard on yourself

 

The tougher your feelings in the process of implementing new habits, the less likely that you will succeed.

For example, think about how many people are trying to get into the habit of getting up early. Some do not spend the proper evening ritual, so watch TV until late at night and Wake up exhausted the next morning. Not enough sleep, they spent the day dragging! Their productivity and mood are falling, and they feel worse than before because before I woke up.

Worth repeating: the more you demand from yourself, getting used to new rituals, the less the likelihood of business success. Here's another example: don't beat yourself up, 10 times, pushing the ringing time of alarm clock in the morning; you better think about what will make you jump out of bed, ask yourself the question: why do I feel tired?

4. Follow an evening ritual

 

I think when people get used to getting up early, they often become fixated during the early awakening, forgetting to go to bed early. These two concepts are inextricably linked, like two sides of the same coin. If you do not observe the tradition of going to bed early, the next morning you will hate yourself for getting up so early. If you're like most people, your body needs 8 hours of sleep daily. If you sleep less, it will discourage you hunt to instill a new habit.

In my opinion, your evening ritual should include activities such as:

 

Develop signals that will soon come time to go to bed;

Help your brain relax before bedtime.

What will be your ritual – you decide. For example, I will show you my:

• 20.00: Switch the smartphone and the tablet in airplane mode, shut down your computer
  
  
• 20.05: Take a shower or bath
  
  
• 20.30: Meditation
  
  
• 21.00: Write a journal three things for which I am grateful today, and to record one positive experience that I have acquired during the day.
  
  
• 21.15 – 21.30: Read in bed, then go to sleep
  
  

 

These activities help me relax and give me the signal that soon I will go to bed.

Hint: All the signals to consolidate the habits can be divided into five categories: a certain time of day, a certain place, the presence of certain people and behavior which precedes to the ritual. For example, if you in the evening lay clothes for Jogging next to the bed in the morning and not look for her, this morning the signal includes the time (6 hours), place (near bed) and prior behavior (Wake up).

 

5. At a certain time, turn off all devices

 

One of the habits that I recently acquired and which helped me to get up early – it switch my smartphone and other devices in airplane mode from 20.00 to 8 am (1.5 hours before bedtime and 2.5 hours after waking up). Airplane mode disables all signals on your devices (wifi, cellular, Bluetooth), thus protecting you from the arrival of different messages, tweets, emails and other updates.

To build on this tradition in your life, it will take about two weeks (if you decide to do so). As soon as you get to do it, you will feel an incredible change for the better. Here are some of them:

• This will help your brain relax before bed and you'll fall asleep much faster.
  
  
• It will force you to do more valuable things before sleep and after awakening (e.g., record keeping and planning) is useless check for updates in social networks.
  
  
• It serves as a signal that you'll soon go to bed.
  
  
• This will allow you to be more relaxed before bedtime, because the phone and other devices will not distract you.
  
  
• No phone next to the pillow means that you will not have distractions that will keep you in bed in the morning.
  
  
• This ritual will force you to take up the issues that have accumulated, when you will have this energy, and not in the moment when he just opened his eyes or falling down from exhaustion at the end of the day.
  
  

 

I could go on, but I think you have understood everything. Turn off your devices at a certain time will help you sleep better, make you more calm and attentive before going to sleep and after waking up.

6. 2-3 hours before bedtime limit light to the blue light

 

Exposure to blue light is harmful to your sleep. Sounds strange, but it is.

It is proven that blue light inhibits the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. In fact, in the study it was discovered that the subjects who were not exposed to blue light before sleep (they wore glasses that block UV radiation for 10$ on Amazon) sleeping 50% better and woke up to 40% happier!

Most of the UV radiation that you feel comes from your electronics (smartphone or tablet). How to solve this problem? Put blocking UV rays glasses, stop using your device 2-3 hours before bedtime and turn off the main lights.

7. Stop consuming caffeine 4-6 hours before bedtime

 

According to the office of sanitary inspection behind quality of foodstuff and medicines, "caffeine, when ingested, reaches the peak of its presence in the blood after 1 hour and stays there for 4 to 6 hours." In other words, if you consume caffeine 4-6 hours before bedtime, it will boil in your blood when you try to sleep.

My rule that does not allow the caffeine to disrupt my sleep and morning ritual: stop consuming caffeine 6 hours before bedtime.

8. Do not force yourself

 

It is almost impossible to change your habits overnight, and this statement is especially suitable to the habit to Wake up early.

The slower you are to get used to the ritual, the better you will cope with it. For example, instead of waking up an hour earlier than the time of last awakening, get up just one minute earlier. Not forcing yourself, you will gain a series of small victories over oneself, that will help you to form a habit. You will not lose faith in their own strength, and best of all, you will certainly succeed in securing a morning ritual by gradual adaptation.

Early waking can not be used overnight. Especially if you will perform this ritual over the years, you can wait a bit until you get used to it.

9. Eliminate possible obstacles on the way

 

When I interviewed Charles Guiga, one of the topics he touched on was the importance of foresight of the obstacles to the consolidation of new habits. For example, if in three weeks you will trip, it is easy to make in advance the plan of action. It is much harder to understand how you can Wake up early for a business trip.

When you make an effort to consolidate the tradition of early Wake-up, be sure to anticipate all the possible obstacles to your goal. It may happen that there will be periods of time when you do not want to Wake up early (e.g., on vacation), but planning will help you cope with possible difficulties.

 

10. Be honest with yourself

 

I think the biggest mistake people trying to buy a new useful habit – it is their unwillingness to be honest with yourself in the process.

I admit the fact that sometimes you need a little deceive oneself, to finally achieve more (for example, finding your "purple pill"). However, when you introduce a new ritual into your life, it is important to be honest in admitting your UPS and downs.

For example, the reason that you push the alarm clock 6 times this morning, maybe your fatigue from too rapid change in lifestyle. Or maybe so that you have difficulty going to sleep at a certain time, because there are things which you simply can not afford it. Maybe the evening show is too funny to not watch? Or your kids don't want to go to bed until late at night?

Sincerity to yourself will help you identify what prevents you to go to bed and get up early, and realize what changes you need to make in your life to implement your goal. In addition, honesty towards yourself will help you with other tactics from this article.

Everything contained in this list, really helped me. I am sure that you, my methods will help you make wonderful changes in your life!

The basic idea is To consolidate a morning ritual you need to find your "purple pill", reward yourself for waking early and not be presented to him excessive demands in the process, create a nighttime ritual and to turn off electronic devices at a certain time, 2-3 hours before bedtime to turn off the UV lamp, stop consuming caffeine 4-6 hours before bedtime, not to force itself, and to foresee possible obstacles, and to be honest with yourself. Hoo! published

 

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! © Join us at Facebook , Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki

Source: blog.mbaconsult.ru/blog/personal/dzen-rannikh-probuzhdeniy-10-sposobov-zakrepleniya-utrennego-rituala/