5 Reasons Why Successful People Wake Up Early
Read any article about successful people, and you can almost guarantee when asked the secrets to their success, they will say that they get up early – between 5am and 6am (and in some cases even earlier). Take a look at this list of CEOs and major influencers if you don’t believe me. People generally don’t like waking up early because it means you have to go to bed early and sacrifice socializing and TV time. The fact that this behaviour is a common trend amongst some of the most successful people in the world should be reason enough to try it, but if that’s not enough for you, here are 5 reasons why waking up early can help you become more successful.
1. The rest of the world is asleep
Between 5 and 6am, no one is awake. There is no one texting you, emailing you, calling you or wanting your help or advice. Your social media feed is at a standstill. The world completely belongs to you and even better, it’s quiet. Whatever you’re doing, you’ll be undisturbed. If you’re working on your own side business or full time business, this is your primetime. The hustle and bustle of the world doesn’t start until at least 8am in most places, and when you need to think and produce valuable things for yourself or anyone else, a quiet mind is essential. This way you’re guaranteed to get it.
2. You get your stuff done before anything else
You have probably heard the financial experts say to “pay yourself first” each time you get paid at work. This means before paying rent, bills, before anything, you put an amount aside in a savings account so you can start getting ahead. Waking up early is the same. Whether you’re working on a big project at work or breaking away entirely to be your own boss, getting up early is paying yourself first. Before you’re doing work for anyone else, you’re doing work for yourself to get ahead. No one can take that time away from you and you’ve had it when your brain is at its most alert and productive.
3. It’s in your DNA
Humans have an ancestral trend of going to bed when it gets dark and waking up when it’s light. It’s called a circadian rhythm in case you haven’t heard, and living your life in accordance with it gives you far more energy and vitality than staying up late. You may very well be someone that works well at night, but by then you’ve already had a hundred demands on your time, energy and brain. You’ve made hundreds of decisions already and you’re now left with the dregs of your mental energy when everyone else has already gotten the best of you. Like I said above, pay yourself first.
4. Routine
To get up early and actually have energy, you need to go to bed early consistently. You can’t get up at 5:30am and be energised when you go to bed at 11pm one night, 10pm the next. The human body loves and thrives on routine, and when that routine coincides with your circadian rhythm, your body can start performing at its peak.
5. It gives you a big reason to get to work
Let’s face it, at the end of a long day it’s easy to just plonk down on the couch rather than getting to whatever you should be doing to improve yourself. When you get up early in the morning, the last thing you want to do is waste time. You’ve sacrificed going to bed late and doing enjoyable things such as watching television, movies, playing games and so on so that you can get up early and get to work. When you get up early, it feels natural to just get straight into it. The last thing you feel like doing is bumming around and wasting that sacrificed time by not using it to its fullest.