11 Tips to Wake Up Early and Become a Morning Person

Welcome back to Rise + Thrive, a multi-part series on tips to wake up early and build strong morning rituals for daily success. View every installment here.

Seventeen years ago, when I first decided to become an early riser, my target wake-up time was 5:00 am. The only problem was, at the time I set that goal, I was waking up at 8:00 am or later most days of the week. So, I took an incremental approach to help me gradually wake up earlier and earlier: Each month, I practiced waking up a little bit earlier than the previous month until I achieved my goal of consistently waking up at 5:00 am.

Here’s how I did it:

Month 1. Fixed wake-up time: 7:45 am. I started by setting my alarm to wake me up 15 minutes earlier than usual for 30 days. At the time, I was waking up at around 8:00 am, so my new wake-up time for the next 30 days was now fixed at 7:45 am. This was relatively easy to stick with.

Month 2. Fixed wake-up time: 7:00 am. At the beginning of my second month, I rolled back my clock by 45 minutes and woke up at 7:00 am each morning. This was a bit more challenging on some days, but by the end of the month, it had become a habit.

Month 3. Fixed wake-up time: 6:00 am. On my third month of waking up earlier, I decided to make a drastic change—I rolled my alarm clock back by a full 60 minutes. New wake-up time: 6:00 am. I recall this being extremely difficult for the first two weeks… I hit snooze embarrassingly often and slept past my alarm repeatedly. But by the end of that month, I was waking up at 6:00 am with ease.

Month 4. Fixed wake-up time: 5:00 am. The month I’d been waiting for had finally arrived. I set my alarm clock to wake me up at 5:00 am… And the next morning, I woke up on time and feeling full of energy. It felt amazing – but ended up being a fluke because the next few weeks were an absolute struggle. This was my most difficult month of all. I struggled so much, that it took me an additional month to consistently get myself to wake up at 5:00 am. But by the end of the next month, it had finally become a habit—I was now waking up at 5:00 am EVERY morning.

Over the years, there have been moments during which I’ve fallen out of my 5:00 am habit. Each time it’s happened, I’ve found myself returning to some variation of this incremental approach (and other strategies) to get back on track. In this article, I’ll share how you can leverage the same approach to becoming an early riser as well, along with several additional tips to wake up early that I’ve put to use in my own life.

Let’s dive in…

11 Tips to Wake Up Early

1. Choose a target wake-up time.

If you had a magic wand that could eliminate every friction point associated with waking up early, what time would you wake up each day? The answer to that question is your target wake-up time.

The amount of time it’ll take for you to make a habit of waking up at your target time depends on the gap between your target wake-up time and your current wake-up time.

If you currently wake up at 8:00 am, don’t try waking up at 5:00 am tomorrow. Your body will hate you. Instead, keep your ideal wake-up time in mind as the ultimate goal… Then, work your way there, gradually turning your alarm clock back by 15-60 minute increments each week or month, until you’re eventually waking up feeling refreshed at your desired time each morning.

Here’s how to use this tip to wake up early:

Select a target wake-up time. This is when you’d ultimately like to start waking up.

Start by setting your alarm clock to wake you up 15 minutes earlier than usual for a month. This will be your fixed wake-up time for the next 30 days.

After 30 days, set your alarm clock back a little bit more—by 15, 30, or 60 minutes, depending on how much you feel you can handle.

Continue this cycle until you’re consistently rising at your target wake-up time.

Again: if the gap between your target wake-up time and your current wake-up time differs significantly (like mine did when I started waking up early), you’ll need to set up sub-targets that help you gradually achieve your ultimate target.

2. Wake up at a fixed time every morning—even if your sleep time fluctuates.

Personally, my body naturally begins powering down around 8:30 pm, and I’m usually in bed between 9:00 pm – 10:00 pm. Sometimes earlier, sometimes later. I have a bedtime range, but my wake-up time is fixed—I’m always up at 5:00 am.

Even on the weekends. Even when it’s hard. Even if I feel like I haven’t slept enough.

My body adapts and adjusts. If I go to sleep at 11:00 pm on Monday, I’ll still rise at 5:00 am on Tuesday… Then, that evening, my body will give me subtle signals to go to sleep a little earlier to make up for my lack of sleep the night before.

Here’s how to use this tip to wake up early:

Only go to sleep when you’re tired, but wake up at a fixed time every morning.

3. Implement a bedtime deadline.

This sounds like a contradiction of my tip above, but it’s not: You should have a bedtime range, but to prevent yourself from staying up too late, implement a bedtime deadline. This is not the same as a bedtime. It’s more of a cut-off time to keep you from staying up too late.

To do this well, it helps to know the minimum amount of sleep you need in order to wake up feeling refreshed and energized. I like to get 8 hours of sleep. But I can get by on 6 as long as I don’t do it more than once or twice a week. Any less than that, and my performance suffers, physically and cognitively. Having said that, my bedtime deadline is 11:00 pm.

Here’s how to use this tip to wake up early:

Set a bedtime deadline, and go to bed by or before that time no matter what, even if you don’t feel sleepy enough.

4. Set a caffeine cut-off time.

There are plenty of “experts” in the self-improvement industry that’ll tell you to avoid caffeine altogether. But not me. If you’re generally healthy, caffeine is totally safe to have (within limits of course). And if you want to wake up early, caffeine can obviously be helpful.

My caffeine cut-off is noon. If I consume caffeine after that, I’ll have a hard time falling asleep naturally.

Here’s how to use this tip to wake up early:

If you drink coffee or have anything caffeinated on a daily basis, implement a caffeine cut-off time and stick with it. This might take some experimentation to get right, so allow yourself some trial and error until you hit your sweet spot.

5. Before you go to bed at night, tell your brain, “wake me up at __ a.m.”

Of all my tips to wake up early, this one blows the most number of minds – I call this method the Subconscious Command… And although I have absolutely zero studies or sources to back this claim up, I can tell you that it works.

It works for me, and it’s worked for many of my readers, listeners, and coaching clients.

So try it out and see if it works for you… Unless you got drunk the night before, you’ll likely start waking up before the alarm clock startles you awake.

Here’s how to use this tip to wake up early:

Before going to bed at night, “command” your brain to wake you up at __ a.m.

6. Keep your alarm clock a walkable distance from your bed.

If the subconscious command doesn’t work, set an alarm on your smartphone and place it far enough away from your bed that you need to physically get up to shut your alarm off in the morning. You’ll be less likely to hit snooze once you’re already up and about. Motion leads to motivation.

Here’s how to use this tip to wake up early:

Set an alarm on your phone and place it a walkable distance from your bed.

If not having your phone within arm’s length gives you separation anxiety: first, consider calling a therapist. Second, buy an actual alarm clock and follow the directions above.

Although I haven’t tried it out myself, I’ve heard great things about those alarm clocks on wheels that jump up and roll away while making loud noises.

7. Sunlight exposure.

One of the easiest ways to wake up early is to expose yourself to some natural light. As soon as your body is exposed to sunlight, it begins releasing energizing hormones¹ to wake you up and get you moving.

Here’s how to use this tip to wake up early:

To use this tip to wake up early, simply go outside as soon as you wake up and let your body soak in the sun for a few minutes. You’ll feel noticeably more alert afterward.

8. Use artificially produced “natural” light.

It’s still dark out when I wake up, so I can’t take advantage of the sun immediately upon rising. But I have found the next best thing… A few years back, I was gifted a pair of Casper Glow Lights, which are cylindrically shaped lights that sit on a charging pad on your nightstand. You can even adjust the brightness by twisting the light left or right, on any surface.

But here’s my favorite feature: in the evening, a warm light slowly dims to gently lull me to sleep. In the morning, a soft “sunlike” light gradually brightens for a nice, startle-free rise. I’ve got mine set to start glowing at 4:45 am. By 5:00 am, it’s at full brightness—and so am I.

Here’s how to use this tip to wake up early:

If you’re beating the sun up, but still want to wake up with light, get a device that emits full-spectrum light, and use it immediately upon rising.

Search for devices, lamps, or alarm clocks that use full-spectrum light bulbs, LED grow lights, daylight LED bulbs, or halogen bulbs. All of these emit light that closely resembles natural daylight.

9. Give yourself compelling reasons to wake up early.

If you’ve got a set of strong and exciting reasons to wake up, it’ll be easier to do so. Think about it this way: when you have to do something, you likely need to push yourself to make it happen; but when you’re excited to do something, you feel pulled to take action.

Instead of trying to PUSH yourself to wake up (which is hard), you can allow something purposeful and meaningful to you to PULL you out of bed each morning (which is a heck of a lot easier).

Here’s how to use this tip to wake up early:

At the end of each workday or before bed, write down at least one big thing you’re excited to do, work on, or complete the following day.

10. Clear your mind before bed.

Ever try falling asleep with a million things on your mind? How about getting yourself to sleep while you’re worried or anxious about something? It’s tough to get a restful night’s sleep if your mind is occupied with stress-inducing thoughts.

And if you don’t get a good night’s rest, it’ll have a negative impact on the following day. A great way to combat this is to keep a journal on your bedside table and conduct a mind-sweep prior to dozing off.

Here’s how to use this tip to wake up early:

Each night before bed, open your journal and write down whatever’s on your mind until you feel “clear.” Problems, ideas, projects, thoughts, a fight with your spouse or partner—write it all down in whatever form you wish.

The goal is not to make it make sense, the goal is to get it out of your head so you can get a good night’s rest and wake up feeling recharged and ready to rock n’ roll the following morning.

Once you’ve gotten everything out of your head and onto paper, your mind will feel clear, allowing it to fall asleep more easily—and to wake up early and energized the following morning.

11. Mind over mattress.

Do not rationalize with yourself when your alarm clock goes off. When that alarm wakes you up, avoid the temptation to hit snooze and force yourself to rise as soon as humanly possible.

Put mind over mattress and GO.

Every second you allow yourself to stay in bed after the alarm goes off, the easier it will be to stay in bed and put off your goals.

Here’s how to use this final strategy from our collection of tips to wake up early:

If you shrink the gap between hearing your alarm and physically getting out of bed, it’ll become easier and easier to wake up and stay up. Yes—it’ll be difficult at first. But every worthwhile endeavor is. Do this over and over again, and eventually, it’ll become less and less difficult. And if you discipline yourself to keep at it, it’ll eventually go from difficult to easy – and will ultimately become a habit.

Conclusion: 11 tips to wake up early

Here’s a quick recap of the 11 tips to wake up early covered in this article:

Choose a target wake up time.

Wake up at a fixed time every morning—even if your sleep time fluctuates.

Implement a bedtime deadline.

Set a caffeine cut-off time.

Before you go to bed at night, tell your brain, “wake me up at __ a.m.”

Keep your alarm clock a walkable distance from your bed.

Sunlight exposure.

Use artificially produced “natural” light.

Give yourself compelling reasons to wake up early.

Clear your mind before bed.

Put mind over mattress.

Footnotes
11 Tips to Wake Up Early by Dean Bokhari

Kent, S.T., McClure, L.A., Crosson, W.L. et al. Effect of sunlight exposure on cognitive function among depressed and non-depressed participants: a REGARDS cross-sectional study. Environ Health 8, 34 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-8-34

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11 Tips to Wake Up Early + Become a Morning Person