Brought to you by Sovereign
Are you wide awake late at night but have trouble dragging yourself out of bed in the morning? Do you glare over the rim of your coffee cup at the people who are super chirpy early in the morning? I’m lucky enough to be my own boss and can therefore get up and begin my day whenever I want (I know right? Living the dream!), but I find that if I get up early then I’m more productive, I have more energy and I’m more focussed. Sovereign‘s new mantra is Life. Take Charge, and they are encouraging people to take charge of their life and wellness, so I thought I’d share how I made the switch from night owl to early bird, to help you out if you’re having a little trouble finding that get up and go.
PLAN YOUR WARDROBE – I can’t be the only one who has stared into their closet at 5.30am complaining about the fact that they don’t know what to wear! Picking out what you’re going to wear the night before means that you can get up and get dressed in the morning, knowing you’re going to look great. Once I started doing this it made a massive difference to how organised I was in the mornings!
WASH UP – Showering in the morning takes time, and unless you want to get up that little bit earlier (I sure don’t!) then my advice is to shower at night – that way you can sneak in an extra bit of sleep! Your hair can air dry (which is much better for it than a hair dryer!) and you can style it in the morning. Showering at night also means you can opt to have a bath, filled with lovely things like Lush’s Dreamtime bath melt. What a great way to relax into sleep!
SWEET DREAMS – Create yourself a bedtime routine. At first it may be hard to go to bed earlier, but once you create that habit for yourself, you won’t even notice! Remember, it can take a few months to build that habit, this is not an overnight fix. This was definitely the hardest one for me, and one I still struggle with.
SET YOUR ALARM – While your internal clock will adapt eventually, at the beginning it’s going to need a bit of help. I think most phones come with an alarm clock these days, but if you share a bed with someone who doesn’t get up early then a silent alarm can come in handy. A Fitbit is the perfect solution, and great for tracking things like sleep and exercise as well. This one is on my wishlist!
GET UP AND GO – Don’t hit that snooze button, whatever you do! Even though you want to snuggle up and slumber for a few minutes longer, this will be easier if you don’t prolong it. Up and at ’em!
EXERCISE – Get that blood pumping, it will help to wake up your sluggish body and make you feel more energised. If you have time for a decent workout, then awesome – I find that going for a 30 minute walk in the morning has me more focussed for the rest of the day. If exercising later in the day suits you better, try some gentle stretches or yoga to begin your day – here are some good resources for plus sized yoga enthusiasts, including pose modifications and articles about doing yoga as a fat person. Regular exercise will also help you to sleep well, so there are benefits all round!
EAT WELL – I totally understand not wanting to eat breakfast as soon as you wake up. There are a couple of solutions to get around this – you can either take your breakfast to work and eat there, or you could kickstart your day with a smoothie – Sunniva from Raw Till Four has some great smoothie recipes that will fill you with energy for the day ahead!
Are you an early bird? What are your tips for getting an early start? Share them with me below!
When I first started getting up early (I’m a terrible morning person!) I put my alarm (ie iphone) on the other side of the room – between the alarm being unreachable and husband shoving me out of bed to go get it I was up when it went off – and once you’re out from under the covers half the battle is done! I’ve been a bit slack over the holidays – but will be getting back into my 5:30am routine once work starts again on Monday. Love your other tips – I always have my workout gear ready to go (usually right next to the alarm :p)
That’s a great idea Vicki – really forces you to get out of bed! I’m back on early starts again tomorrow so that I can get some exercise in before picking a friend up from the airport. I’m already dreading it because I’ve gotten so out of habit, so I think the alarm will be going across the room to make me get up! xo
I am not a morning person at all so not one to offer any tips! I have often thought I could achieve much more in my day by being a bit more organised. A 2015 resolution perhaps!
I love the idea of getting up and exercising in the morning! I try to walk to work if the weather is good and that’s around 1.6km so it’s a good start to the day.
I would struggle with the evening shower or bath though because I just don’t feel right unless I have a shower before my day starts. But then I think there are some things we can be flexible with and some things we can’t.
The breakfast thing is something I so have to work on :S Need to get my A into G.
If showering in the morning works for you, then rad! Some days I need a shower to wake me up, and when it’s hot and sticky like it is right now then I’m all about the two showers a day – after exercise and before I go to bed.
great post! I have always wanted to become a morning person but try as I may my body refuses. Just recently i have set a time to get up each and every morning and now find that my body expects to wake up at 7am and I have way less trouble getting out of bed. One little baby step at a time 🙂
It’s a start, Lizzy! My body has started waking up about 5 minutes before my alarm goes off, which means a nice easy start to the day – so the alarm definitely helps when your body clock gets used to it!
Unfortunately I can;t give you any tips as my internal body clock basically sets me up to wake up around 7.30am unless I have had a late night and I need to put my alarm on for work always! I always manage to get between 7 and 8 hours of sleep somehow. I do think I should take your tip on of organising my clothes the night before as that is what holds me up most in the morning.
I love these tips Meagan! 🙂
I’m definitely an early bird, always have been. Oh man, I seriously love working out first thing in the morning – it feels so good! I’ve also been having more smoothies for breakfast lately, and absolutely loving them.
Thanks Christel! What machine do you make your smoothies with again? I really need to get a new one, my blender is way too big so I never use it – need something easy!
During school and early adulthood-ha!- I was always an early person. I’d get woken up or my alarm would go off and I would just get up and go. I find now that if I don’t drink enough water during the day it actually makes it really hard in the mornings to get up!
Hmm, I never considered that not drinking enough water could make it harder to get up! Yet another great reason to make sure we stay hydrated!
What great tips! I might try the morning exercise one. I loathe mornings, no matter how much sleep I get.
Thanks Stephanie, good luck with your morning exercise!
I’m NOT a morning person – everyone said that would change when I had children….3 children later and it still takes me a good hour after I get up to actually talk as opposed to grunting. 🙂
I think when you have kids you’re just kind of forced to deal with it! Luckily, mine is almost a teenager and likes to sleep in – great on the weekends!
I love this Meagan – these are such great reminders! I struggle with a bedtime routine all the time and end up staying up for later than I should.
Thanks Ari! I need to start being stricter about what time I go to bed, maybe having a “time to get ready for bed” alarm, and then a set time to actually switch out the lights is a good place to start!
I have Just recently got into exercising in the morning and I love it!! Plus it means more time in the evening which is even better 🙂
I second this! Also, it’s not nearly as hot in the mornings, which I love!
I am sooo bad at getting up, especially now that I don’t have someone to kick me out of bed haha. I try to choose my outfit at night, but the last few days the weather has been so topsy turvy I keep waking up to different weather than I expect. Putting my phone or laptop down before bed is a hard one, I need to get better with that habit!
I think switching off the technology is the worst for me (is it just bloggers or is this the norm now?), I always have to do just one more check of all my social media counts…
I might have to try these things. Mornings are hard :/
I feel ya hun! I think it’s best to work on it in summer, when the weather is (hopefully) lovely. I find it the hardest to drag myself out of bed at 5.30am on a dark, freezing cold winter morning!
Great tips…But I don’t finish work til 11pm & usually walk home which takes half an hour and then it takes ages for me to wind down…9 year routine! I suppose I would only change my routine if my work schedule changed, but I know what you mean about being more proactive the earlier you get up!
I think when you work nights your schedule has to be totally different! Doug is the same, he finishes at 11pm and then cycles home. I think that “early” might be a relative term! 😉