You’ve probably heard lots of people say, “Wake up before your kids.” But doing that seems a lot harder than saying it.
I know it’s hard.
Especially if you are not a morning person. My husband is a morning person. He wakes up singing and dancing.
I however, wake up with a scowl on my face that says, “Don’t even look at me.”
Yeah. I’m a grump in the morning, and I used to use that as an excuse for not waking up earlier than my kids.
But I was waking up so grumpy and had no time to get ready in the mornings because I immediately had to care for my young kids when I woke up at the same time as them.
I finally decided I needed a change and started waking up early when my firstborn was around 18 months old.
There are periods of time that I still struggle, but the following tips help me on those hard days, and I know they’ll help you too!
How to Wake up Early.
1. Go to bed earlier the night before.
If you are always waking up exhausted, you aren’t getting enough sleep.
Of course, some things can’t be changed. If a child wakes during the night or you have a young baby who needs fed or cared for during the night, you can’t change that.
Buuuuut, you determine what time you go to bed. Believe me, I know how tempting it is to stay up late because it is your time and you want it to last!
Be honest with yourself. What are you actually doing at night?
Are you watching TV? Getting on social media? Are those things really energizing you or would getting more sleep energize you?
You may be doing beneficial things too, but remember that you NEED sleep in order to be a better mom and person in general.
Related Post: Why and How I’m going to Bed Earlier.
When I was building my blog, I cut out TV and social media and instead worked on my blog for 2 hours each night. It would have been super easy to stay up late and work, but I knew that I would be worthless the next day, so I chose a cut off time.
No matter what I was doing, I stopped working and went to bed at 9:00 because my sleep was important.
Decide on a bedtime for yourself and be consistent with it.
2. The second step is simply getting up out of bed.
It sounds super simple, and it is easier to say than do.
Think about high school physics class for a moment. Do you remember Newton’s Law, “An object in motion stays in motion.”
This applies to moms in the morning. If you take the first step to wake up and simply get out of bed, it makes the next step easier.
But if you stay in bed, hitting the alarm clock, scrolling your phone, waiting until the last minute to get out of bed, guess what?!
You’ll stay there. It’s simple physics.
So pick a wake up time for yourself and stick with it.
3. Plan the night before what you will do as soon as you wake up.
It doesn’t matter how early you wake up, if you don’t use that time wisely.
What does matter is what you do with that time.
Even if you wake up at 5 in the morning but all you do is scroll your phone for an hour, you probably should have just stayed in bed and gotten an extra hour of sleep!
Make sure that what you do with your morning counts. Personally, I like to do things that I can’t do well when my children are awake.
For me, that means I do a quick excercise video on Youtube. (I love Lucy Wyndham-Read!)
Then I have my time with God and take a quick shower.
It isn’t a lot, but it’s what I need to start my day and get my thoughts ready to tackle the day.
As you plan your mornings, don’t make it too complicated or you’ll quit.
You don’t have to excersie for an hour or wake up at 4 in the morning just because someone else is. Do what works for you and keep it simple!
Related Post: Simple Morning Routine
4. Do something in the morning that makes you excited to wake up.
What is something you look forward to in the mornings?
Is it exercising? Drinking a whole cup of hot coffee? Taking an unninterrupted shower?
Make sure that you plan to do something that motivates you to get out of bed.
For me, I love starting the coffee pot! I know that I’m going to drink an entire cup of hot coffee while I read my Bible and have some quiet alone time. It’s something I look forward to every morning.
I also love getting a shower and not having to rush as I get ready. So that motivates me to get out of bed as well.
Related Post: Self Care Morning Routine for Moms
5. Determine why you want to wake up early.
One of the best motivators is knowing why you are doing something. That’s why I have specific reasons why I dust.
I hate dusting. I used to put it off forever. It was bad. I had a problem that I needed to fix.
So I sat down and wrote out the reasons why I should dust my home. I still don’t like dusting, but I’m much more motivated to do it because I think about why I dust.
The same is true about getting up earlier and before your kids. If you really struggle getting out of bed before them, come up with some reasons why you want/need to get up before them.
On those mornings when it is super hard to get up, and you just want to roll over and stay in bed, those reasons will come in your head.
And hopefully that makes it easier to take the first step and simply get out of bed to start the momentum.
Here are the reasons why I wake up early as inspiration:
- Having time to myself is energizing since I’m an introvert.
- I’m a happier person when I have time to slowly wake up without meeting the demands of others.
- Waking up before my kids allows me to prepare for them.
- I’m a better mom, wife, and homemaker when I start my day with quietness, exercise, and time in God’s Word and prayer.
All of these tips work! Don’t just let your mornings happen. Don’t wait for your kids to drag you out of bed.
Instead, start putting these tips into practice and you will find that you CAN wake up earlier and even before your kids.
One thought on “How to Wake up Early Even If You’re Not a Morning Person!”
I’m loving your content, but i always struggle with this one.
While I can get up early and love the extra time it gives me, I struggle with the fact that it puts me way out of sync with my husband.
If I needed to go to bed at 9 so I could get up early, there would be fifteen minutes between when the baby is finally asleep and my own bedtime. I’d literally never see him.