Becoming An Early Riser: The Aftermath

Eight weeks ago I started getting up at 7am and I can say that there have been a few changes in this house.

I’ll admit right now that I don’t always get up at 7am. It usually happens for one of three reasons:

• I was up too late the night before
• I made the mistake of pressing the snooze button
• I’m not allowed

It’s definitely been an education and I’m happy to say that I’ve learned a few things:

1. Really, the worst thing that can happen when you wake up is to press the snooze button. Just don’t do it.
2. If you go to bed too late then you can safely set your alarm a little later than normal. As long it doesn’t become a regular thing.
3. Make sure you come to some kind of consensus with those who share your life. Otherwise, you may be asleep when they want you to be awake.

As a result of this exercise I now class myself as an earlier riser. That’s nice, but I think the critical lesson for me has been self control. I now worry less about going to bed late because I know that I can get up when the time comes. That’s very liberating.

So, for me it was well worth it. My biggest piece of advice to any potential early risers would be: Take a pair of pliers to your alarm clock and rip the snooze button off.