Do you love mornings?  I do not!  My brain feels like it is in a fog for several hours and not much can pull me out of it, not even coffee or a shower.  Exercise has had a positive effect if I am motivated to get up instead of snoozing for an extra half hour, but boy oh boy, do I love a good snooze!  So what should I do – be who I am inclined to be or try to learn to love mornings?  There are perks on both sides of the clock:

There are many scientifically evidenced reasons that morning people are successful people.  They are more proactive, helping them to get better grades and better jobs.  Morning people are agreeable and tend to have a happy mood.

On the other hand, some studies show that night people are more creative and intelligent.  They can adapt to a new sleep schedule and often need less sleep to function well.  Night people are more productive in the evenings (and sometimes tend to procrastinate) but that isn’t a bad thing if you use it to your advantage!

Based on my experience, you can train yourself to have better morning habits, but you can’t truly become a morning person, so here are some things I’ve done to help myself appreciate the early hours.

I don’t want to go to bed at 8, nor do I want to consistently fall into the temptation and stay up until midnight.  Find a middle ground and as the days pass – slowly adjust to getting to bed a little earlier if that is what you personally need.  10 pm has proven to be pretty comfortable.

If I decide THAT day – “I’m going to bed early tonight,” I feel stressed out.  Decide on the time you will go to bed and justify why you chose that time.  Determine how much time you’ll need to wind down and actually be ready to go to sleep.

Remember that looking at screens and devices does NOT CALM YOUR BRAIN DOWN! Consider reading a paper book shortly before bed instead of looking at a phone.  I notice that I need about an hour for wind down, teeth brushing, pajamas and getting comfortable.  Then, when I lay down and look at the clock I get an added perk – the successful feeling that I met my goal to be in bed by ten!

Over the years I have tried several methods – some will help and others will not.  That’s okay, As Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” I say to myself, tomorrow when my alarm goes off, I will try _____ and I will only allow myself to ____ for _____ minutes.  When I stick to my plan I repeat that successful feeling with which I went to bed!

You don’t have to do A, B and C in order.  Here are some of the adjustments I’ve made.  Keep in mind, you can commit to a routine for a while and then change it to a new routine.  I love to know that I have a small collection of working morning routines to fall back on if one doesn’t work out for me for some reason.  Note: making lunches the night before helps so much!

Finding helpful methods to happily do what you have to do can apply to many other areas in life such as meal time chores, caring for family and home while working full time, etc.  It’s not healthy to get stuck doing something that increases anxiety on a daily basis.  If you suffer from not being a morning person and have great ideas on how to wake up more easily, please share them!