Every day is a new opportunity to do things a bit better, to be more organized, to be more productive, to be more positive, to handle things better.  And how do we start the day?  By getting out of bed.

Ok, so you might start your day before you get out of bed, by thinking, meditating, stretching, or cuddling if you have someone to cuddle.  That’s all good.

But there does come a time when you need to be up and at ‘em and face the day, by getting out of bed.  And I’m sure there are lots of people like me for whom that’s not always so easy.  (And I wouldn't mind an alarm clock like this old one which is considerate enough to let you know what day of the week it is.)

Well, we can make it easier for ourselves.  The most important factor in doing this is making our own decision, in advance, about when we want to get up.  We need to own this decision, believe in it, feel good about, take responsibility for it.

We need to feel like it’s not the alarm clock or the office or the kids or our Mum who has made this decision for us, but us.  We’re in charge, and we accept that our life is of our own making.  If there are reasons we need to get up by a certain time, that’s because this is how we want to live.

So, in deciding what time to set the alarm clock for, we need to know how much time we need to get ready for our day, and what we want to get done in that time.  It tends to be stuff like making our bed, having a shower and getting dressed, making packed lunches, having breakfast, getting kids ready, attending to pets, putting some washing on, and of course….

…..checking our diary, planner or calendar for the day!

I know that if I don’t get up on time, something will slide, and it will usually be something I want to do for myself, since of course, I have kids to look after.  This will affect my whole day, and is not conducive to maintaining a positive attitude.  If I have been able to do everything I wanted to do in the morning, without rushing, it gets me off to a great start for the day, and I’m in a much better position to deal with whatever I need to deal with throughout the day.

So, in deciding your chosen time to get up, consider the following:

- Be realistic.  You need to get enough sleep, and your bedtime will need to match up with your get up time.  (More about bedtime further on).
- Make sure you’ve got time to do what really matters to you without rushing.  You’re doing this for yourself, to make your own life easier.
- Always give yourself plenty of time to attend to your own needs, as well as your family.  You’ll feel better showered, well dressed, and with some breaky in your tummy.
- Don’t take on too big a change all at once.  Getting up an hour earlier to have time to exercise or work on your novel might be setting yourself up to fail if at the moment you’re not even fitting breakfast in.  Start small, by giving yourself time to do the next most important thing that you’re not consistently doing at the moment.

To make changes to your getting out of bed habits realistically and slowly, start by writing everything you want to get done for your morning routine, and prioritising them.  For example it might be:
1. Get showered and dressed.
2. Give kids their breakfast and get them ready.
3. Eat something myself.
4. Clean up after breakfast before leaving the house.
5. Put a load of washing in the machine.
6. Go for a 15 minute walk for exercise.

So if at the moment you’re lying in bed, checking the time every 15 minutes to half an hour, and each time telling yourself one more thing you can get away without doing, then you jump up at the last possible minute, throw something on, and rush out the door handing your kids a piece of toast and lunch money on the way, forget the exercise and washing and dishes for now, and concentrate on getting up in time just to get you all washed, dressed and fed properly.  Get that established, then work on adding enough time to clean up before you go, and so on.

Now that you’ve set a realistic get up time to start working on, here’s one simple rule I recommend.

When it’s the weekend or a day off, and you don’t need to get up so early, don’t get up more than one hour later than your earliest time.  This way you’ll keep your body clock and your natural rhythms working well, making it easier for you to get up when you want to.  Don’t think of it as a sacrifice or a burden – this is for you, to make things easier for yourself.     

What about bedtime?  Well, you tend to have a rough idea how much sleep you need, and we’re all different.  The simple rule I like to stick to for this is:
- Getting up time is fixed and decided consciously by you, in advance.
- Going to sleep time varies a bit and you let your body decide (and learn to listen to it).

What will tend to happen when you adopt this method is that you fall into a natural rhythm, and you almost automatically wake up at the same time every day.

If you go to bed at roughly the same time each night, but before you are really sleepy, you can read or watch TV until you feel sleepy, then all you have to do is switch off the lamp and put your head on the pillow.  You’ve already brushed your teeth before you got into bed of course, and because you weren’t sleepy when you headed for bed, you were able to attend to any other little tasks like putting away your dishes and so on.       

Now, what about the resistance to getting out of bed when the alarm goes off?

- If you’ve had enough sleep by getting into a good routine as suggested, being tired shouldn’t usually be the problem.  If you are tired, because you’ve needed to get up for children during the night or some other disturbance to your sleep, don’t reason illogically that you need to sleep in to catch up.  Usually the consequences of sleeping in will be more annoying than missing that extra little bit of sleep.
- Don’t think about it!!  There is nothing to think about.  You have already thought about it and made your decision, and you believe in it.
- Know your routine in advance – know exactly what you will do first, for example, put on your dressing gown and slippers, make your bed, and head for the bathroom.
- As soon as you know it’s time to get up, the very moment, jump out of bed instantly!  Don’t give yourself even a moment to change your mind, doubt yourself, re-think the whole plan, make excuses and so on.  If you jump up instantly, no self-doubt will have a chance to sneak in.
- Set yourself up the night before to make it as comfortable as possible to get up.  For example, have your dressing gown and slippers, your lamp, a drink of water etc within easy reach.  If it’s cold, set the heating on a timer if you can to warm the bathroom.  Make sure you have a towel ready and clean clothes set out the night before.  Leave the kitchen clean the night before so you’re not greeted by mess.
- Know the reasons why you have decided to get up at this time.  Your kids need you, you like and respect yourself enough to want your day to be more pleasant, etc. 
- Anticipate that “But I’m all warm and cozy” feeling, and fight it in advance.  Ten more minutes of warm and cozy will not do you any good when you’re running late. 
- If you’re lucky enough to have central heating on a timer, setting it to come on at your chosen time will help wake you up by making you too hot in bed, and also make it more comfortable to get up.                                               

More tactics:

I don’t like to use these myself, because it makes me feel silly, or that I don’t trust myself, but you could also….
- Put your alarm clock on the other side of the room.
- Set a wake up call on the phone, making sure you don’t have a phone beside the bed.
- Have a second alarm set out of reach.

Also:

Don’t talk about yourself, to others or to yourself, as someone who has trouble getting out of bed.  (Oops, I’ve been telling you that, this could explain a lot!)  How you describe yourself will affect how you see yourself, and you want to see yourself as someone who gets up on time easily.

Give yourself a positive but mindless mantra, like “I feel great, I can do anything, I feel great, I can do anything” to recite to yourself through any difficult patches, like when you walk into the bathroom and you’re so foggy you can’t seem to remember how to turn the taps on.  It will trick your subconscious in a good way and help block out the nonsense.

Getting out of bed at your chosen time puts you in control right from the start of your day.  Making it habitual and easy – yes that’s right, it will become habitual and easy if you want it to – will mean you never have to worry about it.  It will improve your confidence and self-esteem in general, and you’ll start each day feeling better.

Organize Your Life – Get the Ultimate Guide here

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment Preview