You’re not at the mercy of your chronotype.
They say the 5 am club is life-changing. But the 4 am club is something else.
I decided to wake up at 4 am for one month to observe the effects and validate if the early bird really catches the worm.
What do I have to say after one month?
I loved it and I look forward to improving on my journey daily.
It is definitely not for everyone and is not easy. It’s associated with its own unique challenges, involving both mental and physical adjustments. Personally, it has benefitted my lifestyle more than before.
I’ve witnessed many lifestyles where one is inherently a night owl and living the early AM lifestyle is said to be entirely impossible.
But get this, I’ve been a night owl my whole life. I’ve been there and totally get it. What seemed natural to me, became a topic for me to explore. Naturally, I was always my high-functioning self when the world sleeps. Evidently, I realized I became more exhausted throughout the day as I stayed up late.
After a while, considering full-time work and side projects, I felt that I wanted to operate at my optimum in order to achieve my best.
So how did I go from a night owl to an early bird?
We cannot change our chronotype. It’s hardcoded into our systems. Each of us with our own unique codes. That’s reality. Genetics will always have a driving factor in whether you identify most with a night owl or an early bird.
However, shifting from a night owl to an early bird is deeply rooted in methodological approaches, creating and building habits that benefit you in due course.
Asides from all external roadblocks, if you strongly desire for something to happen, you most definitely can achieve it.
Here are the processes I utilized to get as close to the 4 am club as I am today.
1. Adjust your bedtime routine
This is quite self-explanatory and the aim is to work in building small changes to your night routine.
Set your alarm to wake up 30 minutes or 1 hour earlier each day, until you get a momentum going.
Your body is intuitive and over a few days it will begin to instantly adjust.
Make your bedtime routine work for YOU.
What does your wind down and relaxing routine look like?
Use that and make it work for you, to ensure you get a good night’s sleep before the big wake-up challenge ahead.
This leads me to my next point:
2. Make morning routines count
You don’t merely wake up at 4–5 am to feel dreary and question everything in your life.
Your need to make things work in your favor.
My recommendation is to create a system for your morning in which feeds you energy.
Energy management is the most important here. Think about how your energy works.
How can you gain that energy to get yourself ready for the day, such that you are ready to take on the world.
Gather that energy and make it COUNT.
Being intentional with why you want to wake up early, including activities that can amplify your morning routine to something enjoyable or bring you energy is absolutely paramount here.
Make it WORK for you.
I cannot stress that enough.
Keep in mind, it definitely isn’t something that can be mastered in one day. It will most likely take you a couple of weeks to master it. So I highly recommend do not beat yourself up for not getting it right the first time. This journey is all about kindness to yourself and unconditional patience.
3. Small rewards for small incremental efforts
Small rewards to build momentum!
Preach it!
I highly recommend rewarding yourself with anything small on each day you get up earlier than before.
Small rewards build on that momentum for you to keep going. Yes, we are hardworking creatures, filled with resilience. But the key to this journey is self-care AT IT’S BEST.
Put self-care first and reward yourself.
Go grab that nice warm coffee at the local cafe that opens at 6am or treat yourself to a delicious breakfast.
It helps.
4. Move Your Body
On top of self-care, enhancing your physical routine in the morning are added benefits to get you going in the morning.
Set a mild fitness activity to ease yourself into your morning flow.
I highly recommend:
- Mat Pilates
- Morning swim
- Morning Yoga routine
Or go hard and hit the gym!
I’ve attended the gym many times at 5 am and engaging in powerlifting instantly provides you with a rush of endorphins, which also induces a feeling of empowerment for the day!
5. Stay Committed
Now this journey won’t be easy. It never was, to begin with.
This journey will take commitment. There are no shortcuts here.
Embracing the difficulty is beneficial to fostering a resilient and growth mindset.
You chose this path for a reason and staying committed will help you more than not.
Staying committed to something requires evaluating what is important to you as an individual and again, why you want to wake up at 4 am.
For me as an example, I found that I was able to be quite productive, work on personal projects, and develop myself as a person before my day job was my way of centring myself.
In a way, it was my own time when most of the world really is sleeping. It was soothing, therapeutic and rejuvenating.
Thinking about these reasons, as common as it sounds, helped pushed me an inch forward every day.
And at the end of the day, the main point is to make things work for you.
If you feel like you resonate strongly with your chronotype, then continue doing that at your best. But in case you do wish to switch up your lifestyle, from night owl to morning bird, I believe it is possible.
I’ve come from the extreme night owl life and now have completely become a morning riser.
Alas, impossible is simply you saying “I’m possible”.
