I’ve been on my fifth day of being an early starter. I have always loved the life of an entrepreneur, my waking up has always been based on work demand. I’ve had days when I knock off to sleep at 4am only to be up by 6 for another assignment, but on a general note 6:15am has always been my wake up time for meditation and news reports. In the past five days, I’ve derived pleasure with adjusting my inward clock to wake up at 4:30am regardless of the time I sleep- and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it.

I started thinking about this when I read and also discovered that more than 80% of executives and entrepreneurs are early day starters. Starting your day early extends your day, and ensures you accomplish much more than you usually do- before noon and with less distractions.

Early morning is an excellent time for personal development and meditation. The quietness of the morning is a God-sent gift which you should use for growing yourself – professionally, emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. The morning is just the right time to take on your biggest challenge of the day. For me, blogging is one of the first things on my list as soon as I get to work.

Many books have given several methods of overcoming this oversleeping habit. Some have advocated sleeping early, getting an alarm, eating less so that hunger can wake you, but then I have discovered that most of these subject topics become so complex that the solutions may just be simple principle such that, if followed will give us our answer. I came up with the methods that have worked for me over time, and the new one I have used to readjust myself.

Wake up at a specific time, doesn’t matter when you sleep

The human brain is so wonderful. Waking up at a specific time of the day every day, conditions your body to prepare itself to wake up that way. So if you are very tired, and your pineal gland (the organ responsible for your sleep-wake cycle), already knows you will wake up at a particular time, it will force you to sleep. Even if you resist, it will still try to wake you by that time of the morning. The circadian rhythm conditions your body to sleep early enough to meet that time.

Put it in your mind to wake up, just before you sleep

This was what I discovered especially in moments when I had to maximize sleep moments. I try to remind myself when to wake up, just at the nick of sleeping. It is like telling my psychological clock how to function. Times without number I have woken up, ten or five minutes before the alarm goes off. It works for me.  I dropped on the floor of my room tired and yet telling myself to wake up in fifteen minutes. I knockout and wake up promptly at that time-remembering nothing of the time elapsed and refreshed for a go again at my work.

Keep the alarm far, far away from your bed

If its right next to your bed, you’ll shut it off or hit snooze. I had a friend who threw his table clock against the wall when his alarm clock rang. Never hit snooze. If you locate the alarm clock far from your sleeping position, at least you’d have to get up out of bed to shut it off. By then, you’re up. Now you just have to stay up (unless of course, your case is very serious). I keep my watch alarm by the door so going to the door to switch off the alarm means am on my way to bathe!

 If you are such a deep sleeper that alarms don’t wake you, the

Jump!

This was Kenneth Haggin’s favourite method while alive. Once he feels the stream of being awake, he jumps out of bed! This has always been my method, when I notice the thoughts of ‘just another 10 minutes’ coming in. sometimes we tell ourselves we would get up in another ten minutes knowing fully well that we are setting ourselves up for being late for the day’s assignments. One fantastic method to be an early day starter is to stop ourselves from rationalizing the need for an additional 10 minutes of sleep; once out of bed, I am more likely to stay awake than turning the other side and falling right back to sleep.

It’s a great feeling when you start your day right. It puts you on the winning edge, you won’t have to spend the rest of the day catching up on lost hours and biting fingers and cursing the traffic situation.

More so, it puts you in charge of the day and guarantees that you make the best parts of your days.