This is why I started waking up at 4am every day

This is why I started waking up at 4 am every day

     I transferred to Seattle University in January and I currently live in Auburn, a town that’s about 30 miles away from my school. On average, the daily commute takes about 3-4 hours. That’s 20 hours per week spent between the train, bus, and the streetcar. I sometimes joke about this and consider my commute as my part-time job. Everyone was telling me that I was crazy and that I should move closer to my school. They were right, I mean who doesn’t want to be close to his school and friends. The reason why I didn’t move to Seattle is that my rent is very affordable and I have my own private space. With such exhausting commute, I found myself not getting enough sleep because I was struggling to stay up late hoping to get some work done. I wasn’t paying attention in my morning class and I was rushing all the time because I was worried that I might miss my train. Commuting drains you and makes you grumpy all day. This wasn’t the kind of lifestyle I signed up for when I decided to go to University!

     I sat down one day I thought to myself, I’m sure there’s something I could do better. There must be a solution for this long exhausting commute. After all, I’m a college student, my job is to solve problems. I suddenly had an aha moment in the middle of the night and said: what if I start waking up at 4am! I've read many stories about successful leaders who wake up early and have happy lives. If they can do it then I can do it. If I can commit to this, I will have about 3 hours of extra time for myself to study, read, meditate and get early to school. Now people will think I’m really crazy!

   The first week was very challenging. I don't even remember the last time I woke up at such an early time. I remember going to bed at 4 am, but getting out of bed so early was a tough thing to do. I decided that I would force myself to jump out of bed and resist the urge to hit the snooze button. As the days go by, I was determined to get up before the sunrise every day no matter what, even on weekends. I had also created new sets of morning rituals that helped me stick to this new habit. I start my morning by taking a shower, making my bed, and reading a book for about 20 minutes while drinking my coffee. Then I have about 2 hours to study and plan for the day and leave my house at 7 am. Those 2 hours are the most productive hours of my day. I know that I in order to be healthy I need to get 7 hours of sleep every day, that's why I had to shift my bedtime to 9pm. I think that 7 hours of sleep should be enough for a 23-year-old college student.

     These morning routines made me more energetic and motivated. I was feeling a great change in my mind and body. Of course, I’m a human and I’m not a perfectionist, sometimes I sleep in when I have some work that's due late at night or when I call my family in Tunisia. Typically, I try to maintain a consistent sleeping schedule so that I won’t lose my new habit. I find it fascinating how much my body could adjust to changes. I've had instances where I wake up a few minutes before my alarm goes off, it's like my brain knows exactly when to wake me up. I've read a book about habits and human behaviors by Charles Duhigg called "The power of habit" which helped me work on developing this new habit. In his book, he explains how habits can be broken down into 3 step processes: a cue, a routine, and a reward. Habits are triggered by cues such as emotions, location, or time. You feel hungry you go eat, you see a coffee shop down the street you go buy a drink. In my case when it's 9 pm that's a cue for my brain telling me that it's bedtime. A routine gets created as you practice that habit repeatedly. Finally, you get that reward after you've finished that task. I get the reward in the morning when I get up before sunset.

    Getting a new habit is very simple but it's definitely challenging and all it takes is a great discipline and practice. Every day you wake up early in the morning you must have a mindset of a winner, say to yourself that you're going to achieve something great today. Plan for your day, set some goals, surround yourself with positive thinking, and be grateful for what you have. Learn to love yourself and take care of your mind and body. Be ready to build the person who you want to be and begin to realize that you can make a difference in this world. By waking up earlier than most people you become ahead of the curve and your brain gets wired for success. Do this for a few days and you will be surprised by how much it will change you.



Reference:

Duhigg, Charles. (2012). The power of habit: why we do what we do in life and business. New York, N.Y. :Random House : Books on Tape