How To Be A Morning Person (As Much As Possible)
I have never been a morning person. Even as a toddler I have blurry, vintage photo memories of lying in my mum and dad’s bed while they got ready for the day around me. The hum of a hairdryer is enough to lull me into a snooze now. I’d say I stopped eating breakfast at around age 10 when the draw of those few extra minutes was far more seductive than sustenance for the day ahead. Throughout my teens my morning sleepiness made everyone late, and it is something I’m still waiting to grow out of as an adult.
I mentioned in an Instagram post a while ago that not only am I not a morning person, I am aggressively not a morning person. Dan will jokingly pull off the covers or get the dog to lick my face and I violently lash out and hunker back down under the duvet after a trail of expletives. I’ve tried ticking myself, setting an early alarm like I have something to get up early, but morning Jekyll-me is always smarter, she knows what I’m trying to pull and is having none of it.
There is, of course, quite a lot of proof that you’re either genetically a morning person or not, and this is something I’m very much leaning into now I’m self-employed. In fact I have a clear memory of a morning last year, getting up for work and thinking “I just can’t get up at 7.30 every day for the rest of my life” – so over-dramatic but that was a real motivating factor for setting up my own business.
So self-employment was the dream come true – I could set a routine that worked with the flow of my energy and motivation and no more 7.30 alarms. The only trouble is, that when you start your day later, 11am becomes the new 9am. Your routine and habits shift to accommodate this change and I ended up scrabbling around as much for an 11am call as I used to to get to the office on time. When I have no threat of letting someone down, I can’t possibly motivate myself to get up any earlier than I have to. But this was starting to make me feel guilty – all those morning hours slipping by in a warm, sleepy haze. I could have written a book by now if I’d got up at 9 and wrote to 11.
All this is to say that I am really not a morning person. And I want to become more of one, within reason; I’m not going to start rising with the sun any time soon but I’d like to feel like I’ve done more with my mornings than sleep. So I did what I always do, and turned to Instagram for help. I asked everyone their tips and a lot of the usuals came up like not having caffeine (or, conversely, having lots of it in the morning).
Here I have debunked a few of the generic tips and why they don’t work for me, explain what is working for me to develop a better morning routine, and have also listed all the tips, advice and book recommendations from Instagram for you to browse through.
Morning person advice that doesn’t work for me:
Gett up as soon as you wake up – like, obviously this doesn’t work. It’s part of the problem, not the solution 😉. Maybe there are stronger-willed souls out there for whom this works but it’s not a strong enough antidote to my particular problem
Put your alarm on the other side of the room – this should work in theory, but I refer you back to the fact that I am an aggressive non-morning person. When I leave the alarm away from the bed I wake up furious that it’s not there and get straight back into bed to spite the alarm and more awake me.
Regular early bed times – this is one that I know would work, but just doesn’t fit with my lifestyle. My other half is a chef, so if I went to bed at 10pm every night I would just never see him.
Have a baby – we’ll call this a last resort at this point shall we? 😉
Morning person advice that is working for me:
Non-traditional routines
We’ve all been brought up to run our days the same way: get up, get washed, get dressed, have breakfast, clean your teeth, and off out the door. For me, this sometimes feel insurmountable: if I’m already running late then the idea of having to get through all these things to a strict deadline makes me curl back up in bed and not bother.I’ve found that not adhering to these traditional routines has really freed up my mind. I allow myself to have a shower in the middle of the day after I‘ve walked the dog, had some food and ticked off my first few tasks of the day. It’s a nice way to punctuate the day differently and stop the fraught morning feeling.
Do something productive first thing
The last point is probably a lot to do with this – I always want to get straight into it and get something done straight away. So answering a few emails or sitting up on the pillows and typing out a blog post is a great way for me to feel energised to get up. The idea of ticking off a task before I’ve even got out of bed is heavenly.
Watch Instagram Stories
Weirdly, this is super effective at waking me up. While some might say it’s not healthy to look at your screen first thing, it’s working for me and running with it. Whether it’s seeing other people up and about or the fact that you have to engage your eyes and ears, after 5-10 minutes of Stories watching I’m wide awake.
Having a slow morning
What I’ve always hated about my non-morning-ness, and what weirdly often puts me off getting up, is how frantic they’ve always been. Rushing everything just to get to work or school on time, starting the day full of stress and panic. I’m enjoying taking the dog out in the morning without hurrying to get back, and taking the time to clear away the washing up from the last night before I sit down at my desk. Reminding myself of that is, at the moment, doing a good job.
Gradually getting up 15 minutes earlier / Getting up at a regular time
I’m putting these together because they work for me in synchronicity. I knew I had to be more realistic with my alarm-setting habits (I was never going to go from waking at 10.30 down to 7.30), and pushing it back 15 minutes every couple of weeks was really helpful and I definitely saw results. But I had to do that every day. I see sleeping as a treat, so had got into a habit where if I got up early one day, I’d sleep in the next. Consistency is key.
Reward yourself
This one I haven’t tried yet but it was a suggestion from Instagram that I have to try. In a way my morning walks are a reward but I do kind of resent them some days, so I may have to factor a coffee and pastry stop into the routine.
Morning person advice from Instagram:
@thosesimpledays – prepare as much as you can the night before; all the things you’ll need in the morning ALL in order
@wildbonbons – I was really struggling to get moving so I started really investing in my morning… I buy myself a fancy coffee for my commute along with fancy snack sand subscribed to audible for a morning read! All of it combined to start to look forward (sort of) to getting up at 4.30
@vanilla_papers – have you ever heard of the watchmen theory? That humanity in its early days took shifts when they lived in caves… some worked days, others watched over the tribe at night and now those of us who can’t wake up are just carriers of the ancient watchmen gene
@behindmarthas – I set my alarm 20 mins earlier and hope straight in the shower then pop robe on and climb back in bed for 30 mins – I just don’t feel cheated this way and I’m awake enough to hold my coffee
@rhodamacpherson – if you plan on exercising in the morning wear your sports stuff to bed
@meganelliottco – I sometimes plan a yummy breakfast the night before – knowing I’ll be eating something delicious is usually enough to get me out of bed!
@woodbeloved – heading straight outside to see a beautiful sunrise; you’ll have more ideas than you know what to do with
@mybearhut – my tips are to look on the bright side, think of something very exciting – to me it was the birds singing, seeing the sunrise and having a cup of tea in peace
@wild_meadow – if I don’t eat too late, I wake up and want to get out of bed because I’m hungry
@iprefercooking – I find a morning routine helps me, I get up and stretch, it makes me feel less achy and just help stretch my body out
@paperplanesandcaramelwaffles – having my curtains open to let in some natural light in always helps
@inkysquare – Get up at the same time every day. Eventually your body clock will reset. At weekends the thought of a leisurely breakfast helps get me up, but the joy of no longer taking hours to fall asleep and being tired all the time is also pretty good motivation! (I followed a programme called Sleepio and this was one of the main/most effective tips).
@wishiwasretired - I’ve become a morning person these last few years. Go to bed early - really early. Get up before the sun rises. Light some candles & do yoga with meditative music in the background. Watch the black change to blue outside as it begins to get light. Watch the sunrise - even if just peeks out your windows as you do your morning chores. Enjoy your coffee or tea. Marvel at all the time you have since you got up so early.
@declutterwithhannah - Great book recommendation - The Miracle Morning. Helped me get up early for a while when I needed some focus in my day
@karenbhphotos - when I wake up, I try to have a moment to myself first (3 min) and have happy thoughts, any thoughts... may that be grateful thoughts or just happy about what I have... and that makes things much easier!
@mach_photos - I would highly recommend the book by Daniel Pink that I am currently reading called ‘When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing’. It’s not necessarily a personal flaw to feel unproductive in the morning.
