February 6, 2025 • 26 mins
#129 - Have you ever wondered how waking up at 5 AM could transform your life? Join me as I share my personal journey exploring the power of early mornings. Discover how quiet, focused hours before the world wakes up can supercharge your productivity and personal growth.
From changing caffeine habits to minimizing screen time, I offer practical advice to help you become an early riser. Gain insight into the struggles and triumphs of adjusting to an early routine and maintaining it consistently, even when weekends tempt you to sleep in.
Topics Covered:
- Why I decided to change to a 5AM wake up time
- What are the benefits of waking up earlier
- How to be successful in waking up earlier consistently
- What are the potential challenges and how you can overcome them
Your Host
Richard Conner
Richard is a strategic marketing professional with experience in B2B marketing. Richard is the founder of Inspire to Run and is passionate about helping others reach their goals. He is a Connecticut native, a husband, dad, writer, Star Wars fan, and, of course, a runner!
Resources:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's the one thing you can accomplish today that
will give you momentum fortomorrow?
If you were to wake up just onehour earlier every day, what
could you accomplish in a week?
What is your big goal, and howwill waking up early bring you
closer to it?
Well, these are questions thatI challenge you to ask yourself,
and I'm going to share with youmy experience pros and cons of
(00:24):
waking up early and, of course,tips on how you can wake up
early.
Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast.
Here you will find inspiration,whether you are looking to take
control of your health andfitness or you are a seasoned
runner looking for community andsome extra motivation.
You will hear inspiring storiesfrom amazing runners, along
with helpful tips from fitnessexperts.
Now here's your host, richardConner.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Hey, my friend, welcome to Inspired to Run
Podcast.
Today is the first day ofFebruary and I'm recording this.
I can't believe it's alreadyFebruary.
January flew by, although Ithink a lot of people would feel
that January is a really longmonth, but for me it really flew
by, and what I've been doingfor this past month is I've been
waking up early.
(01:16):
I've unofficially joined the 5am club, which I'm sure many of
you are familiar with.
Robin Sharma, the author of the5 AM Club, own your Morning,
elevate your Life.
And I just decided at thebeginning of this year that not
only do I have my specifichealth and fitness goals, but I
have a few other goals in mylife and a lot of it's really
(01:39):
centered around work and familyand really helping support and
better serve you, the Inspire toRun community.
So I just realized that if Igot up a little bit early every
day, what could I reallyaccomplish this year, more so
than I was able to accomplishlast year.
And I know I've been reallyfocusing around sleep and really
getting good sleep, and I'vebeen monitoring that with my
(02:00):
Oura Ring, but I just felt likegosh.
I feel like I'm getting prettygood sleep now and I've been
monitoring that with my OuraRing, but I just felt like gosh.
I feel like I'm getting prettygood sleep now, I've got pretty
good rhythm, but I'm just notgetting up as early as I'd like
and I feel like it could be moreproductive.
And I always say that my brainworks best in the morning.
So if I'm trying to dosomething that's after work or
after my workout, it's justsuper hard for me to do.
(02:23):
So how can I just get up alittle bit early and just really
kind of get after some of thosepriorities?
This year and I'm reallyexcited because I'm working on
something big that I'm going tolaunch for the Inspire to Run
community and I just wanted thatdedicated time in the morning,
when my brain works best, to beable to accomplish that and
bring that to you.
So that's what I started at thebeginning of January.
(02:46):
I took a few days off at thebeginning of January and then
got to it when I got back andit's worked out really, really
well.
So I felt like this was a goodpoint in time to just kind of
sit down and share this with youin hopes that this can help you
as you progress through theyear.
Now I will say that it was noteasy to wake up early, and this
(03:09):
is something that I tried sometime ago and I just really felt
like it was a good thing for meto do.
I was meditating and I wasjournaling and I just felt like
it really helped me.
But I fell out of that routinea long time ago and I've been
saying I'm going to get backinto it.
I'm going to get back into it,I'm going to wake up early.
I just never did it.
So this year I said no kidding,I'm going to do it this year.
(03:31):
And I have to say that it was alot easier than I thought it
was going to be.
I thought that I was just goingto be fatigued all day.
I thought that I just was goingto miss days, and not much of
that happened.
And again, it wasn't easy, butit wasn't as hard as I thought
it was going to be.
I felt more alert, especiallyas I started the day.
(03:53):
I've made big progress on mypriorities, which I've just
shared with you, and some of thecons are, you know, my sleep
did suffer a little bit, so I'mgoing to talk a little bit about
all of those things, but ingeneral, this has really worked
out a lot better than I expectedin terms of just consistently
getting up every day, doing thethings that I said I was going
(04:16):
to do and how I was feeling kindof throughout the day.
All those things worked outbetter than I thought.
So I wanted to share myexperiences with you again in
hopes that this helps you as youprogress through the year.
And I'll just start with whatare the benefits of waking up
early?
So for me, I'm waking up at 5am.
So I'm just kind of referencethat what are the benefits of
(04:38):
waking up at 5 am?
But it doesn't have to be 5 am,right?
If you get up even earlier thanyou're getting up today, I
assure you that you are going tobenefit from it.
And if you're already gettingup at 4 am or 5 am, then you
know that's great.
You know I'd love to even hearfrom you, like what are your
tips and tricks and what's kindof worked out for you if you do
that?
But for those of us whotraditionally have not done that
(05:01):
, you know this is really thisconversation is really for you.
So the first benefit here ismore productivity.
You know, early mornings areusually quieter, I'm sure, for a
lot of folks, and it reallyallows for deep work and fewer
distractions, and that'sespecially true in my case.
So if I wake up at 5am, I'mdefinitely the first one awake
(05:22):
in the house and then I just godownstairs and then I have my
quiet time to do the work that Ineed to do.
And it's been great for mebecause, again, my mind works
best in the morning and it'squiet and can really focus on
what I need to do.
Now I would say it also givesthe potential for me to waste
(05:46):
time on social media.
So I wake up in the morning, Igrab my phone, I go downstairs,
I get my water and I have myphone and I'm just kind of
staring at it and then I havethis inclination to go on to
Instagram or Facebook, which hasbeen terrible.
So I will say that that's oneof the things that happened to
me very early on, as I just kindof turn on my phone, I check my
(06:07):
messages, I go on Instagram andthen all of a sudden it's like
515 or 520.
I've already lost 20 minutes inthe day and that's super
annoying.
So I've been more conscious ofthat that.
You know, I really try not tocheck my messages.
I really try not to spend timeon social media and I you have
(06:28):
more productivity in the morning, but don't squander that time
with social media or otherthings that can kind of take you
away from what you're doing.
And for me, I have work to do,so I'm going to get right to it
because these are my priorities.
But, you know, for you thismight mean something else.
This might, you know, give youtime to reflect.
This may give you time tomeditate.
(06:48):
This may give you time tojournal you time to meditate.
This may give you time tojournal.
So I'm giving this an exampleof kind of what I do, but really
this is space and time for youto do what's important for you
and will set you up for successfor the day.
The other benefit is better timemanagement.
So, you know, starting earlyjust gives me extra time during
(07:10):
the day where, like I said, Ihave pretty good sleep.
Today I have a pretty good orconsistent work schedule.
I have a pretty good workoutschedule, which we talked about
right, kind of making sure thatyour workouts are on your
calendar.
So I have a good, consistentway of doing that and I have a
good, consistent way of justdoing the other things I need to
do in my life related to thefamily and the house.
(07:32):
So all those things are good.
So this just gives me a littlebit of extra time to pursue the
goals that are important to me,especially this year, especially
this time where I'm trying tocreate something and launch to
support the Inspire to Runcommunity.
Another benefit is it supports ahealthier lifestyle.
(07:53):
So you know, waking up early orwaking up at 5 am encourages
better sleep habits.
It encourages morning exercise.
If you like to exercise in themorning or wish you could
exercise in the morning, itcould help you do all those
things.
So if you don't have good sleephabits today, I assure you this
(08:13):
will force you to do it.
So I'll talk a little bit abouttips on how to do it.
But it's recommended that yougo to sleep at a certain time
and you're consistent about that.
And again, if you're not doingit today, knowing that you have
to wake up at 5 am in themorning, that's going to be in
the back of your mind as you'remaking decisions on how to spend
your time in the evening.
(08:34):
So it really helps you with ahealthier lifestyle.
And then the last benefit hereis reduce stress.
So this is especially true inmy case, where you know it just
really helps you start the dayand avoid feeling rushed.
And I can't tell you how manytimes where my alarm went off I
(08:56):
hit the snooze button.
I went back to sleep foranother 20, 30 minutes.
I woke up.
I thought I felt better.
I probably didn't.
And then I'm rushing to get tothe office or do the things that
I need to do and the whole dayfeels rushed.
And I'm telling you, for thelast 20 or so days that has not
(09:16):
been the case.
I get up at 5 am, I do thethings that I need to do and
then I get ready and I get outthe door.
Now I still could move a littlebit faster in the morning, so
I'm still kind of working onthat or prep a little bit better
the night before, but I don'tfeel like I'm always rushing to
get out the door or I didn'tfeel accomplished, kind of, in
(09:38):
the morning.
So those are some of the keybenefits of waking up early.
Now you may say, well, how do Ido that?
How do I get up early?
Because I've tried this beforeand it doesn't work and I assure
you, I've tried this before,I've tried this for years I set
the alarm and I ignore the alarmand I just go back to sleep.
So how can you wake up early,even if it's not 5 am?
(10:01):
So the first thing is you couldtake the approach of a gradual
adjustment so you could set yourwake-up time just a little bit
earlier, like 15 to 30 minutesearlier, every night until you
reach, you know, 5am.
I personally did not do that, Ijust wanted to just go cold
turkey, set my alarm for 5am andjust do it and just force
(10:22):
myself to get out of bed, whichhas been super hard because it's
winter.
You know, in the Northeast it'swinter, it's cold, it's dark,
so it's been super hard to dothat.
But for me, I'm just like I'mgoing to do a cold turkey and
then I'm just going to forcemyself to do it.
But if that's not the way youwork, if that's not how you
operate, you could definitelylook to set your wake up time 15
(10:44):
to 30 minutes earlier and untilyou get to your desired goal.
The next tip is to have aconsistent bedtime, so you want
to go to sleep and you want towake up around the same time
every day, even on the weekends.
So this was really interestingbecause, you know, when I first
started doing a little bit ofresearch and looking up the
(11:05):
benefits and the tips, one ofthe first things that I looked
at was, if I wake up at 5amevery day, let's say during the
week, do I need to do the samething on the weekends, because I
really, really want to sleep inon the weekends?
I don't want to get up at 5amon the weekends, and I'll tell
you what I'm so glad that Ididn't do that.
I'm so glad that I set the samewake up time every day for the
(11:29):
last 20 or so days, because thatput me into the routine.
We talked a little bit aboutthat 21 days versus 90 days and
building habits Absolutelyhelped me with my habits to wake
up at the same time every day.
I get downstairs, I go throughmy routine and I work on what I
need to do, and it gives me acouple of extra days to progress
(11:52):
on my goals, which are reallyimportant to me.
So if I set a different time onthe weekends which is, you know
, kind of what I used to do,maybe I still would get there.
Maybe it still would, you know,benefit me and I would still
build that habit.
But I feel like the bestexperience that you're going to
have is to kind of set that sametime every day and you'll just
(12:12):
be better for it.
Now I personally avoid latenights, and this is not new.
I feel like since my twins wereborn, I go to sleep when they
go to sleep, and now we're atthe point in time where I go to
sleep way before they go tosleep.
But I just started going tosleep, you know, just a little
bit early.
So I go to sleep maybe around930, 10 o'clock, definitely try
(12:34):
to get to sleep before 10o'clock.
So that's what I do.
So it's not as difficult for meto go to sleep at a reasonable
time, to get to seven to ninehours of sleep and then I wake
up at 5 am.
But I haven't had thoseopportunities or, say, those
situations where I have to stayup a little bit later.
(12:56):
So let's say I'm going out andI'm going to be out late, or
whatever the case might be, Ihaven't had that happen yet.
So, in full disclosure, in thelast 20 days I've been really
consistent with the time thatI've been going to bed.
So when that happens, it's justsomething I'm going to have to
deal with and be conscious of.
If I stay up late, I know, hey,I got to get up at 5 am in the
morning and maybe it's just onenight, so it's not terrible.
(13:18):
But that's something that Ihave to be conscious of and just
for something for you to thinkabout.
So don't feel like you can'tstay out late or do things late
at night.
But if you do it consistently,it's going to be really hard for
you to get the amount of sleepthat you need to get.
And this is not about sleepdeprivation or sleeping for less
than seven hours, or gettingfour hours of sleep and getting
(13:39):
up in the morning.
This is not about that.
So get the appropriate amountof sleep that you can get and
then wake up early and get onwith your day.
The next thing that I've gottenreally good at and I'm really
pleased about is preparing thenight before.
So just about kind of that 9,930, when my brain starts to
shut down anyway, that's thetime where I start to get
(14:01):
everything I need for the nextday.
So you know, most days for thelast three or four weeks I've
been going to the gym rightafter work.
So what I'll do is I'll justpack my clothes for the gym, I
get them in my bag and I'll justpack.
You know, just take out my workclothes and I'll just get
everything ready.
Because it's also like I said,it's winter and it's dark and I
(14:23):
don't want to be fumbling aroundin you know five, six o'clock
in the morning to get ready forwork.
So I start to just kind ofclean up and I take out
everything that I need for thenext day.
And there's certain things thatI'll just do in the morning as
I'm getting ready to get out thedoor.
But I'm sure it could be alittle bit more efficient about.
You know kind of how I prepare.
But that is one thing that'sreally important.
It's just prepare what you needthe night before.
(14:44):
Next is limit caffeine and anykind of screen time.
So I've done a lot better withcaffeine.
So I try not to have caffeinelate in the day.
Typically I'll have two cups oftea, which isn't terrible.
Some days I'll have a third cupof tea, and if I do that, I've
been drinking green tea insteadof black tea, which has a little
(15:06):
bit less caffeine, and thensometimes there's a little bit
of caffeine in kind of myworkout drinks or hydration.
So I get a little bit there.
But you know, really try toreduce the amount of caffeine or
at least have it not so late inthe day.
And then I really try not touse my phone.
But, like I mentioned to youbefore, like at night and in the
morning, I haven't been thebest at it.
(15:27):
So you know, my advice to youis to try to avoid it, although
in full transparency, it'ssomething that's been super hard
for me to do.
Next is, you know, use youralarm clock, and in the best
possible way.
So I know there's a lot of tipsout there on what to do with
your alarm clock.
You know, putting it across theroom and it's not any other.
(15:48):
I don't do any of that stuff.
But one thing that I don't doanymore is I don't snooze Like
that is just.
That's not going to help you.
The snooze button is not yourfriend.
You think it is.
You hit the snooze button, youget that, you know, additional
15 minutes and maybe 20 minutes.
It's not your friend.
So just try to avoid snoozingat all.
(16:08):
I felt a lot better when 5ammhits.
I wake up.
Now, there's been a couple ofmornings where I've kind of
dozed off a little bit and thengot right back up, so maybe like
five minutes or so, but what Ireally just try to do is just 5
am I just wake up, stretch and Ijust try to get out of bed as
(16:31):
quickly as possible to avoidgoing back to sleep or having to
hit that snooze button.
The next one is really importantand honestly, for me this was
the most important is to have amorning purpose.
So, whatever that reason is,whatever it is getting you out
(16:53):
of bed in the morning, that'swhat you need to be successful
here, out of anything else.
Because I assure you, if youdon't have that purpose or
you're not excited to do it,what's the first thing you're
going to want to do is to goback to sleep.
You're like I don't want todeal with that, I'm going back
to sleep.
So, whatever it is, have thatpurpose, be excited it, and
(17:14):
that's going to help motivateyou to get out of bed.
So again, whether it'smeditating, whether it's
journaling, whether it'slearning, whether it's exercise,
whatever it is, that's going toget you excited to get out of
bed and you could use thatlittle extra time in the morning
to do that.
That's going to be your morningpurpose.
So give that some thought.
(17:37):
And the next is expose yourselfto light.
So, whether it's natural lightor any kind of light, natural
light would be the best.
But again, if you're waking upat 5 am and it's in the
Northeast and it's winter,that's going to be hard to come
by.
But that's something that'sgoing to help you out versus
kind of walking around in thedark, because then your body is
going to still kind of think.
You're kind of in that sleepmode.
So those are some tips on howto wake up early.
(18:01):
Now.
For me it took a little bit toadjust Again, not as long as I
thought it was going to be.
I really thought that I wasgoing to be moody, cranky and
upset about doing this the lastfew weeks and it hasn't been
easy.
But I think I well adjusted toit and I feel really good.
So at the point of thisrecording, it's been about 21
(18:21):
days since I started and it cantake about two to four weeks to
adjust, you know, depending onyour sleep schedule.
And again, for me it wasprobably a little bit easier
because I was already going tosleep a little bit early.
So if you typically go to sleepa lot later and you typically
sleep in, it may not be assmooth of a transition for you.
(18:41):
And this is a case where youwant to gradually kind of make
those changes to go to sleep alittle bit early and then
earlier and then get up a littlebit earlier.
Now I've already talked aboutsome of the downfalls and
objections to what we're talkingabout here, which is to how to
wake up early.
And the first one is lack ofsleep.
(19:03):
And if you don't sleep earlyenough, go to sleep early enough
.
Waking up at 5 am can lead tosleep deprivation.
So for me, I'm okay because Igo to sleep around 9, 9.30.
I waking up at 5am can lead tosleep deprivation.
So for me, I'm okay because Igo to sleep around 9930.
I wake up at 5am.
My aura ring tells me how longI was in bed and how long I was
actually sleeping for, and it'sstill over seven hours Now.
I will say I do feel it like.
(19:24):
I do feel like gosh.
I really want and need a littlebit more sleep.
So there's some nights where Ijust go to sleep just a little
bit earlier, or maybe I take anextra rest day to give my body a
little bit more rest.
So just make sure that you'rebeing really conscious about
getting enough sleep.
Another downfall could be animpact to your social life.
(19:47):
So maybe you go out a lot atnight and it may just be hard to
do that if you're waking up at5 am.
So this is not a conversationto say just don't do that, just
ignore your social life anddon't go out late and don't do
this and don't do that.
It's really just a conversationabout, if you do it, just be
conscious of getting up at 5 amand just kind of working it into
(20:10):
your schedule so it's not afrequent thing and doesn't
disrupt you waking up early.
Now another thing to consideris this may not work for
everybody.
So I said in the beginning thatmy mind works best in the
morning and I always say that,and not everybody's like that.
So not everybody's a morningperson, which I wouldn't
consider myself a morning person.
(20:31):
I'm not necessarily thehappiest person in the morning,
but I'm definitely the mostproductive, so for me this works
out great.
This may not work for everybody.
So I'm saying I get up at 5 am,so maybe 5 am is not for you,
but maybe waking up just alittle bit earlier gets you that
jumpstart on the day that youneed.
(20:53):
The next kind of issue orpotential challenge is just your
energy level throughout the day.
So this is something that youneed to kind of manage and I
know myself pretty well.
So I know that even if I didn'twake up at 5 am, just right
after lunch is just not the besttime for me.
So I'm going to eat and I knowI'm going to get sluggish and I
(21:14):
know I've got a full day aheadof me.
So what I do is I normally havemy tea in the morning, so
typically around eight o'clock,eight, 8.30 is when I have my
tea, and then I will have tearight after lunch because I know
right after I eat is when Itake a dip.
So I have my tea ready to kindof keep me going and then, just
(21:34):
kind of depending on the day, Imight have a third cup of tea,
you know, mid afternoon, but Ireally try not to do that and I
also cut out all the sugar I putin my tea.
Like it's gotta be a reallyrough day for me to put sugar in
my tea, but it's something Iused to do all the time Three
cups of black tea, probably twospoons of sugar or two packets
of sugar right in every tea, andI just cut all of that out.
(21:57):
But I kind of know myself prettywell and that's kind of how I
time the caffeine and that'sbeen really helpful in getting
me through the day.
And then, you know, I mentionedit a few times just about the
winter right.
So you have dark, cold mornings.
It just makes it really hard toget up.
So one of the things that I dois I have hoodies, so what I do
is I just throw on my hoodie andI turn up the heat a little bit
(22:20):
and I just get reallycomfortable and that just kind
of helps me.
Knowing that I'm going to bewarm and comfortable that kind
of helps me get out of bedversus snuggling a little bit
more in the bed and not wantingto get up.
So those are just some of theyou know kind of challenges to
getting up early and those aresome of the things that I've
done personally.
That's helped me kind ofaccomplish that and waking up at
5am.
(22:42):
So you've heard me talk aboutall these things and you may be
like if Richard, does it have tobe 5am?
Like I don't want to get up at5am and the answer is no, it
doesn't have to be 5 am.
Like I don't want to get up at5 am and the answer is no, it
doesn't have to be 5 am.
Again, I've shared with you youknow why I do it.
I get up at 5 am, I work on myobjectives till 6, my priorities
(23:02):
until 6, and then I get readyto work and I try to get to work
by 7 or 7.30.
So that's my schedule.
So if you have a differentschedule and maybe you don't
need to get up at 5 am, maybeyou get up at 5.30 or 6 am and
even that gives you thatjumpstart on the day.
That's a winner right there.
(23:23):
So it's really about what'sgoing to work for you, but, more
importantly, having thatpurpose and being consistent
about the time that you get upand, of course, getting enough
sleep.
So that's the story I wanted toshare with you today.
You know, wake up early, evenif it's not 5 am.
Whatever, it is that kind ofworks with your schedule that
(23:46):
makes you more productive andhelps you reach your goals.
Productive and helps you reachyour goals.
Speaking of goals, make surethat you have that specific goal
or purpose that gets youexcited to get out of bed.
That for me, absolutelypositively.
The most important Next is bethoughtful about all the things
that can kind of get in the wayof a good night's sleep.
(24:06):
How late are you havingcaffeine?
How late are you eating dinner?
Are you having anything elsethat's going to kind of disrupt
your sleep?
So just really be intentionalabout those things and I know
life isn't perfect and so manythings get in the way.
But if you think about thesethings and prepare, you're going
to have a much betterexperience.
(24:27):
Better experience and, likeanything, it's going to be hard.
At first You're not going towant to do it.
You're going to come up withall the excuses as to why you
can't do it, why you don't wantto do it.
But I assure you that you'regoing to see the benefits of
doing that if you stick with itand you do it over time.
So that's the story I wanted toshare with you the benefits, the
(24:48):
tips and kind of what's beengoing on with me over the last
month about waking up early.
So I hope this was helpful foryou.
I'm really excited becauseFebruary it really kicks off
race season for me.
So I've got a couple of racesthis month that are important to
me, just because racesthemselves are important, but
also it's going to help me seekind of where I am fitness-wise
(25:11):
as I'm kicking off the year andthen help me kind of adjust my
training and my workouts and mymindset as I kind of go into the
year.
So I'm really excited to seehow I perform this month and
then we'll just kind of take itfrom there.
So I really hope you enjoyedthis episode.
I'd really love to hear fromyou.
So if you have tips on how youwake up early or how you kind of
(25:32):
manage your time, you know, gointo the show notes and there's
an option there to send me amessage.
I'd love to hear from you.
Or you can come to Instagramand inspire to run podcasts on
Instagram.
Send me a DM and just let meknow what are your tips, what do
you do, and I'd also love tohear what you're excited about
(25:59):
this year in terms of races,training or any of your goals.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So with that, I really hope you enjoyed this
conversation and I wish you agreat day.
That's it for this episode ofInspired to Run Podcast.
We hope you are inspired totake control of your health and
fitness and take it to the nextlevel.
Be sure to click the subscribebutton to join our community and
also please rate and review.
Thanks for listening.
What's the one thing you can accomplish today that
will give you momentum fortomorrow?
If you were to wake up just onehour earlier every day, what
could you accomplish in a week?
What is your big goal, and howwill waking up early bring you
closer to it?
Well, these are questions thatI challenge you to ask yourself,
and I'm going to share with youmy experience pros and cons of
(00:24):
waking up early and, of course,tips on how you can wake up
early.
Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast.
Here you will find inspiration,whether you are looking to take
control of your health andfitness or you are a seasoned
runner looking for community andsome extra motivation.
You will hear inspiring storiesfrom amazing runners, along
with helpful tips from fitnessexperts.
Now here's your host, richardConner.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Hey, my friend, welcome to Inspired to Run
Podcast.
Today is the first day ofFebruary and I'm recording this.
I can't believe it's alreadyFebruary.
January flew by, although Ithink a lot of people would feel
that January is a really longmonth, but for me it really flew
by, and what I've been doingfor this past month is I've been
waking up early.
(01:16):
I've unofficially joined the 5am club, which I'm sure many of
you are familiar with.
Robin Sharma, the author of the5 AM Club, own your Morning,
elevate your Life.
And I just decided at thebeginning of this year that not
only do I have my specifichealth and fitness goals, but I
have a few other goals in mylife and a lot of it's really
(01:39):
centered around work and familyand really helping support and
better serve you, the Inspire toRun community.
So I just realized that if Igot up a little bit early every
day, what could I reallyaccomplish this year, more so
than I was able to accomplishlast year.
And I know I've been reallyfocusing around sleep and really
getting good sleep, and I'vebeen monitoring that with my
(02:00):
Oura Ring, but I just felt likegosh.
I feel like I'm getting prettygood sleep now and I've been
monitoring that with my OuraRing, but I just felt like gosh.
I feel like I'm getting prettygood sleep now, I've got pretty
good rhythm, but I'm just notgetting up as early as I'd like
and I feel like it could be moreproductive.
And I always say that my brainworks best in the morning.
So if I'm trying to dosomething that's after work or
after my workout, it's justsuper hard for me to do.
(02:23):
So how can I just get up alittle bit early and just really
kind of get after some of thosepriorities?
This year and I'm reallyexcited because I'm working on
something big that I'm going tolaunch for the Inspire to Run
community and I just wanted thatdedicated time in the morning,
when my brain works best, to beable to accomplish that and
bring that to you.
So that's what I started at thebeginning of January.
(02:46):
I took a few days off at thebeginning of January and then
got to it when I got back andit's worked out really, really
well.
So I felt like this was a goodpoint in time to just kind of
sit down and share this with youin hopes that this can help you
as you progress through theyear.
Now I will say that it was noteasy to wake up early, and this
(03:09):
is something that I tried sometime ago and I just really felt
like it was a good thing for meto do.
I was meditating and I wasjournaling and I just felt like
it really helped me.
But I fell out of that routinea long time ago and I've been
saying I'm going to get backinto it.
I'm going to get back into it,I'm going to wake up early.
I just never did it.
So this year I said no kidding,I'm going to do it this year.
(03:31):
And I have to say that it was alot easier than I thought it
was going to be.
I thought that I was just goingto be fatigued all day.
I thought that I just was goingto miss days, and not much of
that happened.
And again, it wasn't easy, butit wasn't as hard as I thought
it was going to be.
I felt more alert, especiallyas I started the day.
(03:53):
I've made big progress on mypriorities, which I've just
shared with you, and some of thecons are, you know, my sleep
did suffer a little bit, so I'mgoing to talk a little bit about
all of those things, but ingeneral, this has really worked
out a lot better than I expectedin terms of just consistently
getting up every day, doing thethings that I said I was going
(04:16):
to do and how I was feeling kindof throughout the day.
All those things worked outbetter than I thought.
So I wanted to share myexperiences with you again in
hopes that this helps you as youprogress through the year.
And I'll just start with whatare the benefits of waking up
early?
So for me, I'm waking up at 5am.
So I'm just kind of referencethat what are the benefits of
(04:38):
waking up at 5 am?
But it doesn't have to be 5 am,right?
If you get up even earlier thanyou're getting up today, I
assure you that you are going tobenefit from it.
And if you're already gettingup at 4 am or 5 am, then you
know that's great.
You know I'd love to even hearfrom you, like what are your
tips and tricks and what's kindof worked out for you if you do
that?
But for those of us whotraditionally have not done that
(05:01):
, you know this is really thisconversation is really for you.
So the first benefit here ismore productivity.
You know, early mornings areusually quieter, I'm sure, for a
lot of folks, and it reallyallows for deep work and fewer
distractions, and that'sespecially true in my case.
So if I wake up at 5am, I'mdefinitely the first one awake
(05:22):
in the house and then I just godownstairs and then I have my
quiet time to do the work that Ineed to do.
And it's been great for mebecause, again, my mind works
best in the morning and it'squiet and can really focus on
what I need to do.
Now I would say it also givesthe potential for me to waste
(05:46):
time on social media.
So I wake up in the morning, Igrab my phone, I go downstairs,
I get my water and I have myphone and I'm just kind of
staring at it and then I havethis inclination to go on to
Instagram or Facebook, which hasbeen terrible.
So I will say that that's oneof the things that happened to
me very early on, as I just kindof turn on my phone, I check my
(06:07):
messages, I go on Instagram andthen all of a sudden it's like
515 or 520.
I've already lost 20 minutes inthe day and that's super
annoying.
So I've been more conscious ofthat that.
You know, I really try not tocheck my messages.
I really try not to spend timeon social media and I you have
(06:28):
more productivity in the morning, but don't squander that time
with social media or otherthings that can kind of take you
away from what you're doing.
And for me, I have work to do,so I'm going to get right to it
because these are my priorities.
But, you know, for you thismight mean something else.
This might, you know, give youtime to reflect.
This may give you time tomeditate.
(06:48):
This may give you time tojournal you time to meditate.
This may give you time tojournal.
So I'm giving this an exampleof kind of what I do, but really
this is space and time for youto do what's important for you
and will set you up for successfor the day.
The other benefit is better timemanagement.
So, you know, starting earlyjust gives me extra time during
(07:10):
the day where, like I said, Ihave pretty good sleep.
Today I have a pretty good orconsistent work schedule.
I have a pretty good workoutschedule, which we talked about
right, kind of making sure thatyour workouts are on your
calendar.
So I have a good, consistentway of doing that and I have a
good, consistent way of justdoing the other things I need to
do in my life related to thefamily and the house.
(07:32):
So all those things are good.
So this just gives me a littlebit of extra time to pursue the
goals that are important to me,especially this year, especially
this time where I'm trying tocreate something and launch to
support the Inspire to Runcommunity.
Another benefit is it supports ahealthier lifestyle.
(07:53):
So you know, waking up early orwaking up at 5 am encourages
better sleep habits.
It encourages morning exercise.
If you like to exercise in themorning or wish you could
exercise in the morning, itcould help you do all those
things.
So if you don't have good sleephabits today, I assure you this
(08:13):
will force you to do it.
So I'll talk a little bit abouttips on how to do it.
But it's recommended that yougo to sleep at a certain time
and you're consistent about that.
And again, if you're not doingit today, knowing that you have
to wake up at 5 am in themorning, that's going to be in
the back of your mind as you'remaking decisions on how to spend
your time in the evening.
(08:34):
So it really helps you with ahealthier lifestyle.
And then the last benefit hereis reduce stress.
So this is especially true inmy case, where you know it just
really helps you start the dayand avoid feeling rushed.
And I can't tell you how manytimes where my alarm went off I
(08:56):
hit the snooze button.
I went back to sleep foranother 20, 30 minutes.
I woke up.
I thought I felt better.
I probably didn't.
And then I'm rushing to get tothe office or do the things that
I need to do and the whole dayfeels rushed.
And I'm telling you, for thelast 20 or so days that has not
(09:16):
been the case.
I get up at 5 am, I do thethings that I need to do and
then I get ready and I get outthe door.
Now I still could move a littlebit faster in the morning, so
I'm still kind of working onthat or prep a little bit better
the night before, but I don'tfeel like I'm always rushing to
get out the door or I didn'tfeel accomplished, kind of, in
(09:38):
the morning.
So those are some of the keybenefits of waking up early.
Now you may say, well, how do Ido that?
How do I get up early?
Because I've tried this beforeand it doesn't work and I assure
you, I've tried this before,I've tried this for years I set
the alarm and I ignore the alarmand I just go back to sleep.
So how can you wake up early,even if it's not 5 am?
(10:01):
So the first thing is you couldtake the approach of a gradual
adjustment so you could set yourwake-up time just a little bit
earlier, like 15 to 30 minutesearlier, every night until you
reach, you know, 5am.
I personally did not do that, Ijust wanted to just go cold
turkey, set my alarm for 5am andjust do it and just force
(10:22):
myself to get out of bed, whichhas been super hard because it's
winter.
You know, in the Northeast it'swinter, it's cold, it's dark,
so it's been super hard to dothat.
But for me, I'm just like I'mgoing to do a cold turkey and
then I'm just going to forcemyself to do it.
But if that's not the way youwork, if that's not how you
operate, you could definitelylook to set your wake up time 15
(10:44):
to 30 minutes earlier and untilyou get to your desired goal.
The next tip is to have aconsistent bedtime, so you want
to go to sleep and you want towake up around the same time
every day, even on the weekends.
So this was really interestingbecause, you know, when I first
started doing a little bit ofresearch and looking up the
(11:05):
benefits and the tips, one ofthe first things that I looked
at was, if I wake up at 5amevery day, let's say during the
week, do I need to do the samething on the weekends, because I
really, really want to sleep inon the weekends?
I don't want to get up at 5amon the weekends, and I'll tell
you what I'm so glad that Ididn't do that.
I'm so glad that I set the samewake up time every day for the
(11:29):
last 20 or so days, because thatput me into the routine.
We talked a little bit aboutthat 21 days versus 90 days and
building habits Absolutelyhelped me with my habits to wake
up at the same time every day.
I get downstairs, I go throughmy routine and I work on what I
need to do, and it gives me acouple of extra days to progress
(11:52):
on my goals, which are reallyimportant to me.
So if I set a different time onthe weekends which is, you know
, kind of what I used to do,maybe I still would get there.
Maybe it still would, you know,benefit me and I would still
build that habit.
But I feel like the bestexperience that you're going to
have is to kind of set that sametime every day and you'll just
(12:12):
be better for it.
Now I personally avoid latenights, and this is not new.
I feel like since my twins wereborn, I go to sleep when they
go to sleep, and now we're atthe point in time where I go to
sleep way before they go tosleep.
But I just started going tosleep, you know, just a little
bit early.
So I go to sleep maybe around930, 10 o'clock, definitely try
(12:34):
to get to sleep before 10o'clock.
So that's what I do.
So it's not as difficult for meto go to sleep at a reasonable
time, to get to seven to ninehours of sleep and then I wake
up at 5 am.
But I haven't had thoseopportunities or, say, those
situations where I have to stayup a little bit later.
(12:56):
So let's say I'm going out andI'm going to be out late, or
whatever the case might be, Ihaven't had that happen yet.
So, in full disclosure, in thelast 20 days I've been really
consistent with the time thatI've been going to bed.
So when that happens, it's justsomething I'm going to have to
deal with and be conscious of.
If I stay up late, I know, hey,I got to get up at 5 am in the
morning and maybe it's just onenight, so it's not terrible.
(13:18):
But that's something that Ihave to be conscious of and just
for something for you to thinkabout.
So don't feel like you can'tstay out late or do things late
at night.
But if you do it consistently,it's going to be really hard for
you to get the amount of sleepthat you need to get.
And this is not about sleepdeprivation or sleeping for less
than seven hours, or gettingfour hours of sleep and getting
(13:39):
up in the morning.
This is not about that.
So get the appropriate amountof sleep that you can get and
then wake up early and get onwith your day.
The next thing that I've gottenreally good at and I'm really
pleased about is preparing thenight before.
So just about kind of that 9,930, when my brain starts to
shut down anyway, that's thetime where I start to get
(14:01):
everything I need for the nextday.
So you know, most days for thelast three or four weeks I've
been going to the gym rightafter work.
So what I'll do is I'll justpack my clothes for the gym, I
get them in my bag and I'll justpack.
You know, just take out my workclothes and I'll just get
everything ready.
Because it's also like I said,it's winter and it's dark and I
(14:23):
don't want to be fumbling aroundin you know five, six o'clock
in the morning to get ready forwork.
So I start to just kind ofclean up and I take out
everything that I need for thenext day.
And there's certain things thatI'll just do in the morning as
I'm getting ready to get out thedoor.
But I'm sure it could be alittle bit more efficient about.
You know kind of how I prepare.
But that is one thing that'sreally important.
It's just prepare what you needthe night before.
(14:44):
Next is limit caffeine and anykind of screen time.
So I've done a lot better withcaffeine.
So I try not to have caffeinelate in the day.
Typically I'll have two cups oftea, which isn't terrible.
Some days I'll have a third cupof tea, and if I do that, I've
been drinking green tea insteadof black tea, which has a little
(15:06):
bit less caffeine, and thensometimes there's a little bit
of caffeine in kind of myworkout drinks or hydration.
So I get a little bit there.
But you know, really try toreduce the amount of caffeine or
at least have it not so late inthe day.
And then I really try not touse my phone.
But, like I mentioned to youbefore, like at night and in the
morning, I haven't been thebest at it.
(15:27):
So you know, my advice to youis to try to avoid it, although
in full transparency, it'ssomething that's been super hard
for me to do.
Next is, you know, use youralarm clock, and in the best
possible way.
So I know there's a lot of tipsout there on what to do with
your alarm clock.
You know, putting it across theroom and it's not any other.
(15:48):
I don't do any of that stuff.
But one thing that I don't doanymore is I don't snooze Like
that is just.
That's not going to help you.
The snooze button is not yourfriend.
You think it is.
You hit the snooze button, youget that, you know, additional
15 minutes and maybe 20 minutes.
It's not your friend.
So just try to avoid snoozingat all.
(16:08):
I felt a lot better when 5ammhits.
I wake up.
Now, there's been a couple ofmornings where I've kind of
dozed off a little bit and thengot right back up, so maybe like
five minutes or so, but what Ireally just try to do is just 5
am I just wake up, stretch and Ijust try to get out of bed as
(16:31):
quickly as possible to avoidgoing back to sleep or having to
hit that snooze button.
The next one is really importantand honestly, for me this was
the most important is to have amorning purpose.
So, whatever that reason is,whatever it is getting you out
(16:53):
of bed in the morning, that'swhat you need to be successful
here, out of anything else.
Because I assure you, if youdon't have that purpose or
you're not excited to do it,what's the first thing you're
going to want to do is to goback to sleep.
You're like I don't want todeal with that, I'm going back
to sleep.
So, whatever it is, have thatpurpose, be excited it, and
(17:14):
that's going to help motivateyou to get out of bed.
So again, whether it'smeditating, whether it's
journaling, whether it'slearning, whether it's exercise,
whatever it is, that's going toget you excited to get out of
bed and you could use thatlittle extra time in the morning
to do that.
That's going to be your morningpurpose.
So give that some thought.
(17:37):
And the next is expose yourselfto light.
So, whether it's natural lightor any kind of light, natural
light would be the best.
But again, if you're waking upat 5 am and it's in the
Northeast and it's winter,that's going to be hard to come
by.
But that's something that'sgoing to help you out versus
kind of walking around in thedark, because then your body is
going to still kind of think.
You're kind of in that sleepmode.
So those are some tips on howto wake up early.
(18:01):
Now.
For me it took a little bit toadjust Again, not as long as I
thought it was going to be.
I really thought that I wasgoing to be moody, cranky and
upset about doing this the lastfew weeks and it hasn't been
easy.
But I think I well adjusted toit and I feel really good.
So at the point of thisrecording, it's been about 21
(18:21):
days since I started and it cantake about two to four weeks to
adjust, you know, depending onyour sleep schedule.
And again, for me it wasprobably a little bit easier
because I was already going tosleep a little bit early.
So if you typically go to sleepa lot later and you typically
sleep in, it may not be assmooth of a transition for you.
(18:41):
And this is a case where youwant to gradually kind of make
those changes to go to sleep alittle bit early and then
earlier and then get up a littlebit earlier.
Now I've already talked aboutsome of the downfalls and
objections to what we're talkingabout here, which is to how to
wake up early.
And the first one is lack ofsleep.
(19:03):
And if you don't sleep earlyenough, go to sleep early enough
.
Waking up at 5 am can lead tosleep deprivation.
So for me, I'm okay because Igo to sleep around 9, 9.30.
I waking up at 5am can lead tosleep deprivation.
So for me, I'm okay because Igo to sleep around 9930.
I wake up at 5am.
My aura ring tells me how longI was in bed and how long I was
actually sleeping for, and it'sstill over seven hours Now.
I will say I do feel it like.
(19:24):
I do feel like gosh.
I really want and need a littlebit more sleep.
So there's some nights where Ijust go to sleep just a little
bit earlier, or maybe I take anextra rest day to give my body a
little bit more rest.
So just make sure that you'rebeing really conscious about
getting enough sleep.
Another downfall could be animpact to your social life.
(19:47):
So maybe you go out a lot atnight and it may just be hard to
do that if you're waking up at5 am.
So this is not a conversationto say just don't do that, just
ignore your social life anddon't go out late and don't do
this and don't do that.
It's really just a conversationabout, if you do it, just be
conscious of getting up at 5 amand just kind of working it into
(20:10):
your schedule so it's not afrequent thing and doesn't
disrupt you waking up early.
Now another thing to consideris this may not work for
everybody.
So I said in the beginning thatmy mind works best in the
morning and I always say that,and not everybody's like that.
So not everybody's a morningperson, which I wouldn't
consider myself a morning person.
(20:31):
I'm not necessarily thehappiest person in the morning,
but I'm definitely the mostproductive, so for me this works
out great.
This may not work for everybody.
So I'm saying I get up at 5 am,so maybe 5 am is not for you,
but maybe waking up just alittle bit earlier gets you that
jumpstart on the day that youneed.
(20:53):
The next kind of issue orpotential challenge is just your
energy level throughout the day.
So this is something that youneed to kind of manage and I
know myself pretty well.
So I know that even if I didn'twake up at 5 am, just right
after lunch is just not the besttime for me.
So I'm going to eat and I knowI'm going to get sluggish and I
(21:14):
know I've got a full day aheadof me.
So what I do is I normally havemy tea in the morning, so
typically around eight o'clock,eight, 8.30 is when I have my
tea, and then I will have tearight after lunch because I know
right after I eat is when Itake a dip.
So I have my tea ready to kindof keep me going and then, just
(21:34):
kind of depending on the day, Imight have a third cup of tea,
you know, mid afternoon, but Ireally try not to do that and I
also cut out all the sugar I putin my tea.
Like it's gotta be a reallyrough day for me to put sugar in
my tea, but it's something Iused to do all the time Three
cups of black tea, probably twospoons of sugar or two packets
of sugar right in every tea, andI just cut all of that out.
(21:57):
But I kind of know myself prettywell and that's kind of how I
time the caffeine and that'sbeen really helpful in getting
me through the day.
And then, you know, I mentionedit a few times just about the
winter right.
So you have dark, cold mornings.
It just makes it really hard toget up.
So one of the things that I dois I have hoodies, so what I do
is I just throw on my hoodie andI turn up the heat a little bit
(22:20):
and I just get reallycomfortable and that just kind
of helps me.
Knowing that I'm going to bewarm and comfortable that kind
of helps me get out of bedversus snuggling a little bit
more in the bed and not wantingto get up.
So those are just some of theyou know kind of challenges to
getting up early and those aresome of the things that I've
done personally.
That's helped me kind ofaccomplish that and waking up at
5am.
(22:42):
So you've heard me talk aboutall these things and you may be
like if Richard, does it have tobe 5am?
Like I don't want to get up at5am and the answer is no, it
doesn't have to be 5 am.
Like I don't want to get up at5 am and the answer is no, it
doesn't have to be 5 am.
Again, I've shared with you youknow why I do it.
I get up at 5 am, I work on myobjectives till 6, my priorities
(23:02):
until 6, and then I get readyto work and I try to get to work
by 7 or 7.30.
So that's my schedule.
So if you have a differentschedule and maybe you don't
need to get up at 5 am, maybeyou get up at 5.30 or 6 am and
even that gives you thatjumpstart on the day.
That's a winner right there.
(23:23):
So it's really about what'sgoing to work for you, but, more
importantly, having thatpurpose and being consistent
about the time that you get upand, of course, getting enough
sleep.
So that's the story I wanted toshare with you today.
You know, wake up early, evenif it's not 5 am.
Whatever, it is that kind ofworks with your schedule that
(23:46):
makes you more productive andhelps you reach your goals.
Productive and helps you reachyour goals.
Speaking of goals, make surethat you have that specific goal
or purpose that gets youexcited to get out of bed.
That for me, absolutelypositively.
The most important Next is bethoughtful about all the things
that can kind of get in the wayof a good night's sleep.
(24:06):
How late are you havingcaffeine?
How late are you eating dinner?
Are you having anything elsethat's going to kind of disrupt
your sleep?
So just really be intentionalabout those things and I know
life isn't perfect and so manythings get in the way.
But if you think about thesethings and prepare, you're going
to have a much betterexperience.
(24:27):
Better experience and, likeanything, it's going to be hard.
At first You're not going towant to do it.
You're going to come up withall the excuses as to why you
can't do it, why you don't wantto do it.
But I assure you that you'regoing to see the benefits of
doing that if you stick with itand you do it over time.
So that's the story I wanted toshare with you the benefits, the
(24:48):
tips and kind of what's beengoing on with me over the last
month about waking up early.
So I hope this was helpful foryou.
I'm really excited becauseFebruary it really kicks off
race season for me.
So I've got a couple of racesthis month that are important to
me, just because racesthemselves are important, but
also it's going to help me seekind of where I am fitness-wise
(25:11):
as I'm kicking off the year andthen help me kind of adjust my
training and my workouts and mymindset as I kind of go into the
year.
So I'm really excited to seehow I perform this month and
then we'll just kind of take itfrom there.
So I really hope you enjoyedthis episode.
I'd really love to hear fromyou.
So if you have tips on how youwake up early or how you kind of
(25:32):
manage your time, you know, gointo the show notes and there's
an option there to send me amessage.
I'd love to hear from you.
Or you can come to Instagramand inspire to run podcasts on
Instagram.
Send me a DM and just let meknow what are your tips, what do
you do, and I'd also love tohear what you're excited about
(25:59):
this year in terms of races,training or any of your goals.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So with that, I really hope you enjoyed this
conversation and I wish you agreat day.
That's it for this episode ofInspired to Run Podcast.
We hope you are inspired totake control of your health and
fitness and take it to the nextlevel.
Be sure to click the subscribebutton to join our community and
also please rate and review.
Thanks for listening.
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