I Woke Up At Four In The Morning Everyday For 30 Days
By: Jazz Parks
Tags: Self Improvement, Self, Life, Life Lessons, Inspiration

I Woke Up At Four In The Morning Everyday For 30 Days

“If you win the morning, you win the day” — Tim Ferris

Photo by David Zawila on Unsplash

I used to believe in this dogma: that we only have so much time in the day, generally not enough to do everything we want to do, which is why we limit what we can do in a full twenty-four hours.

Well, I call bullshit.

I’ve spent the last thirty days consistently waking up at four in the morning, and the benefits have been life-changing.

It wasn’t my idea, and it definitely wasn’t on purpose. You see, we had a baby, and to get our six hours of sleep, my wife and I decided to take shifts.

She’d feed the little one between eight in the afternoon to three in the morning, and I’d cover feedings from five to eleven. It was originally the other way around, but I got the morning shift last month. Great.

Except, it was great. I’ve put out over 100 pieces of work in the last thirty days, ranging from small brochures to 5,000-word articles. I’m even in the process of writing a new book.

Waking Up This Early Every Morning Forced Me To Spend Some Quality Time With Myself.

The best part for me about waking up so early is that everybody else is still asleep. Waking up at four in the morning for the last thirty days forced me to spend some quality alone time with myself. It gave me the time to ask those Big questions, focus on my vision, my why, the reasons behind doing what I do. It turns out, answering these Big life questions becomes a lot easier once you spend the time necessary to get to know yourself. I’ve learned so much about myself over the last thirty days; it’s been incredible.

“I think it’s very healthy to spend some time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person” — Oscar Wilde

I Plan Out My Morning In Advance

Getting up this early is one thing. Planning your day is another. The routine itself generally becomes a habit, but what are your top priorities for the day? Every morning I follow the same pattern, and then I’ll tackle my top three priorities for the day. It might look something like this,

Wake up, brush teeth, drink water

Meditate, yoga, chant

Pour coffee, read for thirty minutes

Top three priorities (ex. write one hour, clean car, finish task before work deadline)

The Best Part? Watching The Sun Rise.

I think the best thing about waking up so early is getting to see the sunrise. After tackling my top priorities, my favorite thing to do involves grabbing a big cup of coffee, sitting on the porch, and watching the birds chirp as the sun rises.

“The sunrise, of course, doesn’t care if we watch it or not. It will keep on being beautiful, even if no one bothers to look at it” — Gene Amole

The Biggest Takeaway

Waking up early, earlier than anyone else, gives you the time necessary to evaluate your goals, spend some alone time to ask quality questions, and then follow through on them. I can get so much done between four and eight in the morning; it’s incredible. I used to wake up around seven, play video games for a few hours, and then wonder where my day went. Now, I’m on top of my game.

Maybe four’s too early for you. I don’t blame you. Try waking up at five, or six, or start by setting your alarm back one hour more than usual. I also want to point out that I’m a night owl and used to get just as much work done in the evening. Whether you’re up by 4 am, or asleep by 2 — whatever works best for you.