When I was a small kid, I had to wake up around 8 to get to school on time. I used to wake up tired and groggy, and wanted to just crawl back into bed and sleep for another hour or two.
Yet at the weekend, I would jump out of bed before 6, excited and full of energy. Why? Because morning cartoons were on TV!
Have a reason for waking up
A great way to wake up excited and full of energy is to find your mission in life. Your purpose for existence. And then go, and take daily action to get closer to achieving it!
If you find a purpose big and exciting enough, it will pull you out of bed in the morning, and fill you full of energy better than a cup of coffee, yerba mate, and cocaine all together! (not that I have ever tried that)
But even if you haven’t found your mission yet, or aren’t working on any specific part of it right now, you can still wake up with a smile on your face.
Just find a fun and exciting thing to do, and plan it first thing in the morning!
One of the best productivity tips you’ll ever hear is doing the most uncomfortable thing in the morning. That’s great once you’ve woken up… but to get yourself to wake up, planning something fun and exciting works far better.
If you plan something boring and uncomfortable for your morning, you will wake up, and just pull the covers over your head, and pretend the world isn’t there. Or even go back to sleep.
If you plan a fun and exciting task for your morning, you’ll wake up, grin from ear to ear, yawn a loo-o-ong lazy yawn, stretch from head to toe like a cat, and then jump out of bed, and be off towards a new exciting day!
So what’s the exciting task you want to plan? That depends on you.
I personally love juggling. So if I had a tough day ahead of me tomorrow, I might decide to do some juggling first thing in the morning! That would get me out of bed and excited for the rest of the day 
Just pick something you love, and do it first thing in the morning. You’ll love the results.
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Free hugs challenge update:
In a few days, me and Simply Stephen will start a 90-day free hugs challenge. It will be very simple – a challenge to you, to go out with a free hugs sign giving out hugs to strangers, anytime within the next 90 days.
We’ll put up a website where you can tell others about your intentions, ask for tips, and share your experiences. The 90-day free hugs challenge is coming. Let’s share the love!
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Really great advice. Thank you! I hate waking up in the morning but you’ve made me think about it differently and I think tomorrow will be a totally different experience for me.
Positively Present’s last blog post..trust me: to be happy you need to trust
I have no problems with waking up in the morning, because I somehow just manage to not think about school or other uncomfortable things. Also the first thing I want to do in the morning is drinking some water and wet my face (makes you perfectly awake
) after that I couldn’t continue sleeping, even if I wanted.
Hey Vlad,
I definitely am a morning person which is really weird for alot of people. But I think you make some great points about passion. I’m probably one of the few people in my class who is looking for a job and up by 7:30am.
Srinivas Rao’s last blog post..The Comparative and Competitive Disadvantage
@PP:
Sweet! I hope it works for you
@Mike:
You’re a great example of one thing – there are many equally awesome ways to get up in the morning. Making the morning fun is one. Establishing a waking-up ritual (like you did), is another. Shazzam!
@Srinivas:
Yay! I’m also a morning person. High five!
Nice piece of advice! Another good advice would be to have a reason to get to bed on time instead of sitting till late night
@Pavlo:
Good advice. I should follow that more often myself
hey vlad,
your example of how when you were small you’d jump up to catch some cartoons was awwwsome
really like what you say about having a reason for waking up. soooo key. i find that if you decide to wake up, you don’t even need an alarm clock.
the power of purpose.
inspiring stuff
all the best
alex – unleash reality
I treated myself to some really nice smelling shower products which I only use first thing in a morning. So I get out of bed and into the shower which also gives me a kick for the rest of the day. Especially as the shower takes a good couple of minutes to warm up – nothing like cold water to start the day!
Kate’s last blog post..Animal, vegetable or mineral?
@Alex:
Oh yea, that’s another funny thing. Many times I decided to wake up really early (say, 6 am) for some compelling reason, set my alarm clock, went to sleep, and then woke up a few minutes before the clock.
The mind works in amazing ways
@Kate:
Great example. I sometimes finish showers by turning them ice-cold for a few moments. But I’m usually too frozen to take a full-blast cold shower in the morning
Awesome idea. Tomorrow I’m playing the drums first thing in the morning so I’ve got that to look forward to in order to get me awake.
good advice man! I use to go to a party thats always on tuesdays and i was having problems getting up for my lacture on wednesday morning. So now we meet with a classmate in the morning to get some breakfast and it really works, i’m quite able now to get up. (i’m not implying that we get to the lecture on time, but hey, better late than never, right? )
@Josh:
Don’t get so excited you’ll wake up at 6 am and start playing drums then
@Emperor:
Great example.
In fact, I just used this principle again this morning. I had a bunch of e-mails to wade through. But instead of scheduling that as first thing in the morning… I scheduled it second. I decided to juggle first thing in the morning. It got me up and started very nicely
i’m a little high, but after reading your text i’m very excited to begin a new day with a smile in the face and do everything that i want to;
Let’s fulfill our days people!