Before I get started, I just want to say: No, I have not read that “5am club” book. Maybe I should though.
Lately, I have been trying to wake up a few days a week at 5am to go to the gym before my 8am – 5pm desk job. I don’t sleep well as it is, so the thought of losing out on another hour seemed preposterous. Before actually doing it, I spent several months (or maybe more, frankly) mulling the idea and talking with friends about it. It sounded really good in theory, but I could never muster up the courage to at least try. I’ve realized recently that the most important thing you can do is exactly that. Try! Just because I wake up one day to go to the gym early, it doesn’t mean that I have to do it several days a week forever. It just means I am going to do it once. Just try it out and see what happens.
The idea that was holding me back the entire time was the limiting belief that I would not be able to do it consistently. That was fully holding me back, because when I told myself the limiting belief, It indirectly eliminated any chance of me even doing it once. I subconsciously made the correlation that because I didn’t think I could do it consistently, that I can’t do it at all. Why do people wake up at 5am, you may ask? The above discovery is exactly why. You learn alot about yourself when you wake up earlier than the general public and have time to yourself to do whatever you, and only you, choose to do.
It wasn’t just the idea of waking up before the crack of dawn that made me less than disinterested, it was also the idea of going to bed earlier. To wake up at 5am feeling rested and energized (for those of you who are lucky enough to experience this after any amount of sleep), the average person would need to go to bed at 9pm. That’s 8 hours of sleep. But if you think about it, to actually be asleep from 9pm – 5am, one would likely need to get in bed by 8:45pm, and get ready for bed by 8:30pm. For someone who works until 5pm and has a short commute, that’s a pretty short evening. What about someone who has an hour commute? Or even longer than that?
Beyond that, in today’s day and age, you are likely missing out on a lot of social time between 8:30pm and 11pm, regardless of the day of the week. A large portion of people in their early 20s go to bed that early, so those who wake up at 5a will seemingly always be turning stuff down, whether that is going to bars, facetime with a friend, or watching tv with roommates. If I know I am waking up at 5am, the latest I end up going to bed is around 9:30p or 10p so that I will get enough sleep still. For what it’s worth though, as I have been doing it, I really don’t feel as if I am “missing” out on anything. I still go out, I still see my roommates and I still talk to Friends. It can be done.
That in itself is a very important concept though – intention. Waking up at 5am starts the night before, with intention. Has it ever happened to you where you know that you have to wake up early in the morning for something important, and your body will automatically wake up like clockwork sometime before your alarm? Subconsciously, your body knows that it needs to (and has the intention to) wake up early. This is where I feel like habits and routines come into play, specifically with a bedtime and morning routine. & No, I have not read “Atomic Habits” yet either; although, I did order it and it came in the mail today.
The biggest lesson that it has reinforced in me so far is that I am the sole person who controls the direction of my life and that nobody can or will do it for me but me. One morning, my alarm went off at 5am and I was not having it. I slept poorly, it was freezing, it was pitch black, and another hour of sleep sounded great. I changed my alarm till 6:15a and laid there. As I tried to fall asleep, I started to realize that nobody was going to make me get up for the gym but me. Something came over me and I realized that change would never happen unless I took the first step. I couldn’t keep thinking that I would do it in the future, a future that would just consist of me continuing to not take action. I got up, turned on the light, and got ready for the gym.
I’ve heard that making your bed in the morning upon waking up gives the brain a sense of accomplishment and direction for the day. I feel that sense of pride upon waking up at 5am and I feel it again when I make my bed right after! That sense of pride and well-being continued to carry on through my work day and although I was pretty worn out by the time I got back from work, I began to not only enjoy the gym, but I began enjoying waking up early to do it. Remember when I said that I put off waking up at 5am for so long because I felt like I couldn’t do it consistently? Well, after a week or two, I began to enjoy it and it became a routine without me even realizing. It became something that I wanted to do.
I want to make sure to point out that it is still beneficial to wake up that early even if you are not going to the gym. I have done it to enjoy an hour of quiet reading and/or journaling in the morning. To cook an extra nice breakfast, to read up on the news or take a class, or even to tidy up my room. I still felt the same sense of peace, pride, and accomplishment.
So that’s that I guess. If you made it this far, first, why? Second, just try it. Whatever it is that you keep saying you’ll try tomorrow, the thing that you don’t believe you can commit to, that thing that you are too tired to do. Do it, just once. See how you feel. Maybe you’ll end up doing it again.
Matt Morrow 