Wake Up Early – The #1 Method You Need

This is a very overdone and talked-about subject matter. A very simple case of how to get up early on time every day. It’s a topic I stumble across online when I’m not even looking for it – although to be fair Google is probably listening in to me and force-feeding it to my all too willing dopamine receptors.

But it’s become somewhat of a popular subject recently. I’m sure you’ve all heard of sleep cycles, circadian rhythms, the importance of getting up at the same time, differing chronotypes and so on and so forth.

If not, then I’d definitely recommend researching all of the above. It is incredibly useful information to know, and implementing what you find into your life can significantly benefit you. The book that introduced it all to me is “Sleep” by Nick Littlehales.

All of this is great stuff. But what I’ve never heard. Never managed to find out is how to get yourself to wake up at the same time everyday – without Fail!

The book does cover some very good advice: go outside when you wake up, have time set lights that turn on when you wake up, ensure you wake up at the end of a sleep cycle. But all of this is subject to failure. It’s not fool proof. When you wake up you’re relying on willpower to make yourself go outside. You’re relying on willpower to get yourself to bed at a time that will allow you to wake up at the end of a sleep cycle. You’re relying on actually being able to get to sleep at the time you want.

Some is within your control, some is completely out of it – in fact arguably almost all of it is out of it.

What you need is to wake up to a situation, in which by the time you have dealt with it, you either can’t get back to sleep, or you don’t want to go back to sleep.

My Struggle to Wake Up – The Beginnings of the Nuclear Method

It was university when I really came to accept the problem I faced with waking up on time. Admittedly, the near constant hangover for my first year didn’t exactly set me up for success. But at least I identified the problem and set about implementing a solution. I found the app Alarmy. It was brilliant and was my method for years to come.

You could set up Maths problems that you had to complete before you were able to turn the alarm off. You could even set it up so that you had to scan a bar code of a specific item to turn the alarm off. For example, you’d scan the bar code on a tin of beans, and then when you’re alarm went off in the morning you had to scan that exact bar code in order to turn it off.

In theory, this meant you could put the tin of beans on the other side of the planet and you’d have to get there to turn it off. In practice it wasn’t quite as effective as you’ll find out below…

The Loopholes

In my effort to get back to sleep as soon as possible when Alarmy went off, I found some issues with the system. Firstly your phone battery could die. When you’re drunk and tired, it’s quite easy to forget to plug this in. At the time the battery compartment was accessible, I was working with a galaxy S4 back then – so a simple battery removal broke the whole system. Other issues include, deleting the app, turning the phone off and so on.

I also had an issue where one time I was working my shift at the petrol station, where the  manager came out to the shop floor with my phone I’d left in the break room with a very puzzled look on his face and his attempts at completing the maths questions from Alarmy being shaken around in panic whilst the loudest alarm sound I could find on the app blared out. Embarrassing to say the least.

On Android, I believe Alarmy to be highly useful, as you now can’t easily access the battery in most phones, and it stops you from being able to turn off or delete the app until you have completed the necessary task you have set yourself. There is still the problem of the battery going dead though.

I however, have an iPhone and apparently apple make it so you must be able to delete the app. Rendering it now useless to me. I remember one time also looking up the barcode to a book I’d scanned on my laptop so I wouldn’t have to turn Alarmy off. Sound crazy? Believe me – I have been told as much many a time.

But such was my issue with waking up that all the above evolved until my strategy went analogue. You see I figured, technology you could fight with technology. But with the analogue method, the only way to beat it is physically (well technology could help if you had a lot of money and intelligence – but then you could probably afford to lie in).

How to Wake Up – The Nuclear Method

Very simply, the nuclear method is as such. 1 analogue alarm, 2 moneyboxes, Blue-Tac, and an outdoor space.

Using the popular sleep principles of sleep cycles, circadian rhythms, the power of waking up at the same time everyday, naps and more in conjunction with this method will all aid. That’s what they are though – aids. Not the way to get up early in my honest opinion.

1. Set your analogue alarm to the desired time. The reason for it being Analogue is because it will keep ringing until you turn it off. Most digital alarm clocks ring for 1 minute until it reaches the next minute from the time you set it for.
2. Put some blue-Tac near the button to turn the alarm off. This is to stop you from being able to turn the alarm off easily in the box by moving it around.
3. Put the alarm in one money box.
4. Close the box.
5. Put the key to the box containing the alarm in the other box.
6. Close that box.
7. Put the key to the second money box (containing the key to the first) somewhere difficult to find.
8. Place the second money box outside! Ideally in a difficult to reach spot so you are forced to stay outside in the daylight in order to open it. In the winter this is trickier, as it’s dark. But then you have the cold, and often wind and rain to wake you up.
9. Place the Moneybox with the alarm in by your bed and wait for it to go off.

This method is the closest I have come to a fool proof method to waking up. Is it effort? Yes. Is it crazy? Some may believe so. Does it get you out of bed for certain with very few loopholes or issues? It sure does.

The best thing about it is, one week of this method, and you’ll be close to setting yourself a new wake time. It won’t be long before you don’t actually need it anymore to get out of bed. Why rely on willpower when you can remove it from the equation entirely.

Not for the faint-hearted and ideally you need an accessible outdoor space to utilise. I am fortunate enough to have a balcony in the flat I am currently renting to utilise. I don’t think anyone has spotted me so far out in my boxers panicking to find my moneybox. They’re not up early enough anyway – suckers.

The Few Flaws to the Method

Nothing is perfect, and like all the other methods, this one is not without its flaws. My analogue alarm clock can only be set after 7pm in the evening. This is because it will go off AM or PM. Ideally I’d set it for the next day as soon as I turned it off.

Furthermore, if you have a partner, or family members you live with – they may not appreciate the early morning chaos. Especially if they’re of a different chronotype. So maybe get them on board with the idea first.

Enhancing the Method

The main reason I like this method is because it is scalable. You may think wtf do you need it to be scalable for? But I know I can’t be the worst at getting up in the morning in the world. There is someone out there who is worse than me. Someone who’s morning personality is more kniving and spiteful against their normal awake personality. For those people the answer is simple.

Add more money boxes.

More moneyboxes and more keys to find, until you can turn off your bloody alarm. By the time you’ve done it you’ll be so alert you could catch a thief.

Another option is using your phone as the alarm. Remember that app we talked about earlier – Alarmy. Set your alarm using that and then lock it in the box. Now you can’t delete the app or cheat a way of turning your phone alarm off – and additionally it stops you going on your phone before bed. Exposing yourself to blue light that keeps us awake and disrupts our circadian rhythms.

Why Bother and Isn’t This a Planning Blog?

Not my usual type of blog I’ll admit. But I thought it was important to share this method that has definitely changed my life for the better and helped me to stick to a consistent wake up time.

I am a big believer in getting up early. You get so much done before others are even up. You’re ahead of the game and I really have seen the benefit. It helps me stick to my morning routine – which allows me to get my key habits out of the way. By 9am I’m all done with the most important recurring goals and ambitions and still have the whole day ahead of me.

Getting up early has helped me to stick to the plans I set for myself. It puts you in the right frame of mind to start the day and ticking off 4 or 5 tasks early in the morning when there are no distractions makes me want to carry on as I started. Rather than waking up groggy and thinking – I’ll be productive tomorrow.

Feedback

If anyone starts to use this method please leave a comment letting me know if it has worked. I am always wanting to improve this method, that believe it or not has been honed over 2 years (more if you count my initial Alarmy days at Uni).

I know there will be even more flaws that I have not come across yet so please leave suggestions for improvements. My ultimate goal really is to leave no doubt about the fact you will be waking up in the morning at the time you desire.

Cheers,

Alex