Sure-Fire Method for Waking Up With The Alarm and Staying that Way.

July 8, 2008

We see it in our everyday culture. In our universal remote controls, our drive-thru restaurants, our house cleaning robots. It came on the wave of the future our grandparents dreamed of. It is the plague of laziness. We are all, Americans most frighteningly, growing lazier. Why else would we invest millions of dollars every year into the purchasing, producing and researching of new alarm clocks? We constantly seek out something else that will wake us up because the last thing we bought just can’t do the job. The problem is that we can’t get out of bed and stay that way.

I’m not about to tell you that you have to wake up at 5am, but being able to get out of bed to stay is a skill everyone should have. And “staying” is the real problem. It isn’t waking up, it’s STAYING up, which is why we haven’t yet invented the perfect alarm clock. The problem has nothing to do with alarms and what they can do. Sometimes it’s a lack of self discipline. Sometimes it’s a lack of desire or need. If you have no reason to be up at 5am, convincing yourself that a few more hours of sleep is a bad idea is going to be impossible. If you just despise the idea of being up that early, then there isn’t enough self discipline in the world to make you do it every morning. Before you worry about whether or not you have enough self discipline, worry about whether or not you need, or even want, to wake up as early as you’re attempting.

This is also putting aside all of the more practical reasons why it’s hard to get up with the alarm, such as sleep deprivation. Modern man is almost constantly sleep deprived due to that wave of the future I mentioned earlier. But it’s surprising how many people stay awake until four in the morning and want to wake up at eight. Get it straight now, it ain’t gonna happen, at least not with any sustainable regularity, which is really what you’re after.

Anyone can wake up with their alarm once. It’s takes real discipline and clarity of mind to do it every time, without fail.

But that it’s hard is nothing new. The reasons it’s hard are nothing new. So what’s so new about my method? Well for one thing, it works. Every time. Without fail. For another thing it is a sure-fire way to build your self discipline in every thing you do in your daily life. Be it working, finding more time in the day, running errands. Whatever you need to get done, this method will help you develop the strength and presence of mind to do it without hesitation.

The Method:

1. Put the alarm clock all the way across the room (in the other room if you can manage it and still wake up). I know this part is nothing you haven’t heard before, but it’s an important step, you MUST get up and walk all the way across the room to turn off your alarm.

2. Set the alarm for WELL before you have to start getting ready. You do not want to rush this process. Give yourself at least 30 minutes. If it takes less than that, good for you, you gained half an hour. But who knows, you might need more. Set yourself up for success. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.

3. Once you’re up and at your alarm, stand there. THIS IS THE HARDEST PART. Don’t move. Don’t think. Don’t try to do anything for right now. Just STAND.

What destroys most people’s will power in the morning is trying to make decisions too early. You’re not in your right mind in the morning so don’t try to be. You know that if you try to think, you’ll talk yourself back into bed so don’t let yourself get that far. Just stand there and focus all your attention on standing there.

If you must do something just repeat to yourself a simple mantra like, “don’t move, don’t move, don’t move,” or “stand up, stand up, stand up.”

4. Do nothing else until your head clears, THEN make your decision as to whether or not to get up for good. You may still feel tired, but you’ll be in your right mind. This may take 30 seconds, it might take 30 minutes. Just keep standing until the numb sensation in your limbs and your brain goes away for good, THEN go about your day.

Believe me, this works. It works because you are not trying to ask anything of your tired and disoriented mind. Thoughts like, “I need to get up and workout,” are doomed to failure because that is too complicated and unpleasant a task for so discombobulated a mind to follow. “Stand up,” however, is easy.

Not to mention that standing there and not going back to bed will be hard for only a few seconds. I have never experienced the pain or discomfort of standing still for more than maybe ten seconds on a bad day. That’s it. The pain literally dissipates by the second. So with every passing tick of the clock your ease will grow exponentially, as will your self discipline.

That’s it, just stand there. I do this every morning. All you have to do is stand there in one place and zone-out until you come back to yourself. What could be easier? Does it take some self discipline? Yes, but everyone has enough to do a task this simple and doing this every morning will help grow that discipline greatly. It’s an easy place to start, why not start now?

Posted in Being Proactive, Determination, Featured, Goal Setting, Happiness, Motivation, Self Improvement, Success, The Mind