I Started Waking Up at 4:30 am: The results were Shocking

I Started Waking Up at 4:30 am: The results were Shocking

“Mr. Cook uses the VERY early morning hours to reply to emails at home in a timely manner to help keep business running smoothly. He then takes advantage of his early start to head to the gym and enjoys a cup of coffee before heading into the office.”

I am a Morning person or at least I like to believe that I am. I had my shares of difficulties while waking up at 4:30 AM! and process like a human being. Now, it’s been more than a couple of weeks since I have managed to wake up VERY early and can share my fair share of results with you all. The results were shocking to me as I never imagined that just couple of extra hours in the morning can open up to so many opportunities. Things that were quite a struggle to balance in the past were easy to tackle now, let’s dive into the results that came up!

Why I started Waking Up at 4:30 am in the morning:

1.     Less time: I always use to crib about not having enough time for my exercise, my morning routine, my healthy eating habits etc, knowing that I desperately needed to change the things up. I was waking up barely an hour early before work and rushed to get myself together for the day.

2.     Sleeping Disorder: Even after long day of work I was have difficulties falling asleep at night and spent hours surfing aimlessly scrolling social media and eventually wasn’t able to wake up early the next morning and the cycle repeated itself. I was not at all happy with my sleeping pattern.

3.     Mood Fluctuations: I knew I can do better and have done it in the past as well. Me being ignorant to the messy and chaotic life I was living made me more frustrated throughout the day.

4.     Bad Habits: Waking up late lead to me rushing out of the door and barely grabbing anything to eat from home. I was constantly practicing unhealthy eating habits which made me put on weight and it all added to more of my grogginess throughout the day.

5.     Was Not Productive: More than my intelligence or will I was driven by my mood, my emotions. Though I was not comfortable lying on the couch and scroll for endless hours but I still was doing it. I use to waste time by finding excuses of not doing anything.

Results: Waking Up at 4:30 A.M.

I am so excited to show the transformation that I have gone through. Sure, It was not easy but it was all worth it as it has made me a person who always strive for better and be productive!

1.     More Energy: First 2-3 days felt like hell waking up that early but the grogginess lasted only for a few minutes. Once I collected my thoughts and reviewed why I was doing all this, it was easy to move ahead. From 4-5 day, it was more like not breaking the chain due to laziness because now I was quite comfortable and successful in pushing myself out of the bed. I had time to exercise and there was no excuse why I shouldn’t, I had a lot of time to invest in my own self. This had a huge impact on my energy levels throughout the day!

2.     Self-Time: I had time to read, journal and dump my thoughts out on the paper and have a fresh outlook for my day. I sit down everyday and spend 10 minutes on reviewing my day before starting it.

3.     More Productive: This was a game changer for me, I was doing so much in a day! Not that I was crashing everything I did but whatever I did in a day had a satisfactory outcome to it. I use to set my 3 priorities for the day and majority of the time I was able to ace them!

4.     More Organized: I always make my bed after waking up to kill the urge of getting back into it. This simple habit made me so happy as when I use to return from work, tired and saw my bed made. I had more time to away the things that I was using on a daily basis because usually clutter happens when you ignore the simplest things. Having extra 5 minutes to keep away the dishes, to have a fast cleaning session once a day are the little things that makes the things around you more organized.

5.     Uninterrupted time: The best thing that I loved about waking up that early is to have the most quite hours of the day. No phone calls, no messages to reply to, no disturbance in the house, I can peacefully sit down, make a cup of coffee and read or review my day.

6.     Improved Mental Health: Earlier, due to the rush all  day I didn’t paid attention to any type of mindful practice but I knew that I was having a hard time by not giving much importance to my mental peace. Each day I start with a 10 minute mindful meditation and I have seen tremendous improvement in my mood, my mental health, my focus and overall performance throughout the day.

7.     Dress Up!: I always believed in dressing up and slaying the day and always use to live by this mantra in my early college years. As the work load increased, the mantra faded away and I was quite trapped in rushing from one point to the other. Waking Up early provided me with the time frame to dress up and get myself together for a wonderful day.

I know this might look a lot to many of you, but honestly, it’s not! These are the most basic steps you can incorporate in your life to have healthy and happy state of mind! So, Don’t forget to make your own morning rituals while waking up early!