How in the World Do People Get Up Early?
My quest to find the secret.
[Part of “The Interviews” — Topics by You, Written about You]
I am the worst at waking up early.
I once tried to turn off my alarm across the room, and my entire left side was still asleep. As soon my left foot hit the floor, so did the rest of me. It felt like someone hit slo-mo mode as I flailed helplessly for that clock only to fall painfully short. I’ve fallen for the snooze button.
The thing is, I really do want to wake up early! I just can’t figure out how.
To find the answer, I decided to ask someone who knows a lot about mornings.
Let me introduce you to Abbie (Abbie Joy Womack).
Abbie is one of my best friends, and I’ve known her for over 19 years (I promise the math works out, we’re also sisters). Ever since I can remember, Abbie has been up before me at the crack of dawn.
According her husband (Skyler Womack), Abbie will work out, shower and then crawl back in bed before he’s even awake enough to notice. One of her old roommates, Bailey, told me she never figured out how Abbie could get up so early and then curl up on the couch to read the Word without falling back asleep.
Abbie knows a lot about waking up early. So we hopped on Face-time to talk about it.
Q: When did you start waking up early?
Abbie: “I honestly think I came out of the womb waking up early, although it’s kind of hard to remember what time I woke up when I was like a year old haha.”
Q: Why do you wake up early?
Abbie: “For me, the morning sets the tone for my day. The morning is the best time for me to connect with God, and I started not checking my phone (social media, news, emails) until I do that. Spending time with the Lord focusing on eternal things sets the tone for my day at the start.”
Q: How did you develop a sustainable habit of waking up early?
Abbie: “Some of it is just natural to me, but the other part is that going to bed early is the secret to getting up early. Knowing how much sleep you need is important. I also worked to find things I really enjoy doing in the morning and put them on my schedule. When I enjoy doing something and make it a routine, it makes it a lot easier. The less decisions I make in the morning, the better.
Q: What is your craziest/funniest waking up early story?
Abbie: One time in college, I was rooming with a girl named Kelsey. She and I are complete opposites, and she would stay up until all hours of the night. She even had a headlamp that she would read with while I went to bed! One morning, I got up at my usual 5:30 AM, and Kelsey was literally just then going to bed. In that moment, we made eye contact with each other and both of us thought the other person was out of their mind!
Abbie is a waking up early legend, in part because she apparently “came out of the womb” that way (collective eyeroll). So I asked her and Vernon Burger (another renowned morning person) about what tips they had for all of us who missed out on that. Here’s what they said:
Abbie: “If you want to wake up early, it’s not as much about self-discipline as you think. The thing is, the people who seem to have self-discipline don’t really have more willpower than you do; it’s just that they have built strong habits. Those habits make it so that you don’t have to decide every morning whether or not you’ll wake up or workout or spend time with the Lord; you just do it because it’s a rhythm.”
Vernon Burger: “Never hit the snooze button. When your alarm goes off, put your feet on the floor. I’m not someone who just can’t wait to jump into every day, and sometimes my first thought is, “It’d be great to sleep more”. But, I’ve learned that I don’t have to live into each thought I have. When I recognize a negative thought (like not wanting to get up), I can turn it on its head by choosing to do the opposite and putting one foot in front of the other. Waking up early helps ground me and enables me to accomplish things I intend to do.”
Practical Tips
From talking with morning people and from my own trial and error (mostly error), here are three quick and practical tips to help you wake up early:
- Don’t hit the snooze button.*
According to AmeriSleep and SleepNumber, when you hit snooze, your brain starts a new sleep cycle (those last 75–90 minutes) only to be woken up 10 minutes in by the second alarm. It can take up to 4 hours for your brain to be ready for full processing and attention after being interrupted this way (YIKES). Unless you take a cold shower every morning, we should all stop hitting the snooze button.
2. Create a routine.
Abbie says she normally gets up, makes coffee, works out and spends time with the Lord. I’ve started setting out my workout gear (tennis shoes, water, backpack, earbuds) the night before, as well as sleeping in my workout clothes so it eventually becomes a habit of mine (it’s 100% still in progress!).
3. Put your phone out of reach.
In order to stop hitting the snooze button and to keep yourself from scrolling through social media or texts before bed (which makes it harder to fall asleep right away), try plugging your phone in across the room. It will force you to get out of bed to turn off your alarm, making you less likely to turn around and jump back in bed!
Waking up is hard, and I of all people know it really well. But I also know that waking up early can give us time to do things that are important to us-whether it’s working out, eating a great breakfast, or spending time reading or praying. I’m convinced that when we work to build healthy habits, we create space for the Spirit to mold us and change us into people who look more like Jesus. So next time you’re setting your alarm or turning it off, think about how those morning people do it by just doing it. We’ve got this.
See you in the morning?
-Rachel
A huge thanks goes to Abbie Joy Womack, Skyler Womack, Bailey Winters, and Vernon Burger for Face-timing, texts and calls to make this piece happen!
*Credit to Raegan Cantu for the pro tip about the snooze button!
What did you think? If you have any feedback, questions or would just like to talk, I’d love to connect with you! Feel free to DM me on Instagram (@rachel_madden99), Twitter (@rachel.madden11), or on Facebook! I can’t wait to hear from you!
