How I did it: I used to spend every last possible second in bed.  My snooze hand seemed to operate independently of the rest of my body so that I barely even knew that my alarm had been going off for 45 minutes.  I would wait until the last second, fall out of bed, sleepwalk through getting dressed and walk out the door, barely awake and certainly not refreshed and ready for the day ahead.

A couple of months ago I started doing The Artist's Way, which involves writing "morning pages".  Every day I wake up and write three pages in my journal, which necessitated waking up on time.  Since I enjoy my morning writing ritual, it gives me something concrete to wake up for every day, rather than simply the usual impetus of having to go to work, which is not a good enough reason to get me up.  Now I don't normally hit snooze more than once, and I get to work earlier than I used to.

Lessons & tips: Find something to wake up for, something that you can do right away.  Do yoga, go outside and stretch, make a nice breakfast, whatever you enjoy.  I think the main point is to create a morning ritual that is rewarding.

I also find that it's important to ease yourself into wakefulness.  My morning usually starts with me groping around for the alarm switch and then groping around for my journal.  I lay on my pillow and write, sometimes I even doze with my face on the page.  But after a few minutes I become gradually more alert and it gives me a built-in way to wake up slowly.

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Jul 29, 2010, 07:28PM PDT | 0 comments | 8 cheers