I simply cannot make myself get out of bed with any level of consistency if I turn the alarm clock off while laying down. Sometimes I wake only enough to perform the task of turning off the alarm and then fall asleep in mere seconds as soon as my arm return to the bed. The desire to sleep is so strong that I recall instances where I would have a mental dialogue telling myself that I will reach over, turn it off, wait 10-15 seconds for my body to wake up, and then get out of bed. That was the goal anyway. What actually happened was that I would fall asleep while in mid-mental-conversation, awakening suddenly half an hour or more later (sometimes hours) mid-sentence.
About a month ago I decided to make one small change – I moved my alarm clock (my cell phone) far enough away from my bed that I would have to get out of bed to turn it off. This simple hack fixed a major problem that has plagued me for years – waking up at a consistent time. Now, at 6:30 am, my alarm clock goes off, I get up and turn it off, and I walk out of the bedroom. My waking up problem has been solved.
The waking up hack of moving my phone away from my bed solved the problem with a nearly 100% success ratio. If I allow myself to sit back down on the bed, I am more likely to lay back down, which in turn makes me more likely to fall back asleep. The only way to get the results that I want are to wake up, walk to the alarm clock, and then walk out of the room.
Now… I need to figure out how to go to bed at a consistent time. Meeting that goal will be the primary focus of this project.
