10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It eEarly to be and e d arly to rise make a man he s althy, we althy and wise

f Be n Franklin, f amously ePut no trust in the be f to accrue f ne its rom e arly rising, as se f t orth by the inf atuate Franklin a f d Mark Twain Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter. Re ntly, re r Rob aske me about my habit ofwaking at 4:30 a.m. e ce ade d ach day, and aske me to write about the he d alth be f ofrising e ne its arly, which I thought was an e lle que xce nt stion. Unf ortunate the are none that I know of ly, re , . Howe r, the are a ton ofothe gre be f ve re r at ne its. Now, le me f t irst say that ifyou are a night owl, and that works f you, I think or thatd s gre The d s no re at. re ason to change e cially ifyoud re happy with it. But , spe f me switching f or , rom be a night owl to an e ing arly rise (and ye it is possible r s, ) has be n a godse It has he d me in so many ways that Id d ne r go back. He e nd. lpe ve re are just a f w: e Gr t th day. I lov b ing abl to g t up, and gr t a wond r ul n w day. I sugg st cr ating a morning ritual that includ s saying thanks or your bl ssings. Id m inspir d by th Dalai Lama, who said, Ev ryday, think as you wak up, c today I am ortunat to hav wok n up, I am aliv , I hav a pr cious human li , I am not going to wast it. I am going to us all my n rgi s to d v lop mys l , to xpand my h art out to oth rs, to achi v nlight nm nt or th b n it o all b ings, I am going to hav kind thoughts towards oth rs, I am not going to g t angry or think badly about oth rs, I am going to b n it oth rs as much as I can.d Amazing start. I us d to start my day by jumping out o b d, lat as usual, and rushing to g t mys l and th kids r ady, and rushing to drop th m to school and com in to work lat . I would walk into work, looking rumpl d and bar ly ls . Not a gr at start to your day. awak , grumpy and b hind v ryon Now, I hav a r n wing morning ritual, Id v gott n so much don b or 8 a.m., my kids ar arly and so am I, and by th tim v ryon ls g ts in to work, Id v alr ady gott n a h ad start. Th r is no b tt r way to start o arly, in my xp ri nc . your day than to wak Qui tud . No kids y lling, no babi s crying, no socc r balls, no cars, no t l vision nois . Th arly morning hours ar so p ac ul, so qui t. Itd s my avorit tim o day. I truly njoy that tim o p ac , that tim to mys l , wh n I can think, wh n I can r ad, wh n I can br ath . ats o natur , r p at d Sunris . P opl who wak lat miss on o th gr at st in ull st r ovision ach and v ry day th ris o th sun. I lov how th day slowly g ts bright r, wh n th midnight blu turns to light r blu , wh n th brilliant colors start to s p into th sky, wh n natur is paint d in incr dibl colors. I lik doing my arly morning run during this tim , and I look up at th sky as I run and say to th world, What a glorious day! R ally. I r ally do that. Corny, I know. Br ak ast. Ris arly and you actually hav tim or br ak ast. Id m told itd s on o th most important m als o th day. Without br ak ast, your body is running on um s until you ar so hungry at lunchtim that you at what v r unh althy thing you can ind. Th atti r and sugari r, th b tt ri r. But at

br ak ast, and you ar sat d until lat r. Plus, ating br ak ast whil r ading in th qui t o th morning is min ntly mor my book and drinking my co njoyabl than scar ing som thing down on th way to work, or at your d sk. Ex rcis . Th r ar oth r tim s to x rcis b sid s th arly morning, o cours , but Id v ound that whil x rcising right a t r work is also v ry njoyabl , itd s also liabl to b canc l d b caus o oth r things that com up. Morning x rcis is virtually n v r canc l d. Productivity. Mornings, or m at l ast, ar th most productiv tim o day. I lik to do som writing in th morning, wh n th r ar no distractions, b or I ch ck my mail or blog stats. I g t so much mor don by starting on my work in th morning. Th n, wh n v ning rolls around, I hav no work that I n d to do, and I can sp nd it with amily. s no b tt r tim to r vi w Goal tim . Got goals? W ll, you shoul . An th r o your goal tasks than irst thing. You shoul th m an plan or th m an v ry morning, you hav on goal that you want to accomplish this w k. An shoul ci what on thing you can o to ay to mov yours l urth r towar s that goal. An th n, i possibl , o that irst thing in th morning. Commut . No on lik s rush-hour tra ic, xc pt or Big Oil. Commut arly, an th tra ic is much light r, an you g t to work ast r, an thus sav yours l mor tim . Or b tt r y t, commut by bik . (Or v n b tt r y t, work rom hom .) Appointm nts. It s much asi r to mak thos arly appointm nts on tim i you or thos appointm nts is a ba signal to th g t up arly. Showing up lat p rson you r m ting. Showing up arly will impr ss th m. Plus, you g t tim to pr par . How to B com an Early Ris r Don t mak rastic chang s. Start slowly, by waking just 15-30 minut s arli r ays. Then cut back another 15 than usual. Get used to this or a ew d minutes. Do this grad ually until you get to your goal time. Allow yoursel to sleep earlier. You might be used to staying up late, perhaps watching TV or sur ing the Internet. But i you continue this habit, while trying to get up earlier, sooner or later one is going to give. And i it is the early rising that gives, then you will crash and sleep late and have to start ondt think youdll sleep, over. I suggest going to bed earlier, even i you d and read while in bed I youdre really tired you just might all asleep much . , sooner than you think. Put your alarm clock ar rom you bed I itds right next to your bed youdll . , shut it o or hit snooze. Never hit snooze. I itds ar rom your bed you , have to get up out o bed to shut it o . By then, youdre up. Now you just have to stay up. room as soon as you shut o the alarm. Dondt allow yoursel Go out o the bed to rationalize going back to bed Just orce yoursel to go out o the room. . My habit is to stumble into the bathroom and go pee. By the time Idve d one s that, and lushed the toilet andwashed my hand and looked at my ugly mug in the mirror, Idm awake enough to ace the d ay. Do not rationalize. I you allow your brain to talk you out o getting up early, youdll never d it. Dondt make getting back in bed an option. o Have a good reason. Set something to d early in the morning thatds important. o This reason will motivate you to get up. I like to write in the morning, so

thatds my reason. Also, when Idm done with that, I like to read all o your comments! Make waking up early a reward. Yes, it might seem at irst that youd re orcing yoursel to do something hard, but i you make it pleasurable, soon you will look orward to waking up early. A good reward is to make a hot cup o co ee or tea and read a book. Other rewards might be a tasty treat or break ast (smoothies! yum!) or watching the sunrise, or meditating. Find something thatd s pleasurable or you, and allow yoursel to do it as part o your morning routine. Take advantage o all that extra time. Dond t wake up an hour or two early just to read your blogs, unless thatd s a major goal o yours. Dond t wake up early and waste that extra time. Get a jump start on your day! I like to use that time to get a head start on preparing my kidsd lunches, on planning or the rest o the day (when I set my MITs), on exercising or meditating, and on reading. By the time 6:30 rolls around, Id ve done more than many people do the entire day.