Day 5: Make your plan stick

Make sleeping and waking up early a reward. Yes, it might seem at first that you’re forcing yourself to do something hard, but if you make it pleasurable, soon you will look forward to sleeping and waking up early. A good reward is to make a hot cup of coffee or tea and read a book. Other rewards might be a tasty treat for breakfast (smoothies! yum!) or watching the sunrise, or meditating. Find something that’s pleasurable for you, and allow yourself to do it as part of your morning routine.

Take advantage of all that extra time. Don’t sleep or wake up an hour or two early just to read your blogs, unless that’s a major goal of yours. Don’t wake up early and waste that extra time. Get a jump start on your day! It is good to use that time to get a head start on planning for the rest of the day, on exercising or meditating, and on reading. By the time 8 rolls around, you’ve done more than many people do the entire day.

Possible barriers and how to overcome it

The space between waking and sleeping can be an excellent time to contemplate life. But if you don’t really want to think or feel, this open space with no distraction and nothing to do can be intimidating. That’s why you can have a tendency to resist going to bed until you find yourself at the brink of exhaustion.

To help you not feel helpless when emotions bubble up, keep a journal by your bed. Then whenever something comes to your mind, write it down. Journaling not only helps you go to bed earlier because you’re not avoiding stillness but also can give you mental and emotional health benefits.

It would be perfect if you have already reflected your day and written the journal during the evening routine. This will certainly make you more relax when heading to bed.

Today’s checklist

The post Day 5: Evening Routine That Puts You In Sleep Early appeared first on Lifehack.

Source: Lifestyle