The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

How to Get Up at 5 AM every day ?

CareCPA

Platinum Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
356%
May 2, 2017
976
3,479
35
Pennsylvania
Hey guys , I want to increase my discipline .

Just asking what is the best way for you to wake up at 5AM every day ?

Is it motivation your main thing that wake up you and what ?
My method:
Step 1: Set alarm clock
Step 2: Get up when alarm clock goes off.

I understand that others have difficulty with Step 2. I'm actually interested to hear answers since I have other areas in my life I would like to increase my discipline with, and I have a feeling some of the answers will be easily transferable.
 

Nikkiahmet

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
152%
Jun 25, 2017
21
32
41
cyprus
I think setting a sleeping time each night for routine, and only setting 1 alarm!
People tend to set numerous alarms every 5 minutes and i think this might be the problem with not getting out
of bed straight away because people want to carry on sleeping.

upload_2017-6-26_21-24-39.jpeg
Here are five simple tips for waking up early:
  1. Go to sleep earlier. Seriously. ...
  2. Decide your goals the night before. Before you close your eyes, decide what you want to accomplish by waking up early. ...
  3. Do not hit snooze! Whatever you do, do not hit the snooze button. ...
  4. Shower (And get ready for the day). ...
  5. Treat yourself.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

c_morris

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
344%
Oct 30, 2016
474
1,632
51
Nova Scotia, Canada
An alarm clock.
That helps, but you also need something to do, otherwise the snooze button gets worn out and the next thing you know it's noon!!
Start small. Before you go to bed, identify something that needs to get done. It can be anything. Develop the habit of waking up and immediately doing something.

Also, go to bed at a decent hour. Waking up at 5am is way easier on 6 - 8 hours of sleep vs. 3 - 5.
 

Nikkiahmet

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
152%
Jun 25, 2017
21
32
41
cyprus
Hahahaha sorry your first sentence made me giggle :) :)

Maybe try this lol..
Current wake-up time: 5:00 AM
Goal: 4:45 AM
Tomorrow: 4:29
Two days later: 4:28
Another two days later: 4:27

Then as the weeks continue you will start getting into routine of waking up 15 minutes earlier each day.
 

mike24601

Consumption Bear
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
267%
Apr 8, 2017
195
521
Illinois
I place my alarm clock on the other side of the room so that I have to physically get up and turn it off. There are some interesting clocks on the market .. one of my favorites has a little toy flying spinner that shoots up into the air when the alarm goes off. You have to get up and find it, then place it back in its cradle before you can silence the alarm. Other than that, fear is what gets me up. I am terrified of being late to work and losing my job so I tend to get up without trouble. And I tend to have some very early wakeup times...even 2 am sometimes.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

NC_Carlos

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
206%
Jun 19, 2017
17
35
Somewhere in the Matrix
In additional to what @Nikkiahmet and @cmor16 said

- Set up an alarm for you to go to bed (I currently do this. It is my go to bed alarm and goes off at 9:45pm).
- Minimize anything that will keep you awake (no music or tv. If you need tv put on something boring)
- Be persistent. If you keep missing 5am don't beat yourself up. Just acknowledge you didn't get up and try again tomorrow. It will take some time to get in the habit of waking up early.
 

amp0193

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
444%
May 27, 2013
3,639
16,159
United States
Hey guys , I want to increase my discipline .

Just asking what is the best way for you to wake up at 5AM every day ?

Have 2 kids under 2 years old.

I get to work between 4-5 every day. No alarm clock needed.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

RedKiteKid

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
107%
May 29, 2017
44
47
38
UK
When the alarm goes off count down from five and get out of bed. The first five minutes you'll feel like death but you soon wake up and realise that the extra time you get in the mor ing is much more productive than the same amount of time after a day at work. Soon youll be waking up at 6am on the weekend without an alarm. And youll feel good about it.
 

GastonEE

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
71%
Jun 16, 2017
38
27
37
Estonia
In all seriousness it's not as hard as you might think. It takes a little bit of time but eventually you will get used to it. The main problem here is when you plan to go to bed. Assuming that you want to have a healthy 7-hour sleep every night, it will require you to go to bed at 10 PM. Not many people are comfortable/can afford to do that.
 
G

GuestUser450

Guest
Change your "why".
You have to tie it to something deeper than just wanting to be more disciplined.

For example:
I need to get up earlier.
Why?
To be more productive.
Why?
To make a better life for myself and my family.
Why?
Because they make life worth living and if I were to fail them I'd be nothing.
Waking up early just got real.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Farkry

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
207%
Nov 12, 2015
14
29
45
Near London, UK
Hey guys , I want to increase my discipline .

Just asking what is the best way for you to wake up at 5AM every day ?

Is it motivation your main thing that wake up you and what ?

I managed to pull this of for about 3 years then it slipped when I had a baby. I'm trying get back on it now, here's how I did it the first time.
1. Set the alarm in my room to go off at 5.
2. Set the really loud alarm in my living room to go off at 5:05.
3. Got a coffee machine with a timer which starts brewing at 4:55 + have the mug ready to go.

That and the fact that I got some long streaks with my morning run kept me motivated.

I suggest just trimming 30 minutes off your normal wake up time as you build up but don't really take longer than a week to do it.
 

blackbrich

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
127%
Apr 23, 2015
96
122
34
Southeastern USA
I recently started getting up at exactly 5:20 am everyday. This is how I did it.
  1. Set alarm for 5:20
  2. Sit up in bed and go through my phone until I am fully awake
important notes: I tried this before and made no progress because there was nothing I actually needed to do to warrant being up that early. This time I work out for an hour, then do something related to my business for an hour before my job.

I also get up at this time on the weekends to stay in rhythm. No matter what I've done the night before, I wake up at 5:20 at least. I can always take an early morning nap if the previous Friday/Saturday was too hectic.

Get a concrete reason (not I'm going to do "business stuff") to get up, set alarm, get up.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

JAJT

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
549%
Aug 7, 2012
2,970
16,306
Ontario, Canada
The most important thing IMHO is having a good reason to get up that early.

If you are just bullshitting yourself into thinking it's a good idea because successful people do it but you really have no plan for your morning, you'll fail.

There are excellent techniques for how to help wake up best but they'll all fail you unless you have a reason to be up that early that you believe in.
 

Lex DeVille

Sweeping Shadows From Dreams
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
597%
Jan 14, 2013
5,351
31,935
Utah
Why would anyone want to get up so late? Miss half the damn day.

Go to bed earlier. No alarm clock. Wake up earlier.

That's my recipe. No charge. :cool:
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Duane

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
286%
Jul 23, 2015
339
969
30
Lakeland FL
Do you really want to get up at 5 am? If you really wanted to get up at 5 am, you'd do it no problem.

I see all these daily ritual posts about waking up early and what not, but I'll be honest, 5 am just sounds dreadful. Aren't we pursuing this path so we can do what we want, when we want to?

I wake up at 8-9 am everyday and my productivity is just fine. I tried that 6 am morning ritual stuff, but I function way better if I wake up at 8 am, get to work, and then after I'm done working, I go workout and do my daily reading at night before sleep.

Different people function in different ways, I think the better approach is to find how you function best and stick to that plan or else your 5 am plan isn't going to last that long if you're already struggling to wake up.

This all changes if you have family/kids of course. I'm single, so I don't have to deal with screaming kids at night and giving my wife attention before she goes to sleep.
 
Last edited:

Strider

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
71%
Apr 10, 2016
31
22
South Europe
Well, I've been getting some work done in terms of studying (exams time) even though I had shitty discipline before. My habit is:

- Make a draft of what you next day will be like. What are you going to do, at what hours (in particular the first thing you want to accomplish).

- Go to bed earlier than usual. You might not fall asleep but stay there, read maybe, don't use electronic devices. If you don't know how much to sleep, try this sleepyti.me bedtime calculator

-Have the alarm set for 5AM. Once it rings just jump out of the bed no shitty excuses. I usually take my cold shower then if my parents aren't home. If they are at least I wash my face. Maybe do a few jumps, get the blood moving and wake up. Go have breakfast... freaking important. And then at the set time (I usually put it 15/20min after waking up) go work. I've been using the pomodoro technique (with some changes) to get stuff done but that's up to you.

Really important to know what you have to do so you don't get stuck into planning and procrastination. If you feel sleepy get up anyway, either it's just laziness or you use that to go to sleep earlier the next time. Finally, eat the goddamn breakfast, seriously. It's going to fuel your day, eat something.
 

Ika

Busy Idiot
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
344%
Aug 9, 2016
271
933
Germany
The most important thing IMHO is having a good reason to get up that early.

If you are just bullshitting yourself into thinking it's a good idea because successful people do it but you really have no plan for your morning, you'll fail.
This!
Earlier this year I created a bullshit thread about "getting up at 6 to regain control of my life".
Read it here to have a chuckle.
I did not really have a reason to get up, so naturally it did not work.

And now I get up at 6 every day, with no problem.
Because I have enough important shit to do to use the extra time.

So, step 0 is to maximise your current working hours. No need to wake up 2 hours earlier only to go surf social media while working.

You've reached a limit with the current working hours?
I don't think so, but here is what I do every morning to start energized in the day.

Wake Up.
Eat breakfast (25min)
Work out (25min)
Ice Cold shower (10min)

It takes roughly an hour.

After that I do focused work, in the best case my One Thing.

All of the steps are there to create the best possible outcome for my working phase.
It works for me, because somehow my exercises make me energized and cold showers fuels me up.
For you it might be meditation, running - whatever makes you wide awake and ready to work with clarity.


One important step:
Every evening I sit down and I write down what I am going to do in the next working phase.

The difference is incredible:
If I wake up without a clear goal in mind, my morning routine takes me way longer and I end up spending my attention elsewhere.
If I wake up with a goal, my morning routine is really quick and I end up giving the task my whole attention.


A lot of this came together by trial and error.
Try to observe why some days getting out of bed is easier than on others.,
And don't be too hard on yourself - it's a process. I still miss some days and don't manage to get work done. Just move into the right direction.



TLDR:
Step 0: Maximise the current working hours.
Step 1: Have a reason to wake up (aka a plan on what to work on)
Step 3: Find activities that energize you and give you mental clarity.
Step 4: Use the quite morning hours to do deep work.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

Waspy

Float like a butterfly
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
461%
Dec 6, 2016
480
2,214
30
U.K.
Okay okay, I'll expand.

Set this as your alarm. Try snoozing this bad boy.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WxOFvpplvAM

(Crank up the volume)

"This is the grind - the Battle Royale between you and your mind, your body and the devil on your shoulder"
 

Ika

Busy Idiot
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
344%
Aug 9, 2016
271
933
Germany
Oh and since I'm in the mood:
The goal should be a long term change, not a temporary change.

That consists of 3 components:
Slow approach + Cheat Days + Consistency

1. Slow approach

If you are waking up at 10am today, waking up at 6am tomorrow won't work.
Well, it will work for a week and after the motivation turned off, there is not enough willpower for such a drastic change.

It is easier to start slow:
Wake up at 9:30.
Next week, wake up at 9:00
The next week, wake up at 8:30
and so on
Go slower if you need to adjust.

There is no reason in completly destroying your sleep schedule just to not be able to concentrate while working the extra hours.


2. Cheat-Days
Sleep is a really sensitve structure.
Listen to your body. If you feel like you really need some more sleep, miss one day.
If it does not work, adjust your diet or your sleeping hours.
Again, if you have too less sleep, having more hours to work won't help.

But don't take this as an excuse to sleep in whenever you "feel like you need a bit more time in the bed" or because you've spent your night playing Xbox and thus missed going to bed.

Be real to yourself.


If you are sleepy because you've missed your bed-time on your own fault, don't sleep in.
Feel the consequence of your decision the next morning.


3. Consistency
This is quite a contrast to the last point.
Make it your goal to not miss a single day.

I printed out a calender and pinned the A4 paper above my desk.
Every day that I manage to wake up on time and do my routine, I mark the day with a green pen.
Every day that I did not go out of bed, I took unreasonably long to do my routine, slept in, or did not go on and worked I mark the day with a red pen.
Plus I write down what made me miss my goal.

Let me tell you, it sucks to have more red than green days.
And it sucks even more to have a 20 day chain of green interrupted by one red day (because you checked your smartphone after waking up and ended up watching youtube videos).

And it helps turning off the PC when it's time to go to bed - if you don't want to break the chain, going to bed becomes more attractive.

One additional point:
If you go to bed later than planned, and it is your own fault - don't change your wake up time.
Right now I'm 45min overdue my planned time (which is bad!) because I finished an email and wrote these posts.
While they are both good things to do, it was my own fault of not doing it earlier.

That just means I will have one hour less to sleep.

My hope is that one day it is "hurting" enough so I learn that my decisions have consequences and will thus go to bed in time.


good night :zzz:
 

eliquid

( Jason Brown )
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
519%
May 29, 2013
1,876
9,731
Honestly, I might catch some flak for this but why do people care so much for waking up at 4am, 5:15am, 6:05 am like it's some badge of honor?

It's almost like those war stories I hear of people "grinding 48 hours straight".

Listen, stop it. It's madness.

There are 24 hours in a day for everyone. No one gets less and no one gets more.

If you choose to sleep until 11:45am and get up, YOU HAVE NOT WASTED YOUR DAY. Midnight does not define "MY DAY", why should you let it define your day too?

If you get up at 11:45am and feel you have wasted your day, you aren't thinking clearly that a day is a 24 hour time period. When it starts is up to you.

If I wake up at 11:45am, I simply work until 3-4am the next day and go to bed. I still get 7-8 hours of sleep like people who wake up at 5:15am and put in 16-17 hours of "work" ( whatever that might be ) like everyone else.

What the people who wake up at 5:15am dont tell you is, they went to bed at like 9:30pm-10pm. Who cares when this 7-8 hour period of sleep started/ended compared to the 16-17 hours of "work"?

The only time this doesn't work is if you you constrain yourself to letting other people and processes control your time for you each day ( like a 9-5 job ). But even then, what if you worked remotely for a company located in Ireland and had to work those hours anyways because of the timezone difference?

There is nothing glamorous, glorious, honorable, productive, or worth sharing when you talk about how early you rise out of bed and how you self destruct yourself grinding for 3 days with no sleep.

And yes, I've been there and thought it was magical to talk about and plan around too in my past. As I got older, I realized just how dumb it actually is though.

Just sleep for 6-7-8 hours at a time, and then work your 16-17-18 hours at a time.

Grocery stores are still open at noon. Gyms are open at noon. People still read emails and txt and take phone calls at noon. You aren't wasting your day.
.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

mike24601

Consumption Bear
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
267%
Apr 8, 2017
195
521
Illinois
Honestly, I might catch some flak for this but why do people care so much for waking up at 4am, 5:15am, 6:05 am like it's some badge of honor?

I've always enjoyed being up in the middle of the night when I had to do some work. Long, long ago, before electric lighting, people operated on a much different sleep schedule. They would generally awaken with the sunrise and go to bed when the sun went down, but somewhere in between, they'd get up again. Some people would make love, others would visit with neighbors or just sit in bed and talk. Some people would write and do lots of thinking during this time, because they felt it gave them the most clarity. After a time, they would go back to bed, and they called that period their second sleep.

Scientifically, this is called Biphasic or Polyphasic sleep, and it hasn't been in vogue for over 150 years, but there's something to be said about doing your work when everyone else is asleep. No noise outside, no traffic..all the tension of the day has been washed away. Just intense focus.
 
Last edited:

Philip Marlowe

Every Day On, No Days Off
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
329%
Apr 28, 2017
279
918
40
NE
Avoid a total blackout in your room. If you sleep in a crypt it can be hard to get motivated.

I get up at 4:30AM every morning and my ritual is an early bed time, no food after 7PM, and my phone (with is my alarm clock) goes across the room so I need to get out of my warm bed to turn it off. From there I just KEEP MOVING. Do not lay back down.

Mentally, I also "justify" waking-up early by telling myself that I just got 7.5 hours of sleep and don't need any more than that.

Oh, and coffee.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,083
169,516
Utah
Honestly, I might catch some flak for this but why do people care so much for waking up at 4am, 5:15am, 6:05 am like it's some badge of honor?

It's almost like those war stories I hear of people "grinding 48 hours straight".

Listen, stop it. It's madness.
.

Featured+

Set this as your alarm. Try snoozing this bad boy.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WxOFvpplvAM

That's an awesome video and very motivating as well. However it kinda pisses me off underneath my knee-jerking of its awesomeness.

Why?

It presumes that our obstacles to greatness lie within our head. And that if we can overcome those obstacles, we can DO anything! Run marathons! Powerlift! Dunk basketballs!

I can only speak for myself, but my problem has never been commitment or mental obstacles -- it's always PHYSICAL. In other words, my mental desire often outweighs my physical capacity.

After 3 orthopedic surgeries and some other serious degenerative issues, my progress doesn't stop because I'm a mental wimp, it stops because my body simply breaks down and says "f*ck you -- try pressing that with 2 blown shoulders." And no motivational video can fix it.

Just the other day I was griping about how I know I have the mental aptitude to accomplish ANYTHING, just so as long my body complies. For example, I've been learning piano and my head says I can become proficient at it, even maestro-like, but my body says "f*ck you" -- I can only sit and practice for 15 minutes before the pain starts.

In fact, I'd say my mental stubbornness (never give up! don't give in! blah blah blah!) is why I have the physical ailments I now deal with daily.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

biophase

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
474%
Jul 25, 2007
9,121
43,261
Scottsdale, AZ
You just need a reason to wake up. Why was it so easy to wake up at 6am xmas morning? Why is it hard to wake up to go to work? But easy when you have a fun day planned?

It's really all in your head. Yes sometimes you just really tired but most of the time it is because you don't want to do what you need to wake up for.

Early this year I had a foster dog that would only pee or poo in this one spot which was 200 feet from my home in Colorado. So every night for a week around 3am I'd walk her out into the cold 200 ft and let her pee.

As I stood there in the night getting snowed on I wondered why I wasn't upset or cold or how I woke up easily to do this. It was easy, it was something that had to get done. If I didn't do it, I'd have to clean up a mess that would have taken much longer. The benefit outweighed the consequence by far.
 

CareCPA

Platinum Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
356%
May 2, 2017
976
3,479
35
Pennsylvania
Honestly, I might catch some flak for this but why do people care so much for waking up at 4am, 5:15am, 6:05 am like it's some badge of honor?

It's almost like those war stories I hear of people "grinding 48 hours straight".

Listen, stop it. It's madness.

There are 24 hours in a day for everyone. No one gets less and no one gets more.

If you choose to sleep until 11:45am and get up, YOU HAVE NOT WASTED YOUR DAY. Midnight does not define "MY DAY", why should you let it define your day too?

If you get up at 11:45am and feel you have wasted your day, you aren't thinking clearly that a day is a 24 hour time period. When it starts is up to you.

If I wake up at 11:45am, I simply work until 3-4am the next day and go to bed. I still get 7-8 hours of sleep like people who wake up at 5:15am and put in 16-17 hours of "work" ( whatever that might be ) like everyone else.

What the people who wake up at 5:15am dont tell you is, they went to bed at like 9:30pm-10pm. Who cares when this 7-8 hour period of sleep started/ended compared to the 16-17 hours of "work"?

The only time this doesn't work is if you you constrain yourself to letting other people and processes control your time for you each day ( like a 9-5 job ). But even then, what if you worked remotely for a company located in Ireland and had to work those hours anyways because of the timezone difference?

There is nothing glamorous, glorious, honorable, productive, or worth sharing when you talk about how early you rise out of bed and how you self destruct yourself grinding for 3 days with no sleep.

And yes, I've been there and thought it was magical to talk about and plan around too in my past. As I got older, I realized just how dumb it actually is though.

Just sleep for 6-7-8 hours at a time, and then work your 16-17-18 hours at a time.

Grocery stores are still open at noon. Gyms are open at noon. People still read emails and txt and take phone calls at noon. You aren't wasting your day.
.
Awesome point.
I wake up early because I have a job that still believes in working during normal business hours. When I can disconnect my productivity and my earnings from the time of day, I won't be as motivated to wake up early - I'll sleep when my body tells me it's time.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top