“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” - Ben Franklin, famously

“Put no trust in the benefits to accrue from early rising, as set forth by the infatuated Franklin …” - Mark Twain

Recently, reader Rob asked me about my habit of waking at 4:30 a.m. each day, and asked me to write about the health benefits of rising early, which I thought was an excellent question. Unfortunately, there are none, that I know of.

However, there are a ton of other great benefits.

Now, let me first say that if you are a night owl, and that works for you, I think that’s great. There’s no reason to change, especially if you’re happy with it. But for me, switching from being a night owl to an early riser (and yes, it is possible) has been a godsend. It has helped me in so many ways that I’d never go back. Here are just a few:

Greet the day. I love being able to get up, and greet a wonderful new day. I suggest creating a morning ritual that includes saying thanks for your blessings. I’m inspired by the Dalai Lama, who said, ” Everyday, think as you wake up, ‘today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’ “

Amazing start. I used to start my day by jumping out of bed, late as usual, and rushing to get myself and the kids ready, and rushing to drop them to school and come in to work late. I would walk into work, looking rumpled and barely awake, grumpy and behind everyone else. Not a great start to your day. Now, I have a renewing morning ritual, I’ve gotten so much done before 8 a.m., my kids are early and so am I, and by the time everyone else gets in to work, I’ve already gotten a head start. There is no better way to start off your day than to wake early, in my experience.

Quietude. No kids yelling, no babies crying, no soccer balls, no cars, no television noise. The early morning hours are so peaceful, so quiet. It’s my favorite time of day. I truly enjoy that time of peace, that time to myself, when I can think, when I can read, when I can breathe.

Sunrise. People who wake late miss one of the greatest feats of nature, repeated in full stereovision each and every day — the rise of the sun. I love how the day slowly gets brighter, when the midnight blue turns to lighter blue, when the brilliant colors start to seep into the sky, when nature is painted in incredible colors. I like doing my early morning run during this time, and I look up at the sky as I run and say to the world, “What a glorious day!” Really. I really do that. Corny, I know.

Breakfast. Rise early and you actually have time for breakfast. I’m told it’s one of the most important meals of the day. Without breakfast, your body is running on fumes until you are so hungry at lunchtime that you eat whatever unhealthy thing you can find. The fattier and sugarier, the betterier. But eat breakfast, and you are sated until later. Plus, eating breakfast while reading my book and drinking my coffee in the quiet of the morning is eminently more enjoyable than scarfing something down on the way to work, or at your desk.

Exercise. There are other times to exercise besides the early morning, of course, but I’ve found that while exercising right after work is also very enjoyable, it’s also liable to be canceled because of other things that come up. Morning exercise is virtually never canceled.

Productivity. Mornings, for me at least, are the most productive time of day. I like to do some writing in the morning, when there are no distractions, before I check my email or blog stats. I get so much more done by starting on my work in the morning. Then, when evening rolls around, I have no work that I need to do, and I can spend it with family.

Goal time. Got goals? Well, you should. And there’s no better time to review them and plan for them and do your goal tasks than first thing. You should have one goal that you want to accomplish this week. And every morning, you should decide what one thing you can do today to move yourself further towards that goal. And then, if possible, do that first thing in the morning.

Commute. No one likes rush-hour traffic, except for Big Oil. Commute early, and the traffic is much lighter, and you get to work faster, and thus save yourself more time. Or better yet, commute by bike. (Or even better yet, work from home.)

Appointments. It’s much easier to make those early appointments on time if you get up early. Showing up late for those appointments is a bad signal to the person you’re meeting. Showing up early will impress them. Plus, you get time to prepare.

How to Become an Early Riser

Don’t make drastic changes. Start slowly, by waking just 15-30 minutes earlier than usual. Get used to this for a few days. Then cut back another 15 minutes. Do this gradually until you get to your goal time.

Allow yourself to sleep earlier. You might be used to staying up late, perhaps watching TV or surfing the Internet. But if you continue this habit, while trying to get up earlier, sooner or later one is going to give. And if it is the early rising that gives, then you will crash and sleep late and have to start over. I suggest going to bed earlier, even if you don’t think you’ll sleep, and read while in bed. If you’re really tired, you just might fall asleep much sooner than you think.

Put your alarm clock far from you bed. If it’s right next to your bed, you’ll shut it off or hit snooze. Never hit snooze. If it’s far from your bed, you have to get up out of bed to shut it off. By then, you’re up. Now you just have to stay up.

Go out of the bedroom as soon as you shut off the alarm. Don’t allow yourself to rationalize going back to bed. Just force yourself to go out of the room. My habit is to stumble into the bathroom and go pee. By the time I’ve done that, and flushed the toilet and washed my hands and looked at my ugly mug in the mirror, I’m awake enough to face the day.

Do not rationalize. If you allow your brain to talk you out of getting up early, you’ll never do it. Don’t make getting back in bed an option.

Have a good reason. Set something to do early in the morning that’s important. This reason will motivate you to get up. I like to write in the morning, so that’s my reason. Also, when I’m done with that, I like to read all of your comments!

Make 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 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 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! I like to use that time to get a head start on preparing my kids’ lunches, on planning for the rest of the day (when I set my MITs), on exercising or meditating, and on reading. By the time 6:30 rolls around, I’ve done more than many people do the entire day.

“早床和早期上升，使一個人的健康，富裕和明智” -本富蘭克林，著名的

“提出不信任，在利益累積，從年初上升，所列由迷戀富蘭克林… … ” -馬克吐溫

最近，讀者搶問我關于我的習慣，喚醒在上午04點30分每一天，并要求我寫有關健康的好處上升年初，我還以為是一個很好的問題。不幸的是，有沒有，據我所知。

不過，有一噸的其他的巨大好處。

現在，讓我先說，如果你是一個夜間的貓頭鷹，和工程為您，我認為的偉大。有沒有理由改變，特別是如果您滿意。但對我來說，開關從一個夜晚貓頭鷹，以期早日提升（是的，這是可能的情況下）一直是天賜良機。它幫助我在許多方面，我從來沒有想要回去。在這里都只是幾個：

迎接天。我愛能夠起床，迎接美好的新的一天。我建議建立一個上午的儀式，包括說，感謝您的祝福。我的靈感，達賴喇嘛，誰說： “每天都在想你一覺醒來， '我今天幸運，有驚醒了，我還活著，我有一個寶貴的人類生命，我不打算浪費它。我要利用我所有的精力發展自己，擴大我的心給別人，以達到啟示，造福所有的人，我將會有一種思想，對待他人，我不打算在生氣或認為嚴重對他人的，我要造福別人多，我可以“ 。

了不起的開端。我用開始我的天，由跳出床，晚往常一樣，和急于取勝，我和孩子們準備就緒，并迫不及待地下降，他們來學校和在工作晚了。我想走進工作，看，皺巴巴的，勉強入睡，老百姓著想的背后，其他所有人。沒有一個很好的開始，以您的一天�，F在，我有一個自強不息今天上午的儀式中，我已經得到了這么多前所做的上午八時，我的孩子是早，所以我和大家的時間，否則在得到工作，我已經得到了頭部的開始。有沒有更好的方式來開始您的一天，比年初后，在我的經驗。

虛靜。沒有孩子叫嚷，沒有嬰兒的哭聲，沒有足球，沒有汽車，沒有電視的噪音。清晨是如此的和平，所以安靜。這是我最喜愛的時間，天。我真正享有這在和平時期，當時的自己，當我可以想到，當我可以閱讀，當我能夠呼吸。

日出。人誰后，晚錯過的一大壯舉的性質，反復在全面立體視覺的每一個日子-崛起的太陽。我愛如何天慢慢得到光明，當午夜藍輪流較輕的藍色，當燦爛的顏色開始滲入到天空，當性質，是畫在令人難以置信的顏色。我喜歡做我的清晨，運行在這段時間內，我期待在天空，正如我來說，說向世界“ ，什么是光榮的日子” ！真的。我真的這樣做。陳詞濫調，我知道。

早餐。崛起的早期，你其實有時間吃早餐。我告訴它的一個最重要的吃飯的一天。沒有早餐，你的身體上運行的煙霧，直到您是如此饑餓，在午飯時間，你吃什么不健康的東西，您可以找到。該fattier和sugarier ， betterier 。但吃早餐，和你是sated ，直到后來。另外，吃早餐，而讀我的書，喝我的咖啡在安靜的上午是遙不可及，更愉快，比scarfing下來的東西就在上班的路上，或在您的辦公桌。

演習。還有其他時代的行使，除了清晨，當然，但我發現，而行使的權利后，工作也很愉快，它也可能被取消，因為其他的事情來。早操是幾乎從來沒有取消。

生產力。早上，對我來說，至少是最有生產力的時間，天。我喜歡做一些寫作是在早上，當有任何分心，在我檢查我的電子郵件或博客的統計信息。我得到了這么多更所做的開始，對我的工作是在早上。然后，當傍晚萬卷左右，我沒有工作，我需要做的，而且我可以用它與家人。
目標的時間。得到的目標？那么，你應該。而且也沒有更好的時間來審查他們的計劃，為他們做您的目標任務，比第一件事。你應該有一個目標，您要完成這項工作周。和每天早上，您應該決定什么一件事，你可以做的，今天提出自己進一步實現這一目標。然后，如果可能的話，這樣做的第一件事發生在上午。

通勤。沒有人會喜歡尖峰時間的交通，除了大石油。通勤年初，交通，是很多打火機，你會得到更快的工作，從而節省自己更多時間�；蚋�好，但通勤騎自行車。 （或什至更好，但在家中工作） 。

任命。它的容易得多，使這些早期任命，時間如果你得到了早期。顯示遲到這些任命是一個壞的信號，以人您的會議。顯示年初將他們留下深刻的印象。另外，您得到的準備時間。

如何成為一個早期冒口

不作急劇的改變。開始慢慢地，醒來只是15-30分鐘，比平時提前。習慣了這幾天。然后削減回到另一個15分鐘。為此，逐步，直到您找到您的目標時間。

讓自己睡覺。你可能被用來在下榻的遲到，或許看電視，或瀏覽互聯網。但如果你繼續這種習慣，試圖獲得了比較，遲早的事，一個是去給。如果它是早期上升，使，那么你會崩潰和睡眠晚，必須重新開始。我建議去床較早，即使你不認為你會睡眠，閱讀，而在床上。如果您真的累了，你剛才可能入睡得多遲早比你的想法。

把您的鬧鐘到目前為止，從你床上。如果它的權利，明年到您的床，您將關閉它關閉或擊中小睡。從來沒有擊中小睡。如果它的遠離您的床，你要站起來走出床關閉它關閉。屆時，您了�，F在，您剛才要留起來。

走出臥室，當您關閉警鐘。不要讓自己的合理化，回到床上。只是強迫自己走出房間。我的習慣是蹣跚到浴室去和工程師。由時間，我已經這樣做，和沖水式廁所和水洗我的手，并期待在我的丑陋的馬克杯在鏡子里，我很清醒，足以面對天。

不合理化。如果你讓你的大腦談一談你獲得了初，你將永遠不會去做。不找回在床上一個選項。

有一個很好的理由。設置一些做早在上午的重要。為此，將激勵你站起來。我喜歡寫在上午的，所以這就是我的理由。此外，當我做了，我想讀您的所有評論！

使喚醒早期獎勵。是的，它似乎在：第一，您強迫自己做一些努力，但是如果你使它愉快，很快你會期待著早日醒來。一個很好的獎勵，是使一個熱點，一杯咖啡或茶，并宣讀了一本書。其他獎勵可能是一個好吃的對待早餐（ smoothies ！味道好極了！ ）或看日出，或沉思。找到的東西的愉快的為您，并允許自己這樣做的一部分，您早上的例行公事。

利用一切額外時間。不醒來，一小時或二月初剛剛讀您的博客，除非that'sa的主要目標你。不早起和浪費額外的時間。獲得跳轉開始您的一天！我想用這個時間來獲得頭部開始就準備我的孩子們午餐，就規劃為其余的天（當我設定mits ） ，對行使或沉思，和對讀。由時間6時30萬卷左右，我已經做了以上的很多人做整個天。