I spend an average of about 12 to 15 hours in front of the computer working on various projects and/or on web conferences to Japan, the US, and Europe (when I’m not traveling of course). My days are super packed with a never-ending list of things to do, but hey, that’s how I choose to live my life right now and the only way I am able to achieve all this is by being an early riser.

I usually get up at 7am and pass-out around 2am in the morning, doing this day after day enables me to pack many things into my schedule successfully. Now you’re probably saying, “What! That’s crazy, that’s about 5 hours of sleep!”, but sometimes I actually go without sleeping for days - try that on for size (no, don’t). Yeah I’m a bit crazy, but that eccentricity brings me opportunities that otherwise would never present themselves, and helps me produce results that only a staff of twenty would produce per week. I live a pretty ambitious life-style which is a good thing because it keeps me fueled and going.

Being an “Early Bird” is crucial in the Web Industry nowadays, which can also be said for almost any growing industry, but specifically in the web industry things can literally change over night or even during a lunch break, it’s like Hollywood but on crack (umm.. yeah, moving on). So you have to keep up with everything on a whole new level, meaning you need more hours from your days.

Now most people complain about not having enough time to do the things they truly want to do (the usual “lack of time” syndrome), but that’s just because you need a bit of motivation to get up earlier. I’m a strong believer that anyone can achieve anything they set their minds to, so you can too. You have to really envision why the hell you’re going to be getting up so early and be consistent about it. Nobody likes getting up early, well, not the majority of people anyways. Most of us are not born that way, we like sleeping in and forgetting about the world, but you only live this life once. So get your ass up and get things done, there’s actually a saying in Spanish which is, “Crea fama, y acuestate a dormir“, which means “Build a reputation and lay down to sleep“. Become who you want to be, be where you want to be and then let it be, relax, enjoy your mojito on the beach - you’ll deserve it.

Getting up early will definitely provide you with the extra time you’re looking for to do the things you want to do. Whether you’re just looking for alone time or more time to focus on your businesses, whatever the reason may be, you’ll start on the road to achieving those goals by getting up early.

Here are a couple of things that have helped me and should also help you out on your new and exiting journey!!! Actually, I’m not going to lie to you, it’s going to suck for about a whole month until your body gets used to it.

• First of all, don’t think of how much sleep you are getting now and then transfer that into an equation where if you sleep 8 hours everyday you would then need go to sleep at 11pm to be able to get up at 7am - NO, this is not what you want to fool yourself with. Instead of focusing on your bedtime, focus on just getting up at the same time everyday. Your body will let you know when you need sleep and you’ll pass-out when you need to. Many people fail to understand that each day puts different levels of strain on the body, the emotions, and the mind, therefore sleeping requirements are never the same and vary from day to day. So go to bed only when you’re too sleepy to stay up, and get up at a fixed time every morning.
• Understand why you’re getting up early and keep it clear of doubt. Every night when you lay down to rest create a mental picture of what those achievements are and tell yourself that you need to wake up immediately after the buzzer goes off. This exercise each night will program you to getting up in the morning, your body will wake you because you told it to (naturally with a little help from the alarm clock). What’s funny is that I actually don’t use an alarm clock anymore and wake up on my own.
• Don’t give into the warm and soft bed, it’s evil. Your bed will do anything it can to keep you there, anything! So don’t be conned by your bed. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then let me tell you what to look for. Right when the buzzer goes off a little voice will immediately tell you to stay in bed for another 5 or 10 minutes, it’ll even try to sound very persuasive by telling you it’s alright it won’t hurt to just lay there and not go to sleep. It’s a trap, and that’s all it is. Don’t let yourself be persuaded by it and end up falling asleep. If you just jump out of bed real fast or sit up you’ll be able to avoid it, just get away from it as fast as possible when the buzzer goes off. Also stretches and a nice hot/cold shower with breathing exercises helps to get the blood flowing (not warm, warm water relaxes the muscles, extreme temperatures on the other hand stimulate circulation).
• Keep track of the progress, maybe reward yourself with something after a month of consistently getting up early. If your reason for getting up is business-wise and you can keep track of that progress, then I suggest you do. It’ll help you to keep motivated on your goals, to see how far you’ve progressed.
• Keep in mind that it takes the body 21 days to establish a pattern, after achieving anything for 21 consecutive days, it will become like second nature to you. Modern scientific research has shown this to be accurate, so don’t think I’m making it up. If you keep at it you’ll soon notice that you’re getting up right before or exactly when the buzzer sounds, meaning your body and mind are getting accustomed to the pattern you’re implementing, becoming a natural rhythm of the body and mind.
• Oversleeping on weekends will sidetrack your progress and you’ll find yourself starting from scratch. Be consistent with the time that you have set for yourself to wake up each morning, even if you don’t have anything to do on the weekends, you still need to get up. Hey, you can always take a nap later in the day, just make sure to be strict with your body and stick to the time you have set.
• Make it fun, maybe instead of having that annoying buzzer go off, get yourself a Sony Dream Machine alarm clock like I have which lets you wake up to any music track of your choice. It always helped me to get up in the morning with my favorite music playing in the background. You can also have a nice routine in the morning where you go down to your local coffee house and relax a bit with a cup of java or tea while reading the newspaper or on the laptop. Just do something to make it tempting to get up, giving you that extra motivation.
• Commit and don’t cheat, you’re only hurting yourself (yeah, I know, you’ve heard it before but it’s so true). If you really want to regulate your sleeping patterns and wake up early, you’ll have to commit to it. Imagine all the things you gain, like that crisp morning air, the quiet atmosphere, the hours you’ve gained to do whatever you want to do, etc. It’s your world and you do what you want to do with it. Also remember that I’m rooting for you, maybe I’ll see you at the local coffee house too.

Hopefully these tips are helpful to regulating your sleeping patterns and start you on the road to becoming an early bird or at least improve your mornings. If anyone has any more pointers to add to the list, feel free to add them in the comments.