How I Became a Morning Person

If you have known me for a while, you know that I have never really been a morning person. And to be honest, I never thought I would become one. I can still remember my grandmother waking me up on Saturday mornings telling me that I was sleeping my life away. In my defense, I was a teenager, and I needed my sleep with the busy schedule I maintained all through high school during the week and Saturdays were for sleeping in, right? She was always up at 5:30am, like clockwork. I just didn’t understand it.

It’s been fifteen years since then, and up until about a year ago, I still didn’t love mornings and you would never find me up before 8am. I simply just didn’t love getting up. The thought of jumping out of my cozy bed earlier, and leaving my sweet slumber abruptly, didn’t appeal to me in any way. I woke up at the latest time I possibly could to get ready for work and would hurry and scurry out the door. I did all the necessary things I could to prepare for my brief morning routine the night before I went to bed. I lived this way day in and day out for years. Not everyone is like me I know, but I’m sure there are a few of you out there who can relate.

The crazy thing is, I never understood those people who get up and read the paper, have a cup of coffee, watch the news and then get ready. The kind of people who wake up with the sun. Then one day, I realized I kinda wanted to get up early. I wanted to start my day in a calmer, more peaceful way. I didn’t want to hustle out the door, counting the minutes I had left to make it to work on time.

I wanted to love mornings, I really did.

I got to a point in my life, while starting my second business, that I just simply lost control of time. What I mean is I was running one business (being a hairstylist) and started my second business (Andrea Linn Photography) and I found myself at home working after I would get home from work. Sure, I had a schedule while I was working at the salon that I kept, but at home, it was all a mess. I didn’t like the way my days were going and I was running on empty. I needed something to change, I needed balance. And I simply couldn’t keep on going the way I was burning the candle at both ends of the stick.

Then, a good friend of mine recommended I read this book she was reading. She really thought it might help me. The book is called Miracle Mornings by Hal Elrod and Cameron Herold.

I picked it up and read a few chapters, then sat it down just long enough for it to collect dust, because change was hard. A few months later, I picked it back up and decided I needed to finish it. So that’s exactly what I did.

As I went through the book, I started to apply some of the suggestions that were made to wake up and get up without hitting snooze five times. It was hard, but I gave myself grace with each new day. I kept reading and kept making changes.

One of the most critical changes that had to happen actually started with my evening routine. I determined how many hours of rest I felt like my body needed and I set myself a bed time. I know that sounds funny, a bedtime at 33 years old. But if you stay up way too late, how could you even think of getting up early. I used to dread the alarm clock going off in the morning when I allowed myself to stay up till midnight or 1 o’clock in the morning.

So establishing a set bedtime helped me determine what time I could wake up with how many hours my body needed for rest. Everybody is different with this, so you have to do what works for you. For me, 10pm is when I fall asleep, so I start getting ready for bed about 30 mins prior. Winding down by reading or listening to spa music helps get me ready to fall asleep more quickly. Another thing I love doing is listening to the headspace app, which is filled with sleepy time sounds and meditation techniques that help you take your mind off of thinking about things and make it easier to fall asleep.

Now, I had to stop and ask myself why did I really want to wake up earlier and what was I going to do with my newfound time.  For me, I had two things that I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to find a calmer, peaceful way to wake up and actually enjoy this time every day and I wanted to utilize some of my time to get work done for my photography business, so I didn’t let it take over my weeknights and consume all of my personal time.

I decided to set myself a 10:00pm bedtime and a 6:00am wakeup time. This provided me with a solid eight hours of rest every night. I am not going to walk through how every morning went for the first month, because there were lots of days I struggled, but then gave myself a little grace and tried again the next morning. Eventually, change began to happen and new routines and mercies followed.

So what was I going to do with 2 more hours every day?

I decided to devote one hour every morning to me, and one to my business. The first hour would be spent doing one or all of the SAVERS (you’ll have to read miracle morning to find out what they all are). But, I’ll share the first two with you. S is for Silence and A is for Affirmations… and so on. I take time each morning focusing on each one of the SAVERS, or sometimes I only do one for the full hour. Friends, this is life changing. Taking time for you, before the world, or your kids wake up, is so worth it. The positive benefits of this are amazing. My personal SAVERS set the tone for how my whole day will go. Taking this time helps me think clearly, feel inspired and energized and ready for anything the day throws my way. I dare you to try it.

So the second hour of my morning I have broken into 15 minute blocks to get work done. I will go into further detail of what my block schedule looks like later on. But for now I will tell you that switching over the way I get work done with block scheduling has made a huge impact on my workflow as well. My time is more efficient and I truly get more done this way.

So fast forward to present day. I have to say that it wasn’t easy to become a morning person, but the only regret I have is that I didn’t do it sooner. No one is perfect, and on occasion I have days that my body just says rest, and you know what, I let it rest. But it has become so second nature now, that I’m even up on the weekends early, and I love it. So many positive things have come out of this for me. Since last October, I have successfully planted and harvested a backyard 36 foot, organic garden. I have read multiple books (one of my yearly goals). I have established the foundation and workflow for a successful photography business. I booked two destination weddings this year! (this was one of my daily SAVERS that I practiced). And I am genuinely a happier person. I am building a life that I love, one day at a time and I want this for you too.

Please feel free to drop any questions in the comments below or send me a message here! I’d love to hear from you!

Hugs,

Andrea Linn

PS: If you’d like to have access to the amazing Miracle Morning Community on Facebook, click here!