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How To Live Like An Early Riser (Without Rising Too Early)

I know, I know. In an age when it often feels as though we’re all hovering just three feet above some raging hellfire, with a creeping sense of exhaustion and/or despair that seems closer to the rule than to its shining exception, the last thing you probably want to do is wake up early.

No! You want to sleep in, stave off the day’s inevitable chaos and responsibilities for as long as humanly possible. You want to say, “Self care!” — then snooze your alarm in a dizzied protest. I’m with you. I swear. I really am.

Well, sort of.

In the interest of complete transparency, I should admit here that waking up earlier is a practice I’ve personally taken up over the last year. My hope has been that I might carve out some more time in the morning and stop leaving home in such a dizzied frenzy.

I like to wake up at around 6:30 or 7 a.m., get ready, then do some quiet reading in bed before heading out the door for work. The result — and this part is anecdotal — is a clearer head, calmer disposition, and a face that isn’t flush from running around in attempt to catch the train on time. It eliminates that panicked feeling I used to get from rushing around to get somewhere on time.

Most importantly, it allows me to start my day on my own terms, rather than terms dictated by whether or not I have enough time to do something.

Waking up early can be challenging, but it'll help you to be more productive.
Waking up early can be challenging, but it'll help you to be more productive.

The many, many benefits to being an early riser

You’ve heard it all before. The sentiment is right there in that antagonizing internet mantra about how we all have the same 24 hours in a day as Beyoncé, who, aside from being Beyoncé and having a whole legion of professional help, also happens to wake up at the crack of dawn.

Early rising is a certain standard kept by many of the world’s most stratospherically successful people. And as you’ve likely heard through the overgrown economic grapevine, nearly 50 per cent of “self-made” millionaires get up at least three hours before the start of their workdays. Apple CEO Tim Cook...

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