Beginning this month, I made a major life change: I became a morning person. Who says you have to wait for January 1^st to roll around in order to decide to make improvements to your life? I chose the first Monday in June, and here’s how I did it:

1.       Determination
I can’t tell you how many articles I’ve read about the most successful people’s habits. Of course success is incredibly subjective, but most articles had this in common: the most successful people start their day before 5am. I’ve told myself for years that I would love to be the kind of person who is disciplined enough to get up at 5am and workout before even starting the day. It’s so easy to skip an evening workout. So many things compete for my evening time, but nothing beside more sleep competes with 5am. I became determined.

2.       Planning Ahead
Even if you don’t start your day at 5am, planning ahead is a great habit for your morning routine. For me, laying out my workout clothes, packing my lunch and deciding what I would wear to work the next day before I went to bed set my mind at ease and made my morning routine much more smooth.

3.       Consistency
I decided that my weekly routine would consist of four morning workouts and one early morning at the office. I do 5:30am yoga Mondays, Tuesday, Thursdays, and Fridays. I’m in the office at 6:45am on Wednesdays to keep my sleeping patterns consistent.

4.       Accountability
This is huge! When I decided to make this change in my life, I decided I wanted to it with a friend. I meet Mack four days a week for yoga, and we’ve both come to love our morning workouts.

5.       Go to Bed!
This might have been the hardest part about waking up earlier: going to bed earlier (especially in the summer). I knew the success of me getting up at 5am was directly related to me being in bed by 10pm. I unplug about a half hour before I go to bed. Once I’m in bed, I try to read for about a half hour as reading often gets me sleepy. Lastly, I turn on my meditation app to calm my mind. This routine has become a necessity in the success of this life change.