Admittedly, I’m not much of a morning person. I’ve maybe fallen into the “don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee” stereotype for most of my adult life, but as I get older I see the goodness in rising early and, frankly, I need the extra time to hit some of my goals.

I’ve been furiously googling “how to become a morning person” and have found a few tips that I’ll be implementing and reporting back on. Here’s what has stuck out so far.

• Don’t stay up super late (rough for a night owl, but ok)
• Develop a routine
• Try to “mesmerize” yourself

I’ve been stuck on this idea of “mesmerizing” yourself with a daily morning ritual. This idea, somewhat similar to entering a trance like state, is to do the same thing every morning to the point of it becoming habit that is seared into your basal ganglia. Notably, this will take time, but I’ve found success implementing new habits following the Atomic Habits model and giving myself different motivations for doing so. I’d like to get my run done before work and even start my Exercism and/or open source contributions before 9 am.

I figure 6:45 is a good starting point, but I’d like to eventually get to 5:00. This will give me an additional 4 hours every day. If I’m thoughtful in my approach, I anticipate being able to get a lot more done in the early hours.