How to Become a Morning Person

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What if I told you there was a way to finish that creative project you’ve been dreaming about this year? Sounds too good to be true, right?

Ali Keller who is a writer and producer (including of my live-stream show Inside Scoop!) was able to accomplish all of that by being a morning person.

But she wasn’t always a morning person. She trained herself to become one. Here are her top tips if you’re looking to make the switch to becoming an early bird.

1) Find the Why.

Waking up early and being more productive sounds great. And identifying why you want to wake up early, what you’re using the time for will help get you started.

“I get to do what I love and I don’t want to sacrifice anything for it. I feel very connected to that. If you want to get up for something that you love, it will get easier with time,” Ali said about waking up early to write.

Prioritizing what is most important to you in the morning can boost your mood and make you feel more productive first thing. But Ali wasn’t always a morning person. She became a morning person by accident.

“I happened to be up on set one really early because I had a writing deadline during a shoot. And it was the one time I wasn’t dealing with anybody else. I wasn’t being interrupted,” she said.

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2) Planning to Get Up Early.

Like any new habit, it takes work and adjustments to make it stick. For instance, you can’t get up early without going to sleep early.

Ali uses multiple alarms to wake up and an automated coffee brewer.

“It’s a nice little form of self-care where you’re like, “Oh my coffee’s already made.” It also gets me out of bed because I realize I’m gonna waste a whole pot of coffee if it gets cold while I’m sleeping,” Ali added.

Like I do, Ali also makes lists the night before so she knows what she needs to do the following day so she doesn’t waste time in the morning. To-do lists aren’t the only kind of lists that can help you get motivated to become an early bird.

“When we started working together, I was reading Listful Living and Listful Thinking and writing out my priorities and what I really wanted my life to be and it made me connect to my why even more,” Ali added.

If you’re not sure what you’d use your morning time for, start by making lists about what you love and wish you had more time for, to discover your priorities.

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3) Notice the Benefits.

Trying out new habits is a process. And being a morning person might not be for you. So as you’re experimenting, notice the positives.

This first thing Ali noticed was the quiet.

“Nobody talks to you. You don’t get an email about a sale. You don’t get text messages or phone calls. It’s just you and your own thoughts. Which is really rare,” Ali said.

Another great benefit that helps her creative process is being too tired to judge her work.

“I am so non-judgmental about the creative work I’m doing in the morning because I don’t have the energy to be critical of my own work. It’s going to have a ton of typos because it’s four o’clock in the morning. It doesn’t have to be good. I get to start the day with what’s exciting to me. And it puts me in a really good mood,” Ali added.

She’s not the only guest on Inside Scoop who enjoys morning writing time. Writing coach Suzanne Kingsbury also spoke about writing when you’re tired to improve your output.

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4) Notice the Negatives.

But nothing is perfect. Weighing the pros and cons of every new habit is important when deciding whether or not to commit. Even Ali doesn’t love everything about being a morning person.

“I definitely get called ‘grandma’ a lot by my group of friends. Because I’m in bed early. And there are times where I have to say no to things that would’ve been fun to prioritize sleep,” Ali said.

The other negative Ali noticed is the pressure of being productive.

“The downside of being productive and priding yourself on being productive is making sure you’re not tying your self-worth to your productivity. You remind yourself not to beat yourself up about not getting things done because sometimes that’s going to happen. You can’t let that ruin your day,” she explained.

Staying positive when your day is not going according to plan can be hard. But those days will happen, so it’s important to breathe and try to pick yourself up on hard days.

For more about becoming a morning person and about Ali’s work, check out her website, follow her on instagram and watch our entire conversation here.

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