Research

I read this article which talks about the importance of being punctual. The author, Dustin Wax, claims that punctuality shows mastery, competence, integrity, and that you value the people around you as well as yourself. I never thought about punctuality affecting so many different areas before.

So I started to do more research on the topic of being on time, in particular, waking up on time.

There are plenty of articles that have tips and tricks such as putting your alarm clock on the other side of the room, or setting multiple alarms. These tricks might work for a little while, but not long in my opinion.

Then I found this fantastic article. In the article, Steve Pavlina suggests a technique where you train your subconscious brain to get you out of bed so that you don’t have to talk yourself out of bed when your alarm goes off. Sounds kind of strange, but after reading more, I think it will work.

Steve recommends taking some time in the middle of the day to practice waking up and getting out of bed. Get in your pj’s, set your alarm for a few minutes later, and zone out. When your alarm goes off, stretch, get out of bed and instantly go into your morning routine. Keep doing this whole process over and over until you are doing it without a voice in your head telling you what to do next. He suggests that it’s just like muscle memory. If you practice it enough, your subconscious brain will take over every morning when your alarm goes off and you won’t have to think about getting out of bed. Smart!