Need more time for your side hustle? Try this one thing

My alarm went off at 7.41 am. I grappled for my phone to turn off the buzzer, dragged myself out of bed and blindly plopped myself into the shower. I then used the next 39 minutes to wash, put makeup on, pick out what to wear, grab breakfast on the go and haul my ass out the door to work.

By the time I arrived I was already stressed because someone on the tube had pissed me off and I’d realised I hadn’t prepped for an important meeting later that afternoon and it was only 8.55am. But I'd got to work on time so it was 'fine'.

I thought I was so smart. I was so, so smug. I knew I ‘wasn’t a morning person’, so I'd cleverly honed my morning ‘routine’, getting it down to exactly 39 minutes so I could wake up as late as possible (meaning I could go to bed as late as possible the night before) and just make it work on time . Genius.

Smug, but useless.

The actual honest result of this so-called morning routine? Constantly feeling tired, grumpy, rushed and forever moaning that I never had the time to do all the things I wanted to do, like start a blog or research that side gig I’d always dreamt of. Not the best start to each day, huh?

Does any of this sound familiar?

Yes, the commuting part of your day may be a thing of the past (thank you Covid), but if you’re now using that would-be commute time to claw back some extra sleep then you could be doing yourself more harm than good.

A recent study published by Feinberg School of Medicine in ScienceDaily, found that sleeping late could be one of the unhealthiest ways to kick off your morning. Of 96 participants, those who slept late went went on to commit a variety of unhealthy decisions throughout the day – eating crap food and not being as physically active.

And research published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research revealed that those who get up earlier are far less likely to develop mental health conditions like depression, anxiety and other mood disorders than those who sleep later. Pretty compelling evidence that lie-ins aren't that good for us....

The Miracle Book

The day things changed for me was when (in my zombie-like-state on the tube) I stumbled on a magazine article entitled 'Six morning habits that will transform your life'. It was all about a guy called Hal Elrod, author of 'The Miracle Morning‘ and was all about the massive benefits of getting up earliand implementing a morning routine.

Intrigued, I decided to read more about the topic. Turns out that the thing all highly successful people such as Tim Cook, CEO of Apple and Oprah Winfrey have in common isn't some fancy degree from a sought-after university. They simply get up early and have a productive morning routine.

Inspired, I ordered Hal's book and over the next few weeks gradually started setting my alarm earlier and earlier and trying out his morning SAVERS routine – Silence, Affirmations, Visualisation, Exercise, Reading and Scribing. It got to the point where I was eventually getting up at 6am Monday to Friday!! 6AM people!!! To give you an idea of how alien this was to be - the only time my body had seen 6am previous to this was when I was coming in from a Club on a Sunday morning.

Sure it felt utterly painful at first, but that soon subsided when I miraculously started not only feeling better, but also actually getting shit done. It was hardly surprising when I realised that this simple act was giving me back 100 minutes extra each day to myself – that’s a whopping 8 hours a week! All of a sudden, I was more productive, calmer and happier all round. When I look back on my journey over the past few years, I can honestly say this is probably the biggest game-changer of them all. Before I was full of excuses. Now I’m just full of beans.

6 tips for making the morning routine work for you:

Do it gradually

If you're not up for jumping in the deep end of earlyier wake ups, then ease yourself in gently. Set your alarm for a little bit earlier than feels comfortable, say 15 minutes at first and over a fortnight or so, get gradually earlier and earlier.

Go to bed earlier

Sounds obvious, but even going to bed half an hour earlier can make all the difference. And stay off your phone. Read your book, Kindle, magazine – anything to make those eyelids droop and avoid the dreaded blue light.

Plug your phone in in the hall, not next to your bed

This has two amazing benefits:

It helps you to stop death scrolling at night when you're in bed, which means less blue light and better sleep. This will all make it much easier for you to wake up earlier in the morning.

It also stops you snoozing in the morning by making you physically have to get out of bed to turn your alarm off.

Make your morning routine work for you

Whether you follow Hal's ‘SAVERS’ to the tee or tailor them like I did, find the things in his list that resonate with you and start doing them. Things that work for me are journaling, meditation, exercise, reading an inspiring book, affirmations, or plain old doing things off your to do list (I’ve learned there’s few things more satisfying than putting an early morning wash on!)

Make it as easy as possible to habitually do these things every day

Give yourself a head start by preparing the night before. You could lay your workout clothes out, make your breakfast, have your journal and favourite book by your bed, or line up your favourite yoga or workout video. The more prep you put in the night before, the fewer excuses you'll be able to make the morning after.

Make your bed

This final one might sound a bit pointless, but I can honestly say it works. Mel Robbins - my all-time favourite coach – in her book The 5 Second Rule, says that making your bed every morning is great for practicing self control. Pushing yourself to do it creates a chain reaction in your confidence and your productivity for the rest of the day.

It's all about mindset

If you're not up for jumping in the deep end of earlyier wake ups, then ease yourself in gently. Set your alarm for a little bit earlier than feels comfortable, say 15 minutes at first and over a fortnight or so, get gradually earlier and earlier.

Now, even after reading this I’m sure there are people out there thinking ‘That all sounds great Lauren, but I’m honestly just NOT a morning person.’ But let me tell you this: Neither was I!

I was a loud and proud night owl who loved staying up late going out for dinners or watching rubbish TV and absolutely hated the first part of the day. But over time I changed my mindset. After practising this routine for over three years now, I’m now a fully-loaded morning person who thinks 7am is a proper lie in. I just told myself I COULD do it and lo and behold, I started doing it.

You see, change is always possible - you just have to want it. And I guarantee you if you try it, even for just a week, you’ll see a difference. Not only will you feel better in yourself, but you’ll be starting your days knowing that you’ve already accomplished a shit ton of stuff before the rest of the world has even woken up.

Now that’s a reason to feel smug.

Are you desperate to get that side business going, but feel like you can't find the time for it? Are you actually making excuses like I did? Then my 121 coaching is for you.

Book in a free discovery call today to find out how I'll whip you up into a fully fledged morning person ready to start that business and quit the corporate rate race for good.