Waking up early is probably one of the hardest habits to cultivate. Some people sleep very deeply and have problems being awoken, even when there's an alarm. When they do get awoken, most feel too groggy or exhausted and just want to laze around in their bed. Even more so when it's raining - the natural instinct is to start snuggling under the covers!

However, being able to cultivate this habit can bring wondrous results. I've often heard about self help gurus lauding on the benefits of waking up early and was very much intrigued by it. It was when I started doing it myself that I found there are indeed great benefits coming from such a benign habit.

For one, the early morning is quiet, depending on what time you wake up. If you choose to wake up at 5am, before 98% of the civilization wakes up, the atmosphere is very peaceful. There's almost no traffic out in the roads, people in the neighborhood are not up and out yet, and even the birds have not began breaking into song. This creates an excellent setting for you to get working on your tasks for the day without any disturbance at all.

The second reason is waking up early gives you a head start to the day. The effect is partially psychological. Knowing that you are up first before anyone else already makes you feel great emotionally and this spurs you on to keep your lead ahead. By the end of the day, you are likely to have accomplished a lot more than the regular person. I have found that waking early does result in increased productivity levels, and very naturally so too.

In the past, I used to wake really late. If I wasn't working, I would wake at 12-1pm. On the typical work days, I would wake up at 9am (I had flexible work timings). At one time I even thought that I was just not made to be an early riser. No matter how your sleeping patterns are now, It's definitely not impossible to become an early riser. Check out this list of tips on how to wake up early - there are 21 great tips which are immediately applicable. Try combining 5-6 of the tips together and it will dramatically increase your success in waking up early.

Of course, there are times when I fall short and get up late, but the important thing is not to stop giving up. The benefits far outweigh the work it takes to get there. Once you fixate your early waking habit, things will flow naturally from there. One of the best tips in the list is to sleep early (tip #12). Most of the times people don't wake up early because they sleep late and this naturally rolls over to affect the next day.

If you are not sure if waking up early is for you or if you have difficulty getting the habit kicked in, try the 21 days program to cultivate good habits. After 21 days of waking up early, you are free to relinquish the habit if you do not find it serving you. If you do find it beneficial, you can then continue on easily. There's totally no risk at all. The important thing is to try it for yourself first before signing off on it.

Good luck on waking up early and let me know how it works out for you! :)