Tip #7: Create a Reward System for Yourself

An excellent waking-up technique that works very well not only for waking up, but also whenever you want to do something you don’t like or keep procrastinating on, is promising yourself a reward. This tip can often be seen in various self-improvement materials, and it really does wonders.

How It Works

Let’s say you want to buy that new iPhone. Tell yourself that you will buy it only after you manage to wake up at 6 am for two weeks straight. If you miss a day, you have to start over. Once you keep the promise, you can get the reward—not just because you can, but because you deserve it. You use these simple incentives to help you stay focused on the goal you want to achieve. It’s the same trick parents use when they tell their kids they will buy them ice cream after they clean their room.

Building a Habit Through Rewards

What’s more important is that this trick helps you build a habit. Remember, it takes about 3 weeks to form a habit, so plan your reward around that timeframe. Once you master this habit, you will not need other rewards to continue practicing it. But above everything else, a stronger character is the primary reward you will get. Keeping your word and sticking to your promises is an extremely important skill you want to acquire, and the earlier, the better. You can even strengthen this by giving a promise to someone about your goal.

Make Waking Up the Reward

And here is a similar idea from a personal development guru Leo Babauta: “Make waking up early a reward. Yes, it might seem at first that you’re forcing yourself to do something hard, but if you make it pleasurable, soon you will look forward to waking up early. My reward used to be to make a hot cup of coffee and read a book. I’ve recently cut out coffee, but I still enjoy reading my book. Other rewards might be a tasty treat for breakfast (smoothies! yum!) or watching the sunrise, or meditating. Find something that’s pleasurable for you, and allow yourself to do it as part of your morning routine.”