1. Success

Benjamin Franklin woke up at 5 AM every morning. Apple CEO Tim Cook and Disney CEO Roger Iger both wake up at 4:30 AM. 

It's not a coincidence that successful people wake up before the sun. 

Successful people rise early because they can use the undisturbed time first thing in the morning to get sh*t done, plain and simple.

Success is defined by your progression towards your goals, which means you can do anything you want in the morning and still be successful, as long as those things are moving you closer to your goals.

When you want to accomplish something, you must do whatever it takes to make that happen. People who want to achieve their goals, but aren't willing to wake up early to make them happen, don't really want to accomplish those goals. 

I used to think that you could be successful without waking up early, and maybe you can - but you can't be as successful as possible without waking up early. 

Why? 

Because waking up early is hard. Waking up early sucks. I hate waking up early. Who wants to get out of their warm bed and start their day when they're tired and it's freezing outside? Nobody. 

But that's exactly why you need to do it. Nothing in life worth doing is easy. 

I'll say it again:

Nothing in life worth doing is easy. Accomplishing your goals and becoming successful will not be easy. It takes a tough person with a strong will to do what it takes day in and day out to accomplish their goals.

Success doesn't come overnight. It's the result of little things you do every day that compound over time. 

By the way, if you want to check out our post about the best morning routine for success, click here. 

What's the bottom line here?

Success takes discipline, which brings me to my next point. 

2. Discipline

Accomplishing anything worth accomplishing takes discipline. Let's take the gym for example. 

Going to the gym regularly isn't easy.

First of all, you have to pay for the membership, the gas to get there, and all of your equipment, not to mention the supplements, etc. 

You also have to actually go there and spend an hour of your time working hard, lifting weights, running, etc. 

Worst of all? You won't see any progress after your first day. Or even after your first week. If you're new in the gym you may see strength gains after a few weeks, but you won't notice a visual difference for months. 

And after you've been lifting for years, you'll have to work even harder for gains that are few and far between. 

But if you have the discipline to go to the gym day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, you will most definitely benefit and see massive results.

You'll be strong, in shape, healthy, more energized, more confident, live longer, etc. Those are all tremendous benefits, but they take work, and you won't receive them upfront. 

You have to make a hard decision now to benefit later on. You have to be disciplined.

Discipline compounds. One proper decision leads to another. Likewise, one bad decision leads to another.

Think of it this way:

When you wake up early, you're starting your day with something hard instead of something easy. Now that you're already up, you might as well do something else hard, like exercise.

From there, you can start your homework, or get a hard start on work, or call another client, etc. Success compounds and you build momentum. 

Conversely, if you start your day by sleeping in, you'll lazily get out of bed, and probably spend the next 30 minutes on your phone. Next you may skip exercise and eat an unhealthy snack, play video games, start work late, etc.

Which of those two scenarios is best for your long-term success? Imagine the version of yourself that wakes up early and gets sh*t done every single day 10 years from now, versus the version of you that wastes time, sleeps late, etc.

You must discipline yourself by waking up early so you can start your day properly and set yourself up for long-term success.

Waking up early will help you accomplish your goals.

3. Goals

Speaking of which, let's talk about goals. You're probably reading this article because you know waking up early will help you accomplish your goals, but you hate waking up early. 

You're on the right track - there's nothing more important than bettering yourself and accomplishing your goals. 

If you don't have goals, that's a problem. You must be crystal clear on what you want in life and go after it. This can change all the time - but you must have a purpose. 

Purpose is the hard part, but once you have your purpose in mind, waking up early to accomplish it becomes easy. 

I highly recommend Jordan Peterson's Self Authoring program, specifically the Future Authoring program, for those who don't have a clear picture of their ideal future. 

It helped me tremendously, and after completing it, I've been waking up with the sun every morning ever since. 

You need to start with why. I have written many posts about waking up early, and all of them discuss the importance of knowing why you're waking up early. You must know your why, and then everything else falls into place. 

What's the bottom line here?

Waking up early helps you accomplish your goals. One of my goals is health/fitness related. I want to take care of myself as best as possible so I can have the energy to provide for my family. 

Yesterday, I woke up at 6 AM and ran four miles before my roommates were out of bed. If that's not getting sh*t done, I don't know what is. 

Wake up early and accomplish your goals! 

4. Productivity

You've probably gotten a sense of this post's general theme: productivity. Waking up early makes you more productive.

First of all, you can focus on what's most important to you before others are even awake. There are no distractions, from your phone or email, from your family or friends, co-workers, etc.

Before the world wakes up and begins messaging you out the wazoo, you can focus on you. You can take care of your most important tasks first thing in the morning, before others interrupt your day.

For example, when I first wake up I like to exercise, read/learn, and write in my journal, which I find hard to do later in the day. 

Second of all, you're most productive when you first wake up, especially after exercise, because your brain secretes a chemical called Neurofactor, which enhances brain function. (By the way, EarlyBird has Neurofactor as well.) 

Third, when you make a difficult decision to wake up early, doing other productive things becomes easier as well. When I wake up early, it makes productivity far easier, because you're in a productive mindset. 

Think about it this way: 

When you set your alarm the night before with a plan to wake up early, you're setting a goal for yourself. 

In the morning when you wake up and hit snooze, the very first thing you're doing in the morning is failure. Anything aside from waking up and taking action is failure. You do NOT want to start your day with a failure. You want to start your day with success. 

Once you have a successful mindset, everything else takes care of itself. 

5. Mindset

Waking up early helps you embody the mindset you need to be successful. You can be rich today if you want. Rich people don't necessarily have a lot of money or wealth, they have the mindset required to achieve riches.

Once you fully embrace the rich mindset, you too will be rich, now and in the future. I know it sounds silly, but it's true. All successful people are not successful because they have money, but because they have what it takes to acquire those riches. 

They provide value to the market and in exchange are rewarded with riches, both monetary riches and otherwise. 

A rich-minded person can acquire riches and have them all taken away, only to rebuild those riches once again. A poor person can win the lottery and remain poor. That's why the majority of lottery winners file bankruptcy. 

Waking up early puts you in a successful, rich frame of mind.