Very often we claim to be too busy, especially when it comes to taking care of ourselves. It seems that our lives are filled by the demands of other people and unfortunately we tend to put off the “me time” until someday in the future.

But did you know that there is a certain part of the day which can give you the personal time you need? This time is the morning time. By learning to get up earlier, you can add more flexibility to your morning and enjoy a better start to your day.

So how do you get up earlier, then? Well, it starts with a decision, followed by a target time and commitment to your plan. For instance, you could set an objective to get up 3o minutes earlier than what you currently do. But rather than switching to this new wake-up time all at once, make this change in smaller increments. At the same time, commit to this change by being consistent with your new wake-up schedule (in other words, keep executing your new wake-up plan every day).

By changing your sleep cycle in 15-minute increments at a time, for 3-4 nights. Once you are comfortable with this small change, make another adjustment to your wake-up time.

When you switch to earlier wake-ups, there is still one point that you have to pay attention to: the time you go to bed. Otherwise you end up making the same mistake I did. Even if I woke up early, I didn’t change my bed-going time accordingly and this made me a sleep-deprived “office zombie.”

It’s easier to know when to hit the bed when you know how much sleep you approximately need.

For instance, in my case, I know that if I want to get up refreshed at 6:45am, I’ll have to go to bed around 11pm to get enough sleep.

Once you have successfully adopted this new schedule (both getting to bed earlier and waking up earlier), take full advantage of your new-found “me time” by investing in yourself. For instance, you could:

• Meditate
• Read a self-help book
• Exercise
• Write
• Build your business

One thing that can be a great factor in deciding how you spend your time in the mornings are to know the goal you are trying to reach. Then, dedicate most of your early morning hours to this activity.

For instance, when I was working a day job, one of the goals I had was to pass a certification exam related to my job. So I spent my early mornings studying for the exam, which I eventually passed.

In my personal experience, these early morning sessions are the major factor why I have achieved a lot in my life. You can take advantage of these early hours too, to get closer to your goals and dreams.