Don't touch the clock

I’ve been trying (rather unsuccessfully) to consistently wake up earlier.

Most weekdays I have no issue. But then the weekend happens and I end up staying up a little later and wanting to sleep in a little longer.

So then I inevitably change my alarm from 5am to 6 or 7.

After several go-arounds of this, I realized this morning that the reason I can’t habituate waking up at same time in the morning has almost nothing to do with me wanting to sleep in on Saturdays.

The problem is, I keep resetting the alarm.

Because if the alarm is set to 5:00 every day (no changes), I’m going to eventually get the message (or suffer).

If I wake up everyday at my set alarm, even on the days I don’t feel like it, even on the days when I went to bed at 11 or 12 pm, I’m eventually going to learn.

And if I do it everyday—same time, same place—I’ll eventually adopt a habit that will stay with me for life.

Call it self-control. Call it negative reinforcement. Call it what you want.

The trick to discipline is in not giving yourself the freedom to choose.