Why do people wake up at 4 AM to exercise gratitude?

Waking up at 4 a.m. is how you hold yourself accountable.

Waking up at 4 a.m. is how you build self-discipline, every single morning.

Waking up at 4 a.m. is how you inspire and influence people, myself included, to make one small change every day to build a better life.

But it’s not easy...

It’s easier to stay in a warm bed, with a fluffy pillow gently cradling our heads. It’s easy to turn off the alarm clock and hit the snooze button. And it’s easy to go about our day without a plan, responding to emails as soon as they come in, getting a burger from fast food for lunch, eating on potato chips while watching TV, or gaming through the night.

But consider this... All days add up. Days, Months, Years of eating junk food turn into major health issues. Days, Months, Years of being stuck to your social media apps translate into the loss of productivity and important goals. Days, Months, Years of sleeping in and staying awake till 3 a.m. turn into poor performance and memory loss, and you're not noticing any symptoms yet.

Lacking self-discipline is not anyone else’s problem — it’s yours. Do you want to build stamina and coach yourself into a person who is focused on goals? or Do you want to live without going in any direction and obstacles show up then blame someone or something else?

Self-discipline is a lifestyle, an attitude, a mindset. It affords you freedom, helps you grow, and gives your life more purpose. It also puts you in charge to decide today— right now, in fact — that you’ll get better at something, create something valuable, or commit to a goal that will benefit you years down the road.

Here’s how you can build self-discipline in small increments every day.

If you want to really focus on something, do it first thing in the morning: Start your day with this question: What is the one thing I am committed to completing today? This way trains your brain to focus on those specific goals that are important to you right now. How do you start? Write the question in big letters and hang it on your wall. Read it out loud as you start your day. Come up with an answer on the spot and answer it out loud. Then follow up by taking action — focus your energy throughout the day to completing your one thing.

If you want to problem-solve, find time to do deep work: Deep work is concentrating on difficult tasks such as studying, problem-solving, writing. Doing your deep work early means taking full advantage of your body’s biological clock. For most people, the early morning hours are optimal for deep work. Specifically, the brain’s peak performance is up to 4 hours after we wake up. So if you wake up at 8 a.m, then your peak times are until 12 p.m. Working early allows your brain to focus fully on the problem at hand, with fewer distractions, and fewer inputs from your surroundings.

If you want to satisfy with something for fun, do something difficult first: What’s the point of doing something difficult first in order to reward yourself later? Postponed satisfaction can increase your chance of succeeding in many areas of your life — your education, career, short and long-term goals, even your personal life. Resist the temptation and immediately treat yourself by thinking of one benefit. Take your attention away from the distraction and focus on your priorities each day.

If you want to regain control, say no to what distracts you: Distractions can come from different sources, not just your electronic devices. If your goal is to lead a self-disciplined, it’s critical to turn your back on all types of distractions so they’re not limiting you from focusing on what’s important. First, set your phone to Airplane mode when you need to work. Check your email and social media apps only 2–3 times a day; Avoid browsing the Internet or reading news every hour; close all tabs in your browser to avoid any temptations to do searches.

If you want to have a more positive attitude in life, say “thank you.”: There are many benefits to practicing gratitude. It trains your brain to focus on positive things and it keeps you training in your personal life so you are less focused on what others are doing. Take a few hours when you wake up and before you start getting ready for work or school.

Thank you.

Al Ardosa

P.S. No man is free who cannot command himself.

~ Pythagoras