For some people, waking up early is as natural as breathing.

Lucky them.

It’s a struggle I know from personal experience, challenging myself to wake up at 4:30am every day. However, for many others like our young adults, waking up early is a tough task. I truly believe using the motivational tips below can give them a better way to start the day. So here we go!

Tip One – Encourage them wake up to a clean environment.

Believe it or not, but the way their room looks can help or hinder their ability to wake up early. A messy room will generally make you unmotivated. When you wake up to a clean environment, just the sight of a completed task can be energizing and make you jump out of bed.

At least you’ve got one less worry to think about!

Tip Two – Remind them of the “Why” to wake up early.

Encourage your children on the fact that waking up early comes with immediate benefits like better health, more time to spend on the things you want to do, and higher productivity.

Remind them to invest ten minutes to think about and write down all the right reasons “Why” waking up early is essential for achieving goals, and they might never stop writing. It’s essential for our teens, as well as ourselves to focus on these reasons the first moment our eyes open and we’ll be up and about in no time!

Tip Three – Get the best sleep you can.

One common reason why young adults find it difficult to wake up early is merely because they didn’t have enough sleep the night before and if they had, then it wasn’t good enough. I believe the first thing you should consider encouraging and changing about your night routine is your sleeping hours. I know this can be a challenging conversation with a teen who wants to stay up late playing video games and surfing the internet, but talk consistently about how getting to bed early for a change can impact their overall health and wellness physically and mentally.

Motivate the fact that sleep can help them be more productive at school and in their extra-curricular activities!

Say things like, “Can’t the things you usually like to do between 9-midnight be postponed for tonight?” Promote the fact that motivating yourself to wake up early is easier to do when your body isn’t clamoring for the opposite. Sleep effectively.

Tip Four – Avoid as many unsolved problems as possible.

A night’s rest is more restful and peaceful when you haven’t procrastinated at school, work and there weren’t any problems at home you chose to sweep under the rug instead of solving them as they come.

Definitely, where you sleep also matters, but try to be as comfortable as you can. Encourage yourself and your teen to change your bed, rearrange your room, or have air-conditioning if that’s what will make you sleep better. Complete the tasks at hand that you set for yourself that day and watch how more peaceful you’ll be.

Tip Five – Reward and Punish.

Let’s dive deep on talking about the rewards first. Remember how you used to get candies from your parents or stars from teachers when you did something good? How about using this concept of a reward system to motivate your child to wake up early?

A reward system, however, should cut both ways. To make the system more effective, you need to set goals, boundaries and repercussions up front for yourself and child when you wake up late. You also need to be stringent in implementing the penalties. Don’t rationalize. Don’t justify.

The more aware you and your teen are about the consequences of waking up late, the more motivated you and your young adult will be to not to do it again.

Tip Six – Develop Partnership

As you work towards making your child more productive, take a step back and begin to hold yourself accountable to these standards as well. This will encourage more change! The goal is to help our kids not think of this along the lines of misery loving company, but rather this is more of a case of creating more time during the mornings to better yourselves.

I know for me, having two daughters who are three and 2 months, it’s important for my wife and I to wake up earlier in the day to get to readings, workouts, and other areas we choose to grow mentally and physically. Imagine how hard that would be with the girls awake!

It’s much easier to have a partner to encourage you. I’m a super lucky guy! I genuinely believe you’ll get the results you want more quickly if you help and motivate each other. Be their personal alarm clock and vice versa!

These concepts will get your teens on the right path of having a leader approach towards life. It starts with being confident and knowing how important it is to strive after dreams and goals, despite the obstacles.

Let me know what you think about this post and your opinions on waking up early to start your day.

Also, I would love to speak at your next event, check out the programs I have to offer! Lastly, always remember tomorrow is yours to create, and don’t limit yourself.