Becoming a dad was the best thing that happened to me, and it changed everything. Even after hearing every story from my friends and family about what it is like to have a baby, and thinking “it’s not going to be that bad”, it was that bad. Our baby is a really bad sleeper. And to make having an early morning routine harder, we live in a 1-bedroom apartment, and we co-sleep.

In February, I was ready to wake up early again. I had been in that grinding routine for six months: I’d set my alarm for a reasonable time, then hit snooze as many times as I could until I was almost late for work. Still in bed, I’d check work email (so it was as if I was doing something productive), Facebook, and Twitter. Then, I’d take a quick warm shower, have a rushed breakfast while checking work email, and rush to work before I was late. It was an exhausting and stressful way to begin my days.

I had also been missing some quiet, me time since I became a parent, and I realized that early morning was the best time for that.

My February wake up routine didn’t last long, although I did keep up with two meaningful changes: No technology until I finished breakfast, and a cold shower first thing in the morning. I occasionally gave in, checking my phone or procrastinating a bit on my shower, but that’s ok. That was a lot better than what I had been doing before.

A foot surgery and a couple of other hiccups kept me on this marginally better routine, but I knew it should be a lot better. So, when I read Rachel Gillett’s What happened when I woke up two hours earlier for a week on Fast Company, I knew I had found the motivation I needed to wake up early again.

That same day, I changed my alarm ring, and set it to 6a — 1.5h earlier than I had been getting out of bed. And just as important, I was determined not to hit snooze. When my phone went off at 6a the next morning, I felt just like I did every day and wanted to hit the snooze, but I got up. Day no. 2 didn’t work out as well; the baby woke up twice for a 2-hour period in total, so I hit snooze a few times before re-setting my alarm to 7a.

This is what I do now: I wake up at my new early time unless I’m up for 2 hours or longer in the middle of the night. When that happens, I wake up 1 hour later. After almost a month of waking up early, I think I’ve had to re-set my alarm 4–5 times.

During that first week, I changed my alarm time from 6a to 5:45a and then to 5:30a, which is when I’ve been waking up since. Unlike other times I’ve tried getting up early, this time I’m doing a good job at going to bed earlier — sounds obvious, but not always easy to do. I believe this has been key for having been successful so far.

My new routine begins the night before: I leave my clothes for the next day in the bathroom and dining room. The next morning, as soon as my alarm goes off at 5:30a, I’m up. I stumble my way to the bathroom and take a cold shower. At that point, I just want to shake the grogginess out of me as soon as possible; nothing does that better than a cold shower. There are other things I like about taking cold showers too, but I’m not getting into that here. After I shower, I have a cup of water. Then I spend a few minutes doing a mild stretch, followed by a 10-minute meditation session, and a slow breakfast — still a big bowl of cereal with fruit.

What else do I do with my extra morning time? For one thing, it’s a relief not to be physically and mentally rushed early in the morning. I feel much less stressed. After I’m done with my routine, I do whatever I feel like. Some days I’ll clean, since it’s easier than when the baby is awake or late at night when I’m exhausted. Other days I’ll work on creative projects, go out for a walk, or read a (physical) book. And sometimes I’ll just start working as early as 6:30a (early in, early out). But even better, I just feel good about being up early.

Even if you don’t have a baby at home, I recommend you try waking up two hours earlier. You might find out you’re a morning person after all or just enjoy the benefits of being up early. Just don’t quit too soon; do it at least for 30 days.

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Edit: One month after I started my early morning routine, I changed my alarm again, this time to 5:00a.