Working out in the morning as been the most productive new habit I’ve gained in the last few years. I used to go at night, but it was too hard to be consistent. When I go in the morning I have more energy throughout the rest of the day. It makes me more disciplined in other aspects and makes me feel better. I probably don’t need to convince you that exercising in the morning is a good thing.

For people like me (probably most), the hardest thing about working out is getting out of bed. I used to hate mornings. If I can get to the gym, I’m good. But convincing myself to leave a warm bed instead of sleeping in has always been the biggest barrier.

My routine is to ride that snooze button as far as it will take me, take a quick shower, get dressed in the dark and bolt out the door. —Willie Geist

(This is me for most of my life ☝️).

After much trial and error, here are my fool-proof steps for getting to the gym in the morning.

1. Keep your alarm away from bed ⏰

Instead of using your phone as an alarm I recommend a lamp alarm. At the very least, whatever you use, make sure it forces you to get out of your bed to turn it off. If you can manage it, try to physically jump out of bad instead of slithering (this was a process for me).

2. Have a firm NO SNOOZING policy 😴

Instead of five alarms, have one. Snoozing is a slippery slope that will only make you groggier and almost always leads to failure to work out. You cannot break the snoozing rule. Ever.