Update on the Snooze Button Challenge
Has anyone else gone 30 days without hitting the snooze button? I’m so glad I decided to do the snooze button challenge! It’s been really interesting to see how this one simple act has changed my habits—and my day-to-day life—in so many ways.
Seriously.
There have been a few ways that not hitting the snooze button has affected me:
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I wake up with purpose.
Every morning, I wake up and know that I’ll be getting out of bed soon. I feel refreshed and I’m not starting my day on the wrong (anxious ) foot. It makes me already start thinking about my day as soon as I wake up, and it makes me eager to get started!
Before this, when I allowed myself to hit the snooze button, I’d keep hitting it and thinking I haven’t slept long enough! I might not be sleeping a whole lot better after doing this challenge, but at the very least I feel better when I wake up in the morning.
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I’m getting out of bed earlier.
When I first told Mr. Science that I was going to stop hitting the snooze button, he reminded me that he still has to get up and go to work at a certain time… and I think he was a little concerned that I wouldn’t be able to wake up early enough to do our usual morning yoga before he had to leave the house.
Before doing this challenge, I would set my alarm for 6:15am, and then not get out of bed for half an hour. Or I’d set it for 6:30am, and finally roll out of bed after 7am. I would just keep hitting the snooze button instead!
Now, I know that the time I set the alarm for is the time that I’ll be getting out of bed. If I don’t set my alarm, I find that I’m naturally waking up earlier. And that makes a big difference, because it enables me to better plan out my day.
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I’m waking up before the alarm clock goes off.
This is one of my favorite parts—I find myself waking up at least 10 minutes before the alarm is set to go off. While I often wait until the alarm actually goes off before getting out of bed, but it’s really nice to be woken up by my internal clock.
Last week I didn’t set my alarm at all, and I was amazed at how early I was getting out of bed without needing the alarm clock! I bet that as the days continue to get longer, I’ll start waking up and getting out of bed even earlier, too.
How hard was it to do the 30-day snooze button challenge?
I’ve slept in a few mornings over the course of the past month (and by “slept in,” I mean “turned my alarm clock off and then ended up falling back asleep”), but for the most part I’ve been able to get out of bed right away. The only days that I slept in were on the weekend when it didn’t really matter if I slept in, anyways—so that’s convenient!
Otherwise, I was actually surprised at how easy it was to stop hitting the snooze button, once I’d made up my mind to do it. And I think that this is true for so many things, especially with regards to healthy habits: when we make up our minds and really commit wholeheartedly to making a change, the change is that much easier to make and more likely to succeed.
That is so awesome! I love making little adjustments that end up making a huge difference (like drinking more water, lol). Ever since I’ve had my son, I’m up well before an alarm clock can wake me and ironically I feel soooo much better! Maybe it has the same effect as not hitting the snooze button!
Ahahaha! I bet it does 🙂
And yes – it’s the little things that really count and add up!
What an interesting idea! I don’t hit the snooze button often, but when I do I always regret it.
Right?! I hated how much I was hitting the snooze button before. It just starts the day so much better when the snooze button is ignored 🙂
I notice that when I turn off my alarm instead of snooze it, I’m much more aware of the fact that I have to get up and get motivated. It has helped, but there are still mornings when I cave and snooze instead.
I love the idea of this! I think I am going to have to give this a try. I am guilty of hitting the snooze button too many times in the morning and it way past time I ditch this habit!
I can honestly say that I have probably only hit the snooze a handful of times since I started setting my own alarm in middle school! I am just not a snooze-hitter..but I sure wish my hubby would take this challenge!!
HA! Yes. Mr. Science is the one who started my bad habit of pressing the snooze button… very kindly, however, he has stopped pressing the snooze button since I created this challenge 🙂
I totally didn’t know this was a challenge, but I’m cringing that I’m even tempted to try it now. I do feel my mornings could be more efficient if I didn’t snooze-it as much. I’m gonna try this. GAH!!!
Good luck!
…Just pretend that the snooze button challenge is the plank challenge and you’ll rock it 😉