Did you know that a whopping 90% of executives wake up before 6AM on weekdays? According to a survey conducted by Laura Vanderkam, it’s true. She studied the morning rituals of several successful people and discovered that being an early riser was a major commonality.

For example, did you know Opray Winfrey wakes up between 6:02 and 6:20 PM all by herself? Yup, no alarm clock, no wake-up call, her body does it all on its own. Another person who wakes up super early? Elon Musk. The tech genius wakes up at 7 AM every day and begins by tackling critical emails before getting his kid off to school, showering and heading off to the office. 

Many more like Gary Vaynerchuck, Warren Buffet and Virgin’s Richard Branson have been said to start their day quite early as well. Even CEO and Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos wakes up early, although his day starts a bit later than some of the others. He gets his day started between 7 and 8 AM by working out and reading the newspaper.

Imagine what you would do with an extra few hours in the morning. Would you spend more time with your spouse? Start that workout routine you’ve been meaning to dive into? Maybe you’d use it to work on a side hustle to earn extra income.  Either way, you’re sure to come out on top if you have the early morning hours all to yourself.

There are several you can teach yourself to get up early. One way to do this is to change your lifestyle for better sleep. Prime your body for great sleep by skipping the coffee in the afternoon and sticking to a consistent sleep schedule most days of the week.

Another great trick? Power down at bedtime. The blue light suppresses the release of melatonin which helps induce restful sleep. If sleep is a priority you should probably also avoid alcohol. While it seems like you may fall asleep easier after a few drinks, alcohol actually interrupts your sleep cycle and can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night. This will leave you feeling less rested than you normally would be.

When it’s time to wake up, try going for a nice, brisk walk, letting some sunshine into your room or sucking on a peppermint for an instant wake up call (I’m sure brushing your teeth would have a similar effect).

These are just some of the tricks Casper covers in their article about how to wake yourself up. Check out the below visual to get several different methods you can use every day in your life to ensure you get your day started early every day for maximum productivity.