Jocko Willink: How To Wake Up Early

“You’ve got 24 hours in a day,” says Jocko Willink, a former Navy SEAL and the founder of leadership consultancy Echelon Front. “The earlier you get up, the more you can take advantage of those hours.”

Willink, who wakes at 4:30 a.m., says that getting up early can help you stay productive and competitive. He taught himself to be an early riser as a young SEAL after noticing that some of the best people in the field got to work before he did. “I started waking up earlier so I could maybe get a little edge,” he says.

CNBC Make It caught up with Willink for his tips for those training themselves to be early risers.

Listen to your body
Pick a time to wake each morning and make sure that you commit to that time. If you do, you’ll find yourself getting tired earlier and earlier in the evening. Give yourself that rest, he says. Go to bed earlier and earlier until you have developed a new night-time routine and a new fixed bedtime.

“It takes discipline,” says Willink. “When you make that discipline decision early in the morning, the rest of your day is going to have more discipline in it.”

Don’t sleep in on Saturday
By the weekend, you might be tempted to sleep in. Don’t, says Willink. If you do, “by the time Monday morning rolls around you won’t feel like waking up early.” Keep your bedtime and your wake time consistent to ensure you can keep to your early rising schedule.

“Get up early and get up early every day,” he says.

Give yourself time to adjust
Willink says people are surprised that just going to bed as early as 9:30 p.m. isn’t enough to become an early riser. He says people find they can’t force themselves to sleep and will often lie in bed awake until their usual bedtime, making early rising impossible. Remember that creating new habits won’t happen overnight, he says. Change will take time.

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Former Navy SEAL commander Jocko Willink explains how to train yourself to be an early riser | CNBC Make It.

[Elonfuckingmusk]

“What you should do if you wanna wake up early is start waking up early” - best advice ever. Thank you. I never knew it was that easy.

[bigmoomusic]

“sleep in till 6:30” 😂

mate 6:30 is my bedtime, why do you think I’m watching this

[Hooman]

some videos take about 10 minutes, and u still feel empty, but this guys straight ahead of what to do, and thats what we need!!

[gray_mara]

I love it. It's not rocket science. So many videos out there make getting up early seem like it takes a specialised skill set, months of preparation and our branded collection of sponsored products to get up early. No, to get up early, literally all you have to do is get up early, and go to bed early enough to get sufficient sleep. That's literally it.

[JWalton]

Going to bed 8-10 hours before you want to wake up is the best advice I have.
If you can't get that much sleep then you'll struggle until you make it a habit.
I struggle with getting out of bed in the morning and that's the only thing that helps me.
Get adequate sleep, make it a habit, keep the habit by not staying up all night or sleeping in.

[arcticwanderer]

I go to bed at 8:30pm and wake up at 4:00am. It took me a while to get used to that routine but man does it ever make a difference!! Try it.

[daniellejose]

I finished my junior years in a military school and class starts at 6:15 in the morning and trust me waking up 7am feels like i lost to some kind battle.

[RandtMurf]

He’s right. It’s not easy by any means, especially when winding down is hard for me. But this reminded me that a couple of tired days can go a long way in helping fix that for me.

[toxic]

"Babe lets sleep in together this Sunday its a national holiday and the kids are away" - Jocko's wife

"NEGATIVE" -Jocko

[jesperpetersen]

I have done this for the last 6 months now and i love it and i get things done. Training early and preparing tasks that has to be done is possible in that time. I actualy began to wake up at 4 am and so i have 2 hours before the rest of the family get up. It works for me.
Greetings from Denmark

[sweguitar]

"And then on Sunday, you sleeping till eight", bruh i sleep till 2 p.m on sundays

[liamr]

Thank you Sir! Because of you I know wake up 4am most days! Because of Brian Tracy I can get a whole days worth of work done in a few hours because you taught me how to wake up earlier 🙏

[samcohen]

Sleeping until 6:30 is sleeping in?!? Maybe 6:30 p.m.

[spitfiresergi]

Remember this also… When you wake up at 4:30 it’s YOUR time. Now that I have a 3 1/2 year old I realized it’s more valuable than gold.

[wulfjay]

Truth spoken - an early rise is such a good habit!

[BeauStephenson]

Holy moly wowee I cannot believe that waking up earlier was the answer all along.

[radiantbladez]

I like low matter of fact this was. Way better then dancing around all the major points.

[tinamcbride]

Absolutely.
Even on my days off I set my alarm early. I'm lying there awake anyway.

[intellectracoon]

ok, real superman ... i will make "Get Some" my alarm ringtone.

[Sarah-bnhg]

Before they start bothering you 😂😂 hahah i love it