For those of you who have a 9-5 job, I’m guessing you set the alarm at a time that gets you to work right on schedule. Then there are the self-employed guys like me who don’t have to get up at a certain time. My old habit is to set the alarm at 11am and then hit the snooze button until my alarm gives up. I wouldn’t roll out of bed until after noon. I realized that this was costing me a lot of work time so I did some research to solve the problem. The solution, it turns out, is not getting a second alarm or one of those gizmos that rolls around your room until you can find it. It’s visualizing your plan to get up the night before.

Here’s what I do: when I set my alarm at night, I tell myself that when the alarm rings in the morning I will sit up immediately. For the next three minutes I visualize getting up without hitting the snooze button. Then I go to sleep. When the alarm rings in the morning, my response is now automatic, with no snooze button weakness. I already mentally prepared for the scenario so it plays out just like how I rehearsed: I sit up in bed and turn off the alarm. (Important tip: never turn off the alarm while you are laying down!) Then I sit upright in bed until I gain enough power to stand up. Try it!