Today I am going to ask you to change one thing in your life. It’s a small thing, and maybe some of you already do it. Quit snoozing your alarm.

I value my morning routine, but it did not come naturally to me. I love sleep, and for the vast majority of my life, I snoozed my alarm until the absolute latest I could get up. I was just not a morning person.

One day I decided I wouldn’t snooze my alarm anymore. Nothing precipitated this. I just decided it was a bit silly to go back and forth between my bed and alarm clock for 30 minutes every day. After making my resolution, I set my wakeup for as late as I could stand and went to bed. The next morning, I got up, considered snoozing, but went about my day instead.

I kept a perfect record for many months (I wasn’t keeping track), but my first slip-up came on a weekend when there was no reason I had to get up. My morning was the worse for it, and I got back on track the next day. After a while I realized I had become a morning person. This is yet another thing I accidentally accomplished.

Deciding when to wake up depends on what you like to do in the morning, but it is vital that you decide before going to bed. Your morning self is a dummy. I like to get up every day at 5:30, so that’s my default. I might change it if I get to bed very late, but I usually just accept less sleep if it’s a one-time thing. If I have to leave the house very early, I cut out some of my morning rituals or wake up earlier than 5:30.

Periodically, I go through phases where I start snoozing again, but I don’t sweat it too much. At some point I get back on track, and with the benefit of hindsight, I can always tell the difference in how my days go. Without rehashing some of the same principles of my earlier post, I think controlling the way your day begins sets the proper tone for the day. Though I think this term has been ruined a bit, it is good to be on offense to the maximum extent possible.

So, try this for me. I think you’ll like it. Maybe make your bed too.