The time you wake up has a lot to do with who you become. The difference between waking up at 6 am and 4 am may seem insignificant to the average zombie, but the difference is massive. Think about the time you wake up and then by the end of this article ask yourself whether you want to wake up earlier than you currently are.

I am happy to confess that the idea of waking up at 4 am was not my own. How it came about was that I was bouncing on my trampoline at home trying to boost my energy levels before sitting down to write an inspiring article for all of you wonderful people.

Whenever I am doing something like exercise, I like to combine the activity with either education, or inspiration, or both. To achieve this, I put on a motivational YouTube video to watch at the same time. The video I watched featured the famous motivational speaker Eric Thomas.

I can’t remember exactly what he said, but the message was that if you are not waking up at three or four o’clock each morning, then your purpose and your vision for your life is off track. I thought about this idea quite a lot and realised that when I am most inspired, I naturally wake up early.

The primary goal of what I am going to tell you today is for you to not only wake up early but for you to wake up and work on your passion straight away. It’s for you to allow more time for your passion.

“The truth is that the uninspired sleep in and find it hard to wake up because they are just cruising through life without any direction or passion. These same zombies are the ones that spend their whole day complaining, and telling people why they feel tired even though they just slept for twelve hours”

The two reasons the average zombie finds it hard to wake up is because of poor diet, and zero motivation as to why they should wake up. It’s easy to just sleep your life away! It’s easy to say I will follow my dream tomorrow! The time is now. Wake up and get working on your dream!

Below are the five benefits of waking up at 4 am:

1. You get to start the day with what you are passionate about

Waking up at 4 am allows you to get right to your passion. This becomes possible because you most likely won’t have any commitments like work at 4 am in the morning. This gives you a good two or three hours each morning to smash at the activities that relate to your passion.

When you then start work or travelling to work at say 7 am, you have spent the first part of your morning being inspired, and this will carry through to the rest of your day. You will find yourself more positive during the day and strangely more inspired. How you start the day determines how you finish the day.

What happened to me, and why I began waking up at 4 am, is that I analysed my evenings when I got home from work. I realised that I usually had lower levels of energy and didn’t have what it took to go and do my passion (inspiring you lot).

So, because I was coming home and not being productive, I used Eric Thomas’s advice and worked out that this evening time was wasted. I realised it would be better to go to bed early, so I could wake up earlier and pursue my passion then. Since forming this habit, the game has changed for me, my friends. The game can change for you as well – I promise.

2. Use the time you wake up as a measurement of your passion

The time you wake up is not only crucial to your success; it’s also a measurement of your current levels of passion. Simply put, if you can’t wake up early in the morning, then you are not passionate enough.

Sleep is important, and you need eight hours of it, but living each day with passion is just as important. Your levels of passion will slide up and down like the stock market over time, but every once in a while check in with what time you are waking up.

“Speak to someone who is living their dream, and they will tell you that they wish they didn’t have to sleep” – Tim Denning

3. Get a head start on everyone else

While all the zombies are fast asleep, while all your competitors in business are still underneath the sheets, you have the opportunity to outwork them. The way you become successful in any pursuit in life it to outwork everyone else.

Given the amount of time I have spent writing and studying personal development, I would have to be a total freaking moron if I didn’t understand this niche and know how to share it with you all by now. I am no smarter than anyone else; I just choose to work twice as hard.

You have that same opportunity and by waking up at 4 am you can leave your competition in a burning cloud of smoke.

4. No one is awake, and it’s quiet

Many pursuits in life require deep thinking, focus, and often silence. The advantage of waking up at 4 am is that you can achieve all three of these things. The rest of the zombies in the world are sound asleep, and so you have the chance to maximise the silence.

I have found that there is something strangely calming and inspiring by being awake at 4 am. I have started to feel like I am doing something that will truly change the world because I want my dream so bad. I feel like one of those athletes in a Nike advertisement that is awake at the crack of dawn to train. The difference is I am not training in a field of sport; I am training in the art of personal development.

5. You will have more time to do what you love

On top of your normal work day, waking up at 4 am will give you extra time when your mind is the most relaxed and active to pursue your dream. You should at least find that you have an extra three hours per day that are now much more productive and focused. Three hours a day times seven days a week means you will have an additional twenty-one hours a week to play with.

Don’t tell me you don’t have time because you do. You now have the one strategy that every successful person in the world has used at one time or another; the art of waking up early. Enjoy your extra time each and thank me later.

I look forward to seeing what art you can create in the world with your passion and extra time.

What time do you wake up each day and why? I’d love to hear so let me know in the comment section below or on my website timdenning.net or my Facebook.