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.”
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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.

[@QueenWolf22]

😂😂

[@Godletrich]

I won't give a like to your comment but I agree with you. That 69 is just shining there nicely. It's a sin to give a thumb up to something that has 69 likes.

[@csrii1861]

I agree with Adam on this one

[@luisandre2750]

Best spoken advice. I'm gonna try it

[@TheWelchProductions]

Simple but not easy

[@bigmoomusic]

“sleep in till 6:30” 😂 mate 6:30 is my bedtime, why do you think I’m watching this

[@Hooman88634]

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!!

[@justvibing2497]

It's all about figuring out a plan

[@tuningtunetuningtuningfunny]

Because most of them goes on and moans and bemoans about non-related things until they suddenly start to talk about what is important in the middle of the video. And even then the videos are usually very dry and poor of advice.

[@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.

[@JWalton314]

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.

[@Furukan455]

My negative trait is saying that it's a waste of time and that I should live a day to the fullest and wake up at 4am to live the day to the fullest again

[@daniellejose6382]

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.

[@arcticwanderer2109]

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.

[@Trec-u]

is that not bothering you to go to bed before even 9pm?

[@caroldurand6803]

Most of my weekday church meetings don't finish until 9.30pm and then have to travel home one hour so difficult...

[@austinhernandez2716]

Sounds miserable

[@arcticwanderer2109]

@austinhernandez2716 As a sports fan, I hate to miss out on late games but health comes first. I have a structure to my life now that I never had before. To each their own I guess.

[@reyonexyz]

I recently have tried doing 9:30 to 3:30. I might pash back the time I go to bed a bit sooner though.

[@adamwolf5226]

“Negative”

[@jacksonn.1207]

I love how 6:30 is his sleep in time

[@ibzyusuf7138]

Jackson Nassir My sleep in time is 1

[@faisalahmed9182]

😂😭

[@nizammahamood4540]

Ikr!

[@kaylag5043]

That's my sleep in time too 😂 The only time I sleep later than 7 is when I'm sick.

[@thatguy-qb6up]

5:30 I'm pretty sure.

[@jesperpetersen636]

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

[@IsraelCountryCube]

Yes agreed amen. Leit it become so brother!

[@pokemaster835]

Eyyy jeg er også fra Danmark og begynder også at stå op klokken 4...... keep it going my guy 🔥🔥🔥

[@marcuscarpenter7230]

For sure, feels so good to know you got a bunch done before everyone else has even started their day.

[@soonerborn9073]

And you then go to bed before it's dark outside.

[@liamr3989]

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 🙏

[@ukhtimiehan649]

I will give it a try. Tq for your feedback

[@jiemangelus999]

what time do you go to bed?

[@sweguitar99]

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

[@TheSubpremeState]

My record for over sleeping is 2am . I had to call my parents to let them know I was still alive at that time. Slept over 20 hours straight.

[@kaylag5043]

Dude how. I can't sleep past 7.

[@PaulnJenna]

Bet we all know what your life looks like lol

[@THEINFERNOKID]

@@TheSubpremeState lol thats my life rn.

[@tyson5794]

My record is sleeping till 7 pm

[@toxic1628]

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

[@howardtreesong4860]

Jocko is nothing if not a supportive husband and I’m sure he’d go out of his way to accommodate his wife on a national holiday. “Yes, ma’am. We’re going to let ourselves go and not rise earlier than 04:12!"

[@samcohen2483]

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

[@wulfjay7102]

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

[@soonerborn9073]

There isn't one measurable metric that shows waking up early is a good thing.

[@setiolinardi1250]

Thanks 4 your advice sir👍

[@serenitypassion8133]

Thank you

[@michaelangelopalacio8631]

The simple days back in 2019😊

[@radiantbladez]

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

[@spitfire4sergi]

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.

[@monikasea]

So true!i have 4 kids

[@BeauStephenson]

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

[@tinamcbride5423]

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.

[@famsafari6421]

Yeah 💯

[@Sarah-bn1hg]

Before they start bothering you 😂😂 hahah i love it

[@dustytrout5]

Watching this at 1:46am

[@katwolf4566]

Saw the title on the video before clicking. Sorry but it's not "Ex," it's "Retired" Navy Seal. Lol, it's not like you divorced or broke up with the military. It's hard to earn that retirement and with respect, he deserves it.

[@BellaFrice]

I’ve gotten early but I never seem to get to bed any earlier like he says :/

[@bubbamane658]

I’m on graveyard shift. I think I’m gonna stop sleeping all day. Get up at 4pm and do something’s I want befor my 10pm shift

[@GraniteStateVictoria]

I get up between 5 AM and 6 AM naturally every day, in the summer I sometimes wake up as early as 4 AM. But in winter when it's cold, I wake up between 5:30 AM and 6 AM, sometimes I even need an alarm to get up at 6 AM (yikes, I know). But once I tried a 2 AM wake up time for a month, lasted two weeks before I couldn't handle it anymore and went back to 5 AM-6AM.

[@user-tw2nc3fv7z]

This is THE VIDEO.

[@itschuru6170]

Get some

[@finndeclan3996]

It's really simple just get a reveille trumpet call (earrape) as your alarm sound and voila Once you get used to it no matter how little you slept last night like 3 hrs sleep you will wake up on time and felt no tired

[@gayformyloveraerin]

"you sleep in till, 6:30, " *me who sleeps in till 11 on saturdays

[@moisesrivas1428]

nah the weekend point is so real 😂

[@adammadtin8451]

How do you deal with insomnia

[@klumtheultimate7046]

Sleeping in until 6:30?! Inconceivable!

[@user-iu7oe7nf9w]

What an idea. His brain's been musclized.💪

[@alfiecollins5617]

The trouble with me is that when I wake up early I am obviously tired, but I still can't get to sleep early enough at night despite being tired. It's like I have two cycles: my exhaustion cycle and my sleep cycle. These are not necessarily aligned. So I can wake up early everyday for months, go to bed tired and still not be able to sleep until the early hours of the morning.

[@alielhajj79]

i know what you mean. Just try and not eat or do any physical exercise before bed, stay away from caffine strating from 1pm, and try and meditate a little bit more in order to stop overthinking... Keep that up for a few days and then your're good. Hope this helps

[@DavidS11]

Roger that

[@rajgill7576]

I want to see this man at 9pm

[@meredithyoung186]

not me looking up "how to wake up early" so I can start waking up before 8am LMAOOO.

[@successgrindset9873]

These yt videos : " so the best way to wake up early is to wake up early " * " so the best fastest way to get rich is to get rich fast "

[@laughoutmeow]

I wake up late but this means while my enemies sleep early I'm working late So it doesn't matter in the end

[@ajay101ification]

The problem, I believe, new generation have is how to sleep at night.

[@christopherwalker6056]

You are spot on. I'm a total night owl and I've noticed all most all young people that I know or meet also stay up most of the night.

[@intellectracoon]

start waking up early and you will start to sleep at night.

[@kaylag5043]

It's easy. Just put your phone down and read a book a little while before you go to bed. Turn social media notifications off and leave it alone so you can relax and go to sleep.

[@3LZ0RR0]

Everybody is always on their phone and that's why we don't go to sleep, i have improved my sleep so much by just putting my phone down and getting up earlier

[@KnuckleHeadMusicUK]

I'm the opposite, I can sleep whenever I like, morning, afternoon, evening or night. It's the staying awake and keeping my eyes open that first 30 seconds I struggle with. I always find a snooze option. I can go to the other side of the room, hit snooze, wake up 2 hours later and be confused as to how it happened. I've found a wall-plug timer, with a light bulb plugged in helps.

[@covid546]

Actually guys it depends on your sleep competence. If you feel well rested after 4 cycles (6-7 h), then you can sleep at 10 pm and wake up at 4:30. If you don't know how many sleep cycles you need to feel rested here is what you can do. Don't set an alarm and calculate the approximate time. If it is more that 7 hours probably your sleep competence is 5 cycles, then there is nothing you can do, you just lose roughly 1 hour every day.

[@alexconnor9884]

I would like to start waking up at 3:00. I'm currently at 4:00.

[@toladep]

Isaac Solis that’s wild. Any reason you want to be up at 3?

[@alexconnor9884]

So I can workout before work which starts at 6:30. It would give me time to workout without worrying about the time, come home, cook, and get ready. I work 12 hour days.

[@habituallinestepper2883]

I'd like to start waking up at 9pm. Really getting a huge head start on the next day. Have fun catching up, suckas!

[@Ivan-qb9cs]

thats not good actually.

[@alexconnor9884]

@@Ivan-qb9cs Why not, Stick in the mud?

[@adretter]

Bad when the "work" is to practice piano and the parents are sleeping just a few meters away (It's a very small house).

[@KC-dg9pu]

Yea but if you wake up late then you can work later into the night

[@lukacalov1988]

LOL this guy thinks 8 AM is kinda late Bruh im happy if i get up by 11

[@user-ej3iw8lw3w]

i can already tell that this man is not a sjw

[@arjundhingra5246]

Me watching this at 2 AM 😂

[@adammakarichi4095]

I wwke up at 5:00 am

[@BWater-yq3jx]

Just get enough sleep. There's no reason to brag about getting up early, ever. Either you go to bed really early, like a kid, or you deliberately forego sleep - which is stupid.

[@wooden2187]

I once spent 6 months going to bed at 8pm and waking up at 5am... my body wouldn't accept it and I was eventually fired for poor performance. I now sleep until 7am everyday and I've never been more productive. I still agree routine is best though.

[@ratboy555]

"Just sell your porsche!"

[@BobbyMack]

Jocko "sleeping in until 6:30 in the morning" Willink

[@UsyksmashedFurytopieces]

This is an example of people taking what works for them and applying it to everyone else. What about people who have sleep problems, people who have trouble getting off to sleep eg 3am or later, or natural a night owls?

[@arjundhingra5246]

I feel guilty now for taking afternoon naps 😢

[@Nicotine-hw5ks]

I need help waking up earlier ?? Ok just wake up earlier

[@archocystosyrinx]

*Why* To Wake Up Early

[@gamer9]

Waking up early isn’t that important! It’s all about the amount of sleep you get

[@trevorlei]

but waking up early gives you access to those beloved quiet hours

[@alpacawithouthat987]

True, but waking up early means you will have less distractions

[@richardwagner9176]

it makes a difference spending your waking hours during natural day light vs lightbulbs, cavemen didn't browse instagram stories until 4am to be then asleep until 1pm

[@musicbass4469]

So if you want to wake up early all you have to do I wake up early? 🤣

[@Bigred-pb4di]

Basically go to sleep early I think what he's saying

[@mikesaunders2470]

Lol imagine sleeping in till 6:30 is sleeping in

[@leemcmullan]

How to wake up early: wake up early.

[@anonymousplayer8174]

I sleep early and still couldn't wake up early

[@ericirwin413]

Blast reveille real loud! Anyone agree?🎺🔊 🛌😳😏👍

[@17th_Colossus]

I can sleep for 15 hours and still end up tired, I’m built different. Grandpa’s got nothing on me!

[@youssefayman8030]

Bro is jack reacher

[@edwardlopez9061]

4:30 AM? You must be lazy 😂. I wake up at 3 and i’m at my job ready to work by 4.

[@alexmatthews2332]

This guy has a line of energy drinks js😅

[@EverythingCameFromNothing]

Sleep in till 6:30? 😂

[@GraniteStateVictoria]

It depends on the individual. For me, 6:30 AM is sleeping in, even 6:09 AM from hitting the snooze button once is (I do that sometimes in winter, New Hampshire winters have a way of doing that to you) but in summer I'm up as early as 4 AM naturally some days (usually around 5 AM) but in winter it's closer to 6 AM (woke up at 5:39 AM today). I actually tried a 2 AM wake up time every day schedule. Lasted two weeks before going back to my 5 AM-6 AM regular wake up time.

[@EverythingCameFromNothing]

@@GraniteStateVictoria i wish i could get up at 6am and feel fresh!!

[@bruck2723]

scary

[@trollingisasport]

Ok I'll get up at 10 instead of 11

[@almightyalan8942]

It's the "before they start bothering u" fa me yo 💀💀💀

[@bilalrahman2786]

What if you can't sleep till 4.30am or even later no matter how much you try. This stuff only works for people who can fall asleep quick. It's takes almost 2 to 3 hours of rolling around in bed before I can fall a sleep.

[@aniiraqigawad6693]

Smoke some indica Junior

[@EDTUN3R]

Work out in the evenings

[@bilalrahman2786]

@@aniiraqigawad6693 I don't know what that is

[@bilalrahman2786]

@@EDTUN3R tried that. Still doesn't work.

[@EDTUN3R]

@@bilalrahman2786 it helped me when I had insomnia.

[@austinhernandez2716]

The argument never made any sense. Do stuff before others? Yeah, you can do it late at night the day before too. There's no difference.

[@deecee1853]

Or... you can do it the previous night, go to bed early and still wake up early

[@jadesisk1852]

@@deecee1853 Still... There's no difference, and the video we just watched said you can't do that because others would be awake at that time... need to stay up later than them to have free time, or got to bed yourself even earlier to be awake when they are not. Take care of it today, or put off until tomorrow....

[@deecee1853]

@@jadesisk1852 Can you elaborate? I have no idea what you're talking about lol

[@onlethebest]

He is so hot

[@jadesisk1852]

00:08 WTF, 24 hours in a day, 8 for sleep, it's still 16 no matter what 8 hours you pick, total BS, you don't get more hours just moving hours. The latter you stay up past your enemy or competitor, or in some cases family or friend, the more stuff you can get done while they are being lazy going to bed early at 9pm like a grandpa sleeping through the night while there is still work to be done. Stay up, get everything done before bed, you will sleep better and EZ to get going in the morning as there's nothing to do. If it wasn't for my partner

[@joshua9941]

Yeah same here, didn't need to be a NAVY seal, didn't need to sell books or make money off my former job to do so. Getting up early is easy.

[@juliuscaesar7287]

if by "didnt need to" you mean "am not able to" then your comment is true

[@christopherwalker6056]

0:52 "you know on Saturday, you sleep in until 6:30 in the morning..." Wait, WHAT!? 6:30am is SLEEPING IN!?? Uh, no. 6:30am is super early for me. Well, I do work nights so.... But even more in the past, I never considered 6:30 as sleeping in. To me, sleeping in was like 10:30 or 11:00am. I know, pathetic. But this guy is spot on. Early to bed and early to rise is not only advantageous but it's also more healthy for the body and mind. Ask any doctor. There is a proper balance of brain chemicals like melatonin, seratonin etc that I think work better with this schedule.

[@kaylag5043]

How on Earth could you possibly sleep until 11?! I can't even sleep past 7, no matter how late I go to bed.

[@christopherwalker6056]

@@kaylag5043 I sure WISH I was like you're saying! I've just never been a morning person. The military was rough. 😁

[@killap3nguin]

Set your alarm wake up. No need to watch the video.

[@Hiphopdatruthnohate]

I hate that you have to be competitive to even do thing and wake up early like its a race . Maybe that’s why people don’t respect each other at the end of the day .

[@Lord_Heron]

This guy is only 28, this is what getting up at 4:30 does to you 😀. Seriously, I think it's a good idea to get up earlier.

[@Akshat-zw9gr]

No offence but you look 65 as well

[@Lord_Heron]

@@Akshat-zw9gr Why write no offence when you clearly want to cause offence? Haven't you got anything better to do than troll people on youtube? I see you don't use a photo of yourself, lol.

[@wabi_sabi4930]

@@Lord_Heron For what it’s worth, you don’t appear 65 to me. Sorry that someone was needlessly unkind. As to your original comment, Jocko’s actually 50 (though you were clearly kidding around!) Rising early vs late has nothing to do with looks-but getting adequate rest overall does, no matter your sleep schedule ;)

[@PaulnJenna]

Jocks is 50.

[@arunavbaruah123]

He is 50

[@reformedman5102]

I wake 2 am everyday and peeing to my Plastic bottle and never come to sleep.

[@Thejoeordinary1]

Lol I always wake up sometime between 2am and 4am and pee in my plastic bottle so I don’t wake up others that early 😂 every...single...morning! Good to know I’m not the only one lol

[@xabisogxoyiya8022]

Negative 😂 No sleeping in on weekends. Get sum

[@Fella2Suave]

That’s it lol ?

[@bic447]

You like if a little person grew into a normal size person over night.

[@makeupminx6103]

How to wake up early: "just wake up early" 😐

[@alpharigel5777]

- ve

[@Jules-740]

You don't really get 24 hours each day because you require sleep so deduct those hours.

[@maxsanandreas1]

hooo yaa

[@dancas2828]

If you wake up early you sleep early, if you dont wake up early you will sleep late, so in theory you still have same amount of time to do things...

[@s.k.8263]

You didn't listen to the video, did you? If you adopt the same cycle as 95% of people out there, you won't have any bother-free productive hours.

[@jadesisk1852]

@@s.k.8263 So why wake up early then if it means loosening my bother-free productive hours?

[@bigwong7614]

No thanks.

[@deltaimages]

Lol this music does not match Jocko wtf 😂😂😂

[@scotteric8711]

I dont not like the man, but don't take some of this too critically. Your family's need of "bothering you" is a pre occupation of you in the form of love. Reciprocate, don't make it a transaction.

[@carruptmedia]

“You wanna wake up early? Here are the steps to wake up early.” Step 1: Wake up early. “Bruh I just explained it, you want more?”

[@x4disaster]

He looks like he hasn't slept lmao

[@CallMeMrX]

He's just knackered from getting up at 5am for the last 30 years

[@ProjecthuntanFish]

Have a baby and you will get up at 3am