Don't try to force yourself to follow other people's habits

About the author: Anisa Purbasari - Strategic intern of Business Insider used to be a health care worker at Dr Oz The Good Life. Prior to her career in journalism, she also spent two years at a New Zealand law firm in communications and technology. In order to test it just by following the habits of successful people, you will be able to succeed like them, Purbasari has started to set the alarm at 4am.

Indra Nooyi is known as PepsiCo's CEO, and is also the first woman born outside the United States to hold this position. In 2011, Fortune Magazine twice honored her as the most powerful woman in the world.

Like many famous CEOs and leaders, she also started her day much earlier than everyone: getting up at 4 am and coming to the office at 7 o'clock.

After 4 weeks of using early morning routines by Jack Dorsey, Arianna Huffington, Brack Obama and Benjamin Franklin, I got used to getting up at 5 am and exercising before the Sun rises.

However, waking up at 4 am is a huge challenge. Because, it will require me to go to bed earlier, disturbing my work plan and interacting with my friends every day.

I couldn't get out of bed at that time, for a whole week. In fact, I tried for about 3 days and the earliest was only 4 hours and 15 minutes only.

Experiment

When applying timetable and practicing according to Benjamin Franklin's 13 virtues, I was in complete trouble.

After doing some analysis and instructions from a man who spent a year to improve productivity, I realized that I set a goal too big and too early. This also opens a lot of "opportunities" that make me fail quickly in what I'm trying to do.

Therefore, I decided that instead of waking up at 4 am, I would wake up at 4:30 and gradually start 5-10 minutes on the following days until I reached my goal at 4 o'clock. At the same time, I also started going to bed early until I got into the habit of going to bed at 9:00.

I am determined to follow this plan for 3 days, specifically getting up at 4:30 on Monday, 4 hours on Tuesday and 4: 15 on Wednesday.

Every morning, I also spent 15 minutes meditating, reading news and drinking tea for 30 to 45 minutes, exercising for 1.5 hours, then preparing breakfast and lunch before going to work. Overall, I went to work around 8:30, an hour earlier than the previous day.

At first, my goal was to come to the office at 7 o'clock like CEO PepsiCo but I was uncomfortable when I cut 1 hour of free time and half of the morning routine.

Result

My productivity was "sky-high" on Monday but I realized that on Tuesday and Wednesday there was a sudden drop. The reason because I woke up earlier but did not go to bed early as planned.

On Wednesday night, I went out to dinner with you and came home at 9:15, quite early but still not enough for me to get up at 4: 10 the next morning. As a result, I could not concentrate on working.

So I set the alarm at 5:30 although I thought I could get up at 5 o'clock. A little extra sleep makes a huge difference when I feel I work more productive than the whole previous week combined.

On the 5th night of the test week, I could not finish what I had to finish and after 9pm everything was fine. After playing some intellectual games, I decided to wake up at 5 o'clock.

On the morning of the sixth day, I was extremely tired, lack of sleep, my head was drowsy, my eyes just wanted to close and my body felt like there was no energy left.

Even so, I realized that I was following the original plan and what was the best for myself. As a result, I started every day in a better spirit even in the middle of the afternoon, I felt a bit tired.

After a week, for me, the experiment did not fail completely and if I could not wake up at 4 am every day, it was not a factor that made someone unsuccessful.

If I don't wake up at 4 am every day is a failure, I'm happy to accept that.

Lesson

Some of my colleagues were surprised when I chose to test a habit that took me up to 5 hours to complete my personal interests before I started working.

However, having more free time in the morning helped me find my perfect plan in about 3 hours.

That time allowed me to meditate for 15 - 30 minutes, read the news in blame for 30-45 minutes of tea, exercise 1 hour or 1 hour and a half, cook breakfast, lunch, eat well, plan New day, prepare before going to work and coming to the office.

Maybe you see one morning so there are so many things to do. However, the lesson that I want to share is that a slow, caring morning for healthy habits is a very important condition to help you get a dynamic working day.

Walking before the Sunrise helped me feel that I started the day before others (although I always see many people running in the East River Park at 5:30).

After exercising, I felt satisfied that I had completed the first challenge of the day. If it has been 4 miles in the early morning, it is not difficult to read, write or edit something, right?

That's what I always tell myself when facing a big challenge. Mostly, it is very effective.

Waking up too early is not a good thing

The downside of getting up early and having a detailed early morning plan is that it will leave you no time for social activities in the evening and chat with your family.

Mrs. Nooyi woke up at 4 o'clock and came to the office at 7 o'clock because that habit helped her to do her best. However, I know that, if I try to follow her, I will not achieve such results even though there is more time in the day than before.

Simply put, it is because I will work best if I have 7 to 8 hours of sleep.

Also, I have more focus after exercising in the morning. I also like to take time to meditate, eat breakfast and drink tea, so come to the company, I will feel more comfortable and willing to work.

Choose the habits you like, build a schedule that suits your goals, abilities, strengths and weaknesses. That is the most important secret.