Working out in the morning

I’ve been trying for years to workout in the morning.
Let me rephrase this. I’ve been trying for years to workout – regularly – in the morning.
I’ve had some success. One week of early workouts. One month of morning yoga. But the habit never stuck.
Very often I failed because I was tired. I’m a strong believer that sleep is one of the most important things in my life, and if my body tells me I need more sleep, then I will sleep one more hour rather than drag myself through an entire day exhausted.
But little by little, I’ve made progress toward working out in the morning.
My latest achievement happened almost by accident. When daylight saving time ended and we “fell back” an hour, I tried something: I kept going to bed at the same summer time but started waking up an hour earlier.
Waking up between 6 and 6:30 am felt manageable. Not easy every day, but manageable. And that 30-minute workout window appeared without me having to sacrifice sleep or willpower.

I still can’t do it every day. Some mornings I’m stressed about work. I start my work day around 7:30am so the workout window closes very fast. But here’s what I’ve noticed: on the days I do manage to squeeze in a workout, my mindset tends to shift.
The work stress doesn’t disappear, but I handle it differently. I’m calmer. More focused. The day feels like it started on my terms instead of being immediately reactive.
Even more surprising: on weekends, I actually want to work out after getting up. Not because I’m forcing myself or following some strict routine, but because my body has started to crave that morning movement.

I’m enjoying this win while it lasts. As winter settles in, days get shorter, and temperatures drop, I may not be able to maintain this habit. The darkness alone might be enough to derail everything I’ve built.
But I’m going to do my best to keep it going.

After years of failed attempts, here’s what seems to be working:
I didn’t force a dramatic change. I leveraged an external shift (daylight saving time) that made the transition easier. Sometimes the best way to build a new habit is to ride the wave of a change that’s already happening.
I’m not aiming for perfection. Some days I work out, some days I don’t. The habit is building because I’m not treating every missed morning as a failure that derails the entire system.
I prioritized sleep first. For years I thought morning workouts meant waking up earlier no matter what. But by going to bed at the same time and just shifting my wake time, I’m not sacrificing the sleep my body needs.
The habit is creating its own momentum and I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

I don’t know if this habit will stick through December and January. But for the first time in years, I feel like I’m building something sustainable instead of just trying harder.
And that feels like progress.