The Navy SEAL Spiritual Ritual For Overcoming Laziness

Anyone can become a morning person, says former U.S. Navy SEAL Jocko Willink. He explains that there's no trick to waking up early. Instead, you have to learn how to discipline yourself.

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There's no hack for waking up early, says former U.S. Navy SEAL Jocko Willink. Rather, "What you need to do is, when the alarm goes off, you get up and you go get some," he tells CNBC Make It.

"That's what you do. Impose discipline on your life. That's the way it works."

Willink, who wakes up at 4:30 a.m., says that anyone has the capacity to become a morning person. Having the discipline to wake up early isn't something that you're "born with," the leadership coach and author tells Make It. "You just decide that's what you're going to do. … You choose to live your life that way."

Or, he adds, "you can decide that you're not going to be that way. You can decide that you're going to stay in bed. You can decide that you're not going to attack the day when the day is attacking you. You can make those decisions, but I'll tell you, it is much, much better to go through life attacking days than it is to go through life getting attacked by days. Don't let that happen. Go on the offense."

There are benefits to rising early, research shows: In a five-year study of hundreds of self-made millionaires, author Thomas C. Corley found that nearly 50 percent of them woke up at least three hours before their work day actually began.

Waking up early to get things done gives you more control over your life, Corley writes in his book, "Change Your Habits, Change Your Life." "It gives you a sense of confidence that you, indeed, direct your life. It gives you a feeling of power over your life."

The morning may be the most productive time of the day because it allows you to complete tasks before distractions arise, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2016. "When you have peace and quiet and you're not concerned with people trying to get your attention, you're dramatically more effective and can get important work done," psychologist Josh Davis and author of "Two Awesome Hours" tells the Journal.

Essentially, you're eliminating common distractions, such as text messages, emails and social media notifications. "No one is expecting you to email or answer the phone at 4 a.m.," Davis says. "No one will be posting on Facebook. You've removed the internal temptation and the external temptation."

The next time you find yourself tempted to hit snooze, take a note from Willink: "If I'm laying in bed and the day has got me all intimidated and it's got me scared and it's got me wanting to pull my covers up around my neck and stay warm, that offends me and I'm not going to accept it.

"What I'm going to do is I'm going to rip those covers off, I'm going to get out of bed and I'm going to go handle what I'm supposed to handle. I'm gonna get it done. Don't let those days beat you. Beat those days."

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Ex-Navy SEAL who wakes up at 4:30 am: How to get out of bed when you don't feel like it | CNBC Make It.