During his stint in boot camp, Marine veteran Andrew Wittman picked up a morning habit that's stayed with him ever since.
"I was on the top bunk, so my face was six inches away from the double fluorescent light," Wittman told Business Insider. "What they would do every morning is flip the lights on and throw steel garbage cans down the center of the room. On the first day, I was like, 'Oh my God.'"
To avoid the shocking wake-up call, Wittman trained himself to always wake up two minutes early. For example, if he has a 5:30 a.m. wake up, he'll get out of bed at 5:28 a.m.
Today, Wittman said, he sets himself up for success every morning by spending his extra two minutes on a daily affirmation.