The only way I really made an early wake up work was wearing amber safety glasses to block blue light for an hour or two before bed every night.

I will note that if you feel absolutely terrible on 8-9 hours of sleep, you should check with a doctor about it. I have hypothyroidism and was on too low a dose of medication, and felt so tired after work that I almost drove on the wrong side of the road. I'd thought this was simply from moving my sleep schedule and getting less sleep after starting a new job, but I got a blood test for unrelated reasons and found I was hypothyroid. A couple weeks after starting the new dose of medication and I feel like a new person.

People are different. What you find easy and trainable, someone else will find it doesn't require training and someone else will try as hard as they can and won't succeed.