For some reason, when I go to bed early, I actually have a harder time getting up in the morning. For example, I went to bed at 1am on Tuesday and I was able to get up for work at 7am no problem. Last night I went to bed at 11:30pm and couldn't get up until 7:30am (thus getting to work 20 minutes late).
And about setting the alarm clock ahead, mine is currently 45 minutes ahead.

I'm afraid to set it back or I'll never be able to get up on time. I have my alarm set to 7am (which is really 6:15am). I snooze it until at least 7:30am (6:45am). I'm totally oblivious to it until 7:30, its like I am so used to snoozing it until 7:30 that I don't even know it went off prior to that. So if I am awake enough I get up at 7:30 (6:45) and can get out the door to work by 7:15am realtime - getting me to work at 8am as scheduled. "Panic" sets in when I realize I've snoozed it past 7:45am (7am), so I always get up by at least then, except on rare occassions like last night when I didn't realize I was still snoozing the alarm until it read 8:15 (7:30am).
So moral of the story is, if you set your alarm clock ahead, you will be stuck in a never-ending cycle of never knowing what time it actually is in the groggy AM hours and you just get used to the adjusted times anyways.
On mornings when I absolutely need to get to work on time, like when I have an 8am meeting, I'll move the alarm clock onto the floor on the other side of the nightstand, so I physically have to get out of bed to turn it off. Usually thats enough to trigger my memory that I actually need to get to work on time and I'll be ok.