Morning Routines for Success
Your morning routine may be holding you back. How is your morning routine affecting your success and productivity?
If you haven’t thought much about your morning routine, now’s your chance. Early is better. It’s just that simple. If you can get out of bed earlier, and have two hours to complete your morning routine, you’ve already won the day.
The most successful people I’ve interviewed arise between 5-7 a.m. every day. In those crucial hours, before everyone else wakes up, they’ve already exercised, journaled, meditated, completed gratitude work, read a chapter or some online news and created that day’s tone.
How do I start a morning routine for success?
Don’t know where to start? Pick one or two things to start with. Try beginning with that book that’s been sitting on the nightstand for a year and read for 10 minutes. You may be surprised by the ideas that flow from the quiet time.
Then, select a meditation app and start with two minutes of meditation. You’ll be shocked by the clarity gained from just two minutes of guided meditation (Headspace is my favourite).
It takes 30 days to create a habit that comes naturally. So if that means writing out your morning plan on an ordered list next to your alarm, do it! It can be easy to get sidetracked. Then developing those habits can feel futile. Choose the things you want to include and list them down. Stick to it and they will become second nature!
Another good idea? Keep your digital devices out of the bedroom. Although most of us use them as our alarms these days, having your alarm go off out of reach from your bed will ensure you get out of bed to turn it off. That’s half the battle.
A further idea to follow up with is to immediately make your bed. You’ve barely woken up, but you’ve already achieved something. Bed made and you’re on your feet. It’s surprising how effective those two things are at driving your routine and helping embed the process.
Some successful (and we are referring to mega-successful) CEOs swear by not using an alarm at all. And they avoid grabbing that smartphone until they’ve rehydrated, brushed their teeth, and had some exercise.
Sleeping for a successful morning routine
Let’s talk about the other end of a great morning routine – sleep. Research is definitive on how much sleep the human body needs for peak performance: 7-8 hours daily. That won’t happen every night, but on a rolling three-day average, you want to be in that range.
That doesn’t mean you can’t operate on less, but peak performance requires 7-8 hours. To reach that ideal wake-up time means going to bed between 9-11 p.m. to get the optimal amount of sleep.
These are just a few options for a great morning routine. The key is to start with 1-2 changes and see how they fit in your life. Give yourself two months to develop strong habits and see what results generate from it.
Additional resources to jump-start your morning routine
There is a lot of advice out there devoted to this topic. Whether you need to set up a 30-minute routine that works for you or can utilise two hours you would otherwise routinely squander, there is something to shake up your mornings for success.
The accomplishment we can feel by achieving simple and attainable goals before our ‘real day’ has started undoubtedly sets the tone for the rest of our day.
Here are some excellent resources to check out:
- · The Tim Ferriss Show: Morning Routines and Strategies
Morning Routines and Strategies (#253)
The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
“Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.” – W. H. Auden
This is a special episode of the podcast. After more than 200 conversations with the world’s top perfo…
- · The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8 AM), by Hal Elrod
- · The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life, by Robin Sharma
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Coach’s Corner, with Brett Michener
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