My Morning Routine, written by Benjamin Spall and Michael Xander, explores the morning routines of 64 of today’s most successful people. Allowing you the ability to pick and choose parts to adapt and implement in your own life.
Summary:
Getting the first hours of your day right can have a huge effect on how much you accomplish for the entire day. Often your most important work needs to be prioritised first thing in the morning before all of the other aspects of life have a chance to distract and derail you.
A Sense of Urgency
We all know that simply getting out of bed each morning can be a challenge all by itself, because of this one of the most effective ways to ensure you get out of bed each morning is to schedule an important task, or alternatively something you love to do.
Some of the people interviewed in the book preferred to schedule something important to themselves each morning, such as; reading, early morning photography or even just getting stuck into their work for the day an hour or so before anyone else arrived.
Tackling a personal project is also an excellent choice first thing in the morning as most people are able to get their best work done at this time. Starting off the day by making a ‘to-do’ list was also another popular option.
Just as important as what to do was what not to do. Across the interviews most people agreed that putting off checking email until later in the day gave them better control of their mornings and allowed them to avoid being ‘reactive’ to whatever problems had arrived in their inboxes overnight.
Exercise and Meditation
79% of the subjects of the interviews said that exercise was an important part of their daily routines. While the sample size for this percentage is hardly thousands of people, it is still remarkably high. Exercise doesn’t necessarily need to be particularly hard, some of the subjects reported that even light exercise such as getting up and going for a walk or using cardio equipment for 10-15 mins was all they needed to get the blood flowing and feel much better about the day.
Meditation was another popular option that more than half of the interviewees admitted to regularly practicing. An early morning session can help to bring calm and focus to the rest of your day, these days getting started is only a smartphone app away as well, making learning to meditate and incorporating it into your mornings very easy.
Whatever you decide to do each morning make sure that you schedule at least a little time for yourself, whether that’s using any of the above ideas or something completely different is up to you.
Your Evening Routine
A great morning routine often begins the night before. Make sure you get a good nights sleep by going to bed at a reasonable time and by limiting exposure to devices right before bed. Consider reading a book or taking a hot bath to help take your mind off of the day and relax while unwinding before bed.
Routines and Travel
If you find yourself thrown off your usual routine by something like travel make sure to try and keep as close as possible to what you would normally do. Instead of a full routine shrink it down, but try to make sure that you still fit in as many of your usual habits as possible. This will make it much easier to get back into once your back home in your usual surroundings.
