I’ve always been fascinated by morning routines. They are associated with success and successful people, like Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Tim Cook to name a few. It’s not difficult to understand why. Morning routines include one or more of the following: making your bed (first accomplishment of the day), exercising, meditating or another way of focusing in silence, reading, a form of practicing gratitude like journaling, visualisation and goal setting. Each of these have significant benefits as established by hard science.
One of the things that has held me back from doing this until now, apart from the getting up at 5.30 part, is the fact that this would be added to my already quite long to do list. Also, I do take out time throughout my week to integrate the aforementioned healthy habits into my life. But then it hit me. There is something else. I realised that there is more to the morning routine than just making sure to take out time at the start of the day to do things that are really good for the body and mind. There is another important aspect that hardly takes any time, that cannot be done later in the day and that can be easily overlooked: a morning routine means that you’re starting the day on your own terms.
Let me explain this. How do people without an intentional morning routine start their day? Research shows that immediately after turning off the alarm in the morning, the vast majority of people checks their phone before doing anything else. What this means, is that you start your day ‘outside in’: whatever is out there – your inbox, news, social media – is defining your first thoughts. You’re being pushed into your day, rather than starting ‘inside out’: actively setting an intention for your day, reinforcing the fact that you are responsible for your day (and your life). This aspect of a morning routine does not require much and brings a lot. If you wake up and, before looking at your phone, take a shower, brush your teeth, high five yourself the mirror (see Mel Robbins for the high five habit), go to the kitchen and drink a cup of tea or coffee thinking about what you want your day to look like, you start your day with intention – you are taking charge – and by doing so you set yourself up for success. It’s the difference between getting to work and getting through the day.