If you are looking to start a morning routine to boost your energy, focus, productivity, and don’t how to; look no further. I have created an ultimate beginner’s guide for you! I have tried and tested this and it has fundamentally changed my life for the better. I would like to share my learning and experience with you and tell you more about my personal experiences. But before we start, let’s get a few common questions about morning routines out of the way.
Why do I need a morning routine?
The aim is to giving you a head start to the day after its completion. You may ask how do these activities give you a head start? We’ll depend on what you are aiming for, you can customize your routine to suit your goal. For me, I want to start the day positive, focused, energized and organized.
What is a morning routine?
To those new to this, it involves completing a consistent set of activities each morning at a set time. These activities can include meditating, journaling, exercise or reading. As mentioned earlier, you can align your activities to align with your goals.
How long does a typical morning routine take?
A typical morning routine takes on an average of 1 hour give and take. There is no set rules and it depends on what you want to achieve. I will go through my standard routine as an example to give you a solid structure to start with.
Let’s look at some leaders past and present who swear by a morning routine?
Benjamin Franklin, founding father
Benjamin Franklin sets aside three hours every morning to set his plan for the rest of the day. He uses his morning to set up some rules and to-do-list and uses the time to address”Powerful Goodness”. Every morning he asked himself, “What good shall I do today?”
“What good shall I do today?” Benjamin Franklin
Tim Ferris, tech entrepreneur and serial learner
Tim Ferris has adapted his own morning ritual after interviewing thousands of successful leaders. He makes his bed, meditates for 20 minutes, does a light exercise routine to wake himself up and drinks tea. He will finish with Journaling for five to ten minutes.
“If you win the morning, win the day.” Tim Ferriss
Tony Robbins, self-help guru and motivational speaker
Tony decided to change his life when he changed his habit and the way of thinking. This came about when he decided he was not living up to his standard. His advice is to do an “Hour of Power” every morning, which includes motivational sayings and visualizations.
“Hour of Power” Tony Robbins
Now that you understand the What, Why, How Long and Who, let’s go through my Morning Routine which incorporates what I have learned from the Ultra Successful Leaders and applied it to my morning.
My Ultimate Morning Routine
Before I go further, the key to having a morning routine and to have it stick all relies on establishing a habit. I will write a post about habits in the future and will add the link here.
My typical morning starts between 4 am to 4:30 am depending on the day. I like to start early to win the morning in order to win the day. The first thought I want to have each and every morning is to have positive thoughts.
Start with a Positive Mental Attitude by Gratitude
Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and they report feeling healthier than other people, according to a 2012 study published in Personality and Individual Differences.
Rewire your brain to start with a positive mental attitude. I start the morning with gratitude. As soon as I wake up but before my eyes are open, I visualize things I am grateful for. This can be having a lovely supportive family, a nice comfortable bed or can be simple as being alive.
“You become what you think about”- Napoleon Hill, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude.
Wake & Hydrate – Habit Stacking & Starting Ritual
With each deep breath, you lose moisture. After sleeping all night, your brain ends up dehydrated in the morning. You can keep your brain at optimum capacity if you just drink a glass of water. When you are dehydrated you lose your ability to focus because your brain is conserving its resources. Your memory slows down. Therefore, it is very important to always keep hydrated.
Keep your alarm away from your bed
The night before, I will place my alarm clock and a bottle of water away from my bed. In the morning after a few seconds of waking up, I will walk over to the end of the room and reach for my bottle of water and kneel down on the floor to switch off my alarm. Once I switch off my alarm I will do 1 push up. You may be wondering why I am doing this? By putting the alarm away from my bed I am forced to walk over to switch it off.
Super hydrate when you wake up
Hydrating is important for mental clarity and that’s why it’s one of the first things I do. The push up is to make me awake and help the body get ready. One push up is the least I do and has now gone up to about 20 push-ups. This is not my workout routine and is for waking up only. This method of Habit Stacking borrows from Jame Clears Atomic Habits.
Making my bed
I will make my bed to ensure I complete the first task of the day and come back home to a tidy bed. By making my bed, it sets my mind for success for the rest of the day. When completing one thing in the morning, it will lead to more actions during the day to complete tasks has a compound effect on future tasks. In a 2014 commencement speech at University at Austin, Admiral McRaven shared his thoughts on the matter. “If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another’,” he said.
Mental Clarity and Focus
The next thing I do is walk to my lounge room and meditation for 15 minutes. Meditation helps to clear the mind and be in the present. It reduces stress and improving focus. Before my meditation, I start with a breathing exercise to get my mind ready for the practice.
My Morning Brew
After my meditation, I will make a drink for myself and I will use the time waiting for the water to boil to start journaling. I alternate between two types of drink in the morning and both are warm ones.
Drink 1 – My special water: I add lime juice, cayenne pepper, Himalayan salt, and apple cider vinegar into warm water.
Benefits of the drink
- Apple cider vinegar kills bacteria, helps lower blood sugar level and fights diabetes.
- Cayenne Pepper contains Capsaicin. It helps reduce inflammation, treats colds, congestion and protects the nervous system. Cayenne Pepper contains antioxidants and a lot of goodies like vitamin C, vitamin E, Beta carotene and supports the immune system.
- Himalayan Salt (not table salt) contains a lot of minerals. The chromium in natural salt can reduce the chance of infection. Salt minimizes the stress hormones your body produces (cortisol and adrenaline) and helps reduce anxiety. It also boosts serotonin, which makes you happy.
- Lime is an excellent source of antioxidant and protects your body from damage caused by free radicals, or chemicals that harm your cells. Lime is a good source of potassium, vitamin A, B, C, and D, Calcium, and magnesium.
Drink 2 – Heberal Tea plus: If I run out of lime juice or feel like a change I make herbal tea like lemongrass and ginger and add some turmeric and cinnamon.
Benefits of the drink
- Turmeric is a superfood and contains curcumin. It can help fight cancer, ease depression, fight inflammation and keeps blood sugar levels steady.
- Cinnamon – there is a whole range of benefits from cinnamon and it ranges from lowering heart disease by reducing levels of total cholesterol “bad” LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Two compounds found in cinnamon appear to inhibit the buildup of a protein called tau in the brain, which is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.
Tip: The two drinks mention took a bit of time to get used to. It may not be everyone’s taste especially the apple cider vinegar. I suggest you go easy and start with lime water and add salt and go from there.
Morning Journaling
Benefits of Journaling
There are a lot of benefits of journaling. For me, journaling helps me to know myself better. I can write down any ideas I have and also can write down any negative thoughts (if any) so I can move on and focus on the positives. I use it to focus on my daily personal goals, health, and relationship goals and work goals. My journal page is split into four quadrants and I will list only 3 items in each quadrant.
Once I have the key task down and also any thoughts it helps me focus and be in the present. It helps me to clarify what my goals are for the day and think about how I can achieve them. I also have a night journaling routine and I have more details in a related post.
Write down the distractions
I will write down the things that don’t matter today or any distractions I do need to deal with today and put them down the days I need to deal with them. This prevents me from being distracted by things and focus on the present and the most important things right now.
Just to give you an idea of how important a journaling habit is, most of the great influential leaders past and present have a journaling habit. Visionaries like Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Mark Twain, Charlies Darwin, and many others kept a journal.
Learning New Things
After my journaling, I will make myself a herbal tea or my super water and start my morning reading for about 15-20 minutes. This is my reading and learning time to help with my personal development. Leaders read books, this is a very important aspect of my morning. I have a list of to-read books and will try to finish 1 book every 2 – 3 weeks. I try to use speed reading hacks to improve my reading speed so I can get through more books using the same time. The key is to schedule a time every day for reading. This time is non-negotiable and I stick to it. Even if I am behind schedule I still read in the morning. I can give you an example where instead of reading my 15 to 20 minutes one morning I was running a bit late and still picked up my book and read for 3 minutes. I do this to ensure I do not miss things twice.
It took me a lot of time and effort to establish my routine and am going to maintain it no matter what. I got this Habit Hack from James Clear the author of Atomic Habits. The concept is that “you haven’t fallen off the wagon” if you’ve missed once. He goes on to say, if you missed twice, it sets you up for losing traction on your habit. I take that one step further and don’t miss one. I just reduce the time I read or do one-push up instead of a whole workout if I need to “skip it”.
I believe of being a lifetime learner. It keeps me interested in things, fresh and hunger for knowledge. This is something I enjoy. I have a list of things I want to learn and try to learn things small parts of it through the day. I will write another post about this and share it with you.
My Morning Walk
On a good day: I will proceed and going outside for a 30-minute walk with and will listen to my audiobook or a favorite podcast. This time is a lot part of my learning. I have a list to listen to audiobooks or podcasts I have ready to make the most of my time. I use Audible and found it the best way for me to learning on the go. What I find is its walking a lot the park or the waterway near my place allows me to relax my mind while learning.
On a rainy day: If it rains, I will do some Calthenithics and bodyweight exercises at home. I use Chris Heria’s routine and you can easily find this on YouTube. His routine is extremely effective and short. You can do an easier version of his workout if you find it tough.
When I am behind schedule: This 30-minute light exercise is to both ensure I exercise every day to supplement my 2-3 gym during the week. As mentioned earlier, if for any reason I am behind schedule, I will improvise and do a shorter version of my walk or workout. I will do a few flights of stairs if I am short of time instead of my full 30 minutes walk.
Breathing & Cold Shower
Benefits of Breathing
Before I walk, I will start Box Breathing. I like to stack tasks together to maximize efficiency. I also practice the Wim Hof Method on weekends. Depending on the breathing methods, the benefits of breathing can range from stress relief and reduction in blood pressure.
- Box Breathing reduces physical stress symptoms of the body, positively affects emotions and mental well-being, increase mental clarity, focus and improves future reactions to stress.
- Wim Hof breathing has been linked to stress reduction, faster recovery from physical exertion, better sleep, enhanced creativity, and mental clarity.
- Deep breathing can give you instant relief from your body flight and fight mode when you are stressed.
Once I finish walking I will go home and of course hydrate and drink another glass of water. I will then go and take a cold shower. I will start with warm water and turn the heat down to cold. The shower only takes 3 to 5 minutes.
Benefits of Cold Showers
Cold therapy has a lot of benefits for cell regeneration and recovery.
- Reduces stress levels – Regular cold showers impose a small amount of stress on the body and gradually get the nervous system to use to handle a moderate level of stress.
- A higher level of alertness – Cold shower simulates you to deep breathing and reduces the CO2 throughout the body, helping you concentrate throughout the day.
- Boost Immunity – Studies have shown cold therapy helps boost white blood cells which protect the body against disease by increasing the metabolic rate.
- Weight loss – Cold exposure simulates the generation to brown fat which is a type of tissue that generates energy by burning calories
TIP: When you first start your cold shower you can start the with warm water and gradually turn it down to cold. If you practice this every day, your body will get used to it within a week or two.
Getting Ready for the Day
After my cold shower, I will then get ready for work and make my coffee and prepare to go to work. At this point, I have still not eaten. I practice intermittent fasting every second day. On my fasting days, I do not have my first meal until 11 am. I usually have a couple of boiled eggs, avocados, nuts, and a tin fish for my first meal. On the days I don’t fast I make a healthy green brain smoothie. I will add a post about the Green Smoothie in a future post
Recap…
Let’s recap, I will list the activities below with approximate time spent
1. Positive Mental Attitude by Gratitude – 2 minutes
2. Wake & Hydrate – 3 minutes
3. Mental Clarity and Focus – 25 minutes
4. My Morning Brew
5. Learning new things – 20 minutes
6. Morning Walk – 35 minutes
7. Breathing & Cold Shower – 5 minutes
My morning routine is about 90 minutes. For a shorter morning routine, I would recommend keeping items 5 and items 6 optional.
You may ask me how I get so much time in the morning. The simple answer is I wake up earlier than most people to get ready.
This will make your morning routine about 35 minutes instead of 90 minutes. You may want to combine items 4 & 5 and use it for a gym session if you are next to a gym.
The key is to have a structure and start. If you are serious about starting a morning routine and stick with it I would recommend you use the next 28 days to make this a habit. Please let me know if you want me to create an ebook by adding a comment below.
Final words…
Just remember starting a new morning routine is the best thing that can ever happen. You will feel positive, energized and focused. The key point to remember is you want this new routine to be apart of your life and not something you do for a few weeks and stop. You rather add the routine to your day gradually rather than trying everything one Day 1 and end up giving up. It took me a few goes at this and when I finally got my routine down pat it was the best thing that ever happened to me.