Do you feel like you rush out of bed in the morning finding it difficult to catch your breath? You’re certainly not alone. Our mornings seem to be more of an explosion than a peaceful introduction to a new day. Quietness and peace are hard to find. We begin our day with a pounding alarm and end it by face smashing our pillow as we collapse into bed. Thankfully, however, we don’t have to continue to feel this way.
Society has taught us to want it all: a great job, tons of money, a wonderful family as well as a beautifully flat stomach or six pack! All of this must be achieved with as little sleep as possible. Then we can tell our friends just how busy and hectic our life is.
The amount of sleep we get is a common topic of conversation. Moments of exhaustion are like badges of honor achieved on our way to our dream life.
Two months ago things changed for me. Something was missing and I didn’t have time to figure it out. I never gave myself any time to just sit in silence or to process all the information and experiences I gathered each day. Instead, like many of us, I just burst into the next day heaping even more onto my pile of unprocessed thoughts, feelings and emotions.
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”-Blaise Pascal
Then two things came together for me. I read a quote and I listened to an excellent podcast. The quote was from a French philosopher from the 17th century called Blaise Pascal who said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” This quote shouted at me from the page. It had been years since I had been alone in a room awake and in silence. As strange as it sounds, by having constant distraction and noise around me at all times, I wasn’t allowing myself to get to know myself.
At the same time, I heard an interview with Hal Elrod. Hal is the author of a great book called The Miracle Morning. In his book he pinpoints the six most important things that highly successful people do each morning.
These six things are: Silence, Affirmation of your goals, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, Writing.
I was ready.
Looking at these you may think that’s an awful lot of things to do before you begin your work day. However, each part can last as long as you desire. I spend approximately five minutes on each which brings my time investment every morning to a total of thirty minutes. Therefore, I set my alarm thirty minutes earlier. It is a time to reconnect with yourself, reflect on challenges and look ahead.
Before we talk about how beneficial it is let’s briefly break down each step:
- Silence: Go to an area of your house where you will be alone. Sit down and just breath with your eyes closed. To help with timing and relaxation I use a five-minute meditation.
- Affirmation of your goals: Take out your list of goals and read them aloud (I store mine on my iPad so I simply pick that up after my brief meditation has finished). This action clarifies what is important to you and also helps you to focus on what you need to do today to take steps towards those goals.
- Visualization: Spend some minutes now seeing yourself achieving your goals in the future as well as accomplishing the things you need to do today. This is a powerful exercise that gets you ready to take action. It doesn’t take much effort at all, just a little imagination!
- Exercise: If you are any way like me and feel that you don’t get your best workouts done first thing in the morning, you can be forgiven for raising an eyebrow here. However, it’s only five minutes. I prefer to see it as movement and stretching instead of full on exercise. I concentrate on a five-minute yoga sequence that loosens you up and prepares your muscles for another day of activity.
- Reading: This part opens your mind to new ideas and concepts. Choose a book that will develop a part of you that needs a little help, be it financial, relational, health or business. Anything that gives you quality information that you can implement in your life. Everyone’s tastes differ so pick something that you are interested in and enjoy.
- Writing: No matter how difficult your life is at the moment, I’m sure you have lots of things to be grateful for too. This is your time to write three of these things down. This helps to shift your attention to the wonderful things in your life such as family, health and a great job for example.
Five reasons to give it a try:
- Feeling of accomplishment: You feel great before your work day even begins. You have already achieved a lot!
- Start Sharp: You are sharper and switched on so that you are immediately more focused and productive at work
- Less Stress: You are more relaxed and have more time to give to people as you are not chasing the day the moment you wake up. You control your time and not the other way around.
- Gives you a Target: It allows you to pinpoint the areas you need to work on that particular day. It gives you clarity to zone in on the things that need developing (work project, your health, more family time).
- A Discipline Builder: You start in a disciplined way which gives you momentum to continue making good choices throughout the entire day.
Some final thoughts before you start:
- Wake up 30 minutes before your usual time.
- Do not hit the snooze button!
- Drink a glass of water.
- Avoid checking all email or text messages (no distractions!).
- Stay warm (use a hat or blanket if needed).
- Create your unique space (with seat, pen, notebook, candle and exercise mat).
- Have a good breakfast after you finish (eggs are a great choice).
This morning routine will change your life. That’s a big statement! It isn’t going to be easy for the first few days but once you get into your stride, things really start to move. It’s the time alone with yourself that you may have been longing to have for years. Give yourself this time. Try it for five days and see how it changes your week. I’ve been doing it since February 15th 2016. I remember the date because I have been a different man since.
What is your morning routine like now? Are you implementing any of these steps already? Good luck on this new journey and be sure to let me how it goes!
Great ideas to try and implement. I’m guilty of my snooze button 🙁 even though I know its terrible. I used to meditate in the mornings and lazed out of it…I’m going to start again, thanks Colin
I completely understand the attraction of the dreaded snooze button! After a few days you start to look forward to having some time for yourself so it gets easier. Thanks for commenting K!