Mornings are tough for many people. It’s hard to wake up and get going. We often hit the snooze button too many times, and when we finally do get out of bed, we grab our devices and check Facebook, Instagram and email–which can instantly discourage and distract us.
We often leave ourselves with just enough time to get dressed, grab something to eat, and get out the door for work or class, leaving the house in a hurry and frazzled. The rest of the day doesn’t get much better. We go through the day unprepared, reacting to whatever is happening to us. We are in survival mode. Can you relate?
It doesn’t have to be this way. I believe a well-thought-out morning routine can set a person up to have energy and passion for life. It can help us to focus on what is most important and to be intentional with how we spend the day. It has been said, “Win the morning, win the day.” If you want to have a more enjoyable, productive, and efficient day and life, than you need a great morning routine.
What does a great morning routine look like?
1. Go to bed early.
Tom Bilyeu, host of the popular YouTube channel Impact Theory, said, “A great morning routine starts the night before.” A morning routine requires that you get up early, which requires that you go to bed earlier. The average person needs 7 hours of sleep, so do the math. A solid morning routine takes about an hour and a half. Figure out when you need to be at work and back things up, giving yourself enough time to get 7 hours of sleep.
Something else that will help is to prepare for your morning routine the night before. Lay out your workout clothes and your clothes you will be wearing for the day, put your journal or devotional book in its place, and set up the coffee before you go to bed. Preparation the night before will help you to get moving more quickly the next morning.
2. Decide how long you will snooze.
The snooze button is both a wonderful invention and a terrible invention at the same time. If you can control it, it will give you that little extra sleep you need. If you can’t control it, it will be a continuous annoyance as you seek more sleep, and you will start each day feeling like a failure.
You have to decide that the snooze is a good thing. Say to yourself, “I will use it once (or twice) and get up.” But here is the secret. Build that snooze time into your schedule so that you are still getting up with plenty of time to do your morning routine.
3. Make your bed.
Admiral William McRaven made this point in a 2014 commencement speech he gave to students at the University of Texas. He would later write a book called Make Your Bed. In the speech he commented, “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 will encourage you to do another task and yet another. And, if you happen to have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that you made, and this will give you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.” In other words, making your bed is what Charles Duhigg calls a “Keystone Habit,” a habit that triggers other good habits in your life. It’s a simple way to get your morning off to a good start.
(I usually make coffee before the next step; however, I realize not everyone drinks coffee, so I didn’t list it as a step. Experts say you should brush your teeth and drink a full glass of water when you first wake, so maybe try that to help you wake up.)
4. Feed your soul.
The next step in any great routine is to consume positive content. This is the meat and potatoes of the morning routine. This is where the magic happens. During this time, you want to fill your mind with something inspirational and motivating. For me, this is the Bible. The Bible is a book of faith. It gives me encouragement, understanding, and wisdom about myself and this world in which we find ourselves living.
After I read for about 20 minutes, I will write down something I have gleaned from the scriptures. You can do this with other books as well. After you write a few thoughts, take a few moments to meditate on what you learned. Meditation is focusing your mind on something for an extended period of time. The scriptures instruct us to meditate on God’s Word, which simply means that we take a sentence from the Bible and dwell on it. We mull it over in our minds and look at it from all directions until the idea is digested.
There is a compounding effect to this practice. Over time, we will become different people because we are constantly learning and expanding our minds with new ideas and information. This step usually takes me about 40-45 minutes.
5. Visualize.
The next step is to visualize. Visualization is a form of meditation. It is thinking about how you desire the future to unfold. It is best to do both long-term visualization and short-term. Long-term visualization would look like taking just a few moments to focus your mind on your long-term goals. What do you desire your life to look like in 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? Do you have a doctorate? Are you financially independent? Are you married? Do you have 3 kids? Are you running your own business?
And what about today? How will this day unfold? What 3 things will you get done? When will you do them? During this time, I actually write down what I am going to do and when I am going to do it. This practice is like laying the tracks for the train to run on for the day; of course, the schedule can get derailed (and it often does), but at least you give yourself a fighting chance.
Jack Nicklaus said, “I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp in-focus picture in my head.”
6. Exercise.
Hal Elrod, in his fantastic book, Miracle Morning, said it best, “Morning exercise should be a staple in your daily rituals. When you exercise for even a few minutes every morning, it significantly boosts your energy, enhances your health, improves your self-confidence, and enables you to think better and concentrate longer.” The benefits far outweigh the discomfort.
Many people will push back and say, “I don’t have time.” Well, I would argue that we always make time for what we really want. If we really want to change our lives for the better, we must consider what the most successful among us are saying about exercise. I myself am convinced that exercise doesn’t take time out of life, it puts life into time.
These six steps are what I believe make up a great morning routine. They will help you bring more energy, focus and passion to your days and weeks. Stack enough great days and weeks on top of each other, and your life just might take off and go to a whole new level. If you want different results, you have to try something different. Give these steps a chance, change up your morning routine, and let me know how it goes!
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