Wake.
“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work–as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for–the things which I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”
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The above view into the inner dialogue of a Roman emperor is fascinating. It’s encouraging to be reminded that even the greatest of men have begun their day in a struggle with getting out of bed. Developing a morning routine is one of the most powerful points of leverage available. Consider the "bookends" of your day, standardizing the morning and evening to create space for success in between. Return to the systems you’ve created to stabilize yourself. The great thing is that each day presents a new slate to refine your approach. The problem is that there are limited opportunities left to get it right.
What is the first thing you do when you open your eyes? What thoughts run through your mind, what’s the quality of your self-talk? What is the general mood or feeling? Mornings, like every moment in your life, are a chance to express and demonstrate your philosophy. Are you going to be someone who lies half awake until the last possible moment? Are you going to begin the day in a rush, hurrying around and trying not to forget anything? There are certain predictable and repeatable things that always seem to get done, but there is an unnecessary uncertainty about it. Having a routine to rely on frees up valuable mental space. Give your body and mind time both to recover at night and gear up for the day ahead. Your work today is to become better. To add another day to the story of your life. You are a character in this life, and each morning you have a decision to either continue this storyline or redirect it.
Think about taking somewhat of an engineering approach with the concept of forced functions. Make it a no-brainer for you to follow through, beginning with preparation the night before. What cues have you consciously put in place? Are they beneficial? Design an organized environment. If you have training scheduled in the mornings, fold your workout clothing and place it along with your shoes right beside your bed. Recognize points of failure. Yes, it is warm and comfortable in bed! Yes, you will be reluctant to get out most mornings. Develop strategies with this in mind. There is a good reason that high impact decision makers like President Obama reduce their decisions to binary options (only blue or grey suits) or Mark Zuckerberg and his T-shirt/hoodie combo. Save decision making for things that matter. Put in the work ahead of time. What decisions can you delegate to habit or routine to allow for higher levels of thought?
My morning routine is a work in progress. It’s about experimenting to find what works best individually. My eventual aim is to standardize the first hour of my day, down to the minute. To create a morning ritual. There are several things that I have tried in the past, and a few different ideas to consider. Some components I feel worth including are:
Movement. Waking the body up and having a standard movement practice. Usually something low-impact like this episode of a yoga podcast that has been my go-to for years.
What to eat? This is one of the biggest variables to adjust. I have used intermittent fasting (8 hour eating window with 16 hour fast) which I like for a number of reasons. When thinking about breakfast, remember you are choosing to break the fast you've been in overnight. What you choose to eat (or avoid) will have a huge effect on your performance for the day ahead. Some of my favourite options for food in the mornings are kale shakes, eggs wrapped in a sheet of nori, or a simple protein shake, especially if I've scheduled in a more demanding morning training session.
Hydration. Get some water in your system right after waking up.
Morning pages. Creating the habit of writing out your thoughts and clearing the clutter in your mind. I've recently been using Flowstate, which is interesting as it deletes everything you've written if you stop writing before the timer.
Some form of breath work, like the Wim Hof technique. Also, if feeling adventurous, pair this with a eye-opening cold shower. I've found that by doing this, I feel as though I've already accomplished something early in the day, overcome my weaker self and proven to myself that I won't let fear of being uncomfortable hold me back.
Each morning I have an automated email waiting for me (using an app called idonethis.com) prompting me to answer "What are you grateful for?" and one each evening asking "What did you get done today?" Setting up the start of the day to remember all I have to be grateful for, answering this question before any other incoming email.
Have something to look forward to. For me, one of those things is taking the time to make a great cup of coffee. I typically use the AeroPress, with freshly ground high quality locally roasted beans. Looking forward to the process involved in making coffee, starting the day by creating something tangible. I've experimented with the trendy bulletproof coffee and enjoyed it, but lately a well made black cup of coffee does it for me.
After looking at the things you want to include in your ideal morning, it's then about figuring out the order in which to arrange them. Setting a standard and then changing one variable at a time to see results. You have this great opportunity each time you go to sleep and wake up to observe yourself. Use this natural rhythm of morning and evening to run self-experiments. Think of these systems as a framework upon which to build the rest of the day. Get these two bookends of morning and evening right and many other things fall into place. Make it painless to follow through, with a well thought out and organized environment. Mornings are an iterative process, adapting and developing from the simple to more complex. If you want to go further down the rabbit hole on this, check out mymorningroutine.com or the book Daily Rituals.