The benefits of an early morning routine and how to develop one for yourself?

For most people the hardest part of the day seems to be the mind numbing sound of an alarm clock, most notably the agonizing chyme of an iPhone... you know the one!

For others however, the morning has become a vital tool to their success. Not all, but for many successful people the morning is not a burden but an opportunity to get ahead of the day and their competition. Building a sound morning routine allows for many advantages in life. Here are the benefits and how you can optimize your time by utilizing your mornings.

Morning routine criteria:

a: between 5-7AM

b: Includes some form of activity

c: Routine is repeatable

d: Decisions are made with intention for best possible outcome

Benefits:

A: Concentration:

- Getting up in the morning reduces potential stressors and distractions.

- Fewer folk are up

- Social media is silent

- Your brain is firing at a higher rate given the rest it just underwent.

This is an opportune time to get through those pesky emails, finish that assignment, or journal your day (plan out / reminders / set to-dos)

B: Time

You can't create time, but you can be more efficient with it. The biggest excuse when it comes to missing a workout or forgetting to do something is "I didn't have enough time!". BULLSHIT! You had the time, you just decided to do something else or wasted it by loafing around on social media etc. Granted, some people don't have the time and should prioritize sleep and eating over exercise, but for the most part (99% of people) YOU HAVE THE TIME!

This being said, the morning is a great time to get in a short intense workout. I post every Sunday a weeks worth of free workouts. The internet is riddled with workouts. And you're one click away from a professionally built program and coaching (just saying).

I can confirm it only takes 10 minutes to feel like your life is ending if you're doing sprints and Metcons. You can find 10mins i'm confident. Your health is and should be your number one investment.

C: Productivity

This goes hand in hand with the above two. But it's important to reiterate the productivity shift you'll see. Now don't get me wrong, the first little while of adopting an early morning routine will "suck" as you aren't used to it yet, but eventually once you've settled into it, your productivity will sky rocket. Why? Simply due to the above two reasons. You've set aside intentional time to focus on work/exercise/duties and the added level of concentration and detail you can put into the task.

D: Routine

Developing a routine is building a new habit. A habit takes 60-90days of consistency to make it stick and a lifetime to make it happen. Consistency is key and developing a sound routine will allow you to remove stress and take unnecessary decisions out of the equation.

For example: Making your bed.

Making your bed in the morning has been shown to have a snowball effect on all aspects of life. Those that make their bed first thing in the morning have a much higher chance of washing the dishes, taking out the trash, getting in exercise, completing an assignment, showing up on time, and prioritizing work and tasks over pleasure and leisure.

Let's call it the MakingBed principle. The MB principle helps cultivate a sense of personal achievement and starts each day with one task completed. Once you've achieved one thing the dopamine rush helps drive you towards completing further tasks to experience that same "rush". Once you've developed a habit (60-90days) then it becomes second nature and an autonomous action.

Another example would be a reductionist/minimalist approach to clothing. If you wear the same type/style clothes day in and day out, you mitigate the need for choice, thus removing a stressor (time waster) from the equation. This has been adopted by many professionals as it aims to reduce any potential time wasters that may interfere with productivity.

How to / where to start?

Getting up at the crack of dawn and getting after it is no easy task at first. I've said it once and i'll say it again, it takes consistency.

Start off by waking up 5-10mins earlier each day for the first two weeks until you reach your target time. Once you've reached your "ideal" time set an alarm for 5 mins before and 5 mins after. This should keep you accountable and avoid falling back to sleep. Once you've built the routine of getting up at a specific time, erase all other alarms and have one single alarm.

The next step is to develop your initial task. This will be the first thing you do every morning. Try to make it a physical task so you can avoid laying in bed any longer. For me the task is making my bed, cracking the window, and weighing myself. Easiest one is making the bed, anyone can do it, and it always feels good to have that done.

You can further adopt these habits at night. Have the coffee ready to go, set a check list of things to accomplish/journalling, have your clothes ready at your bedside etc.

Once you've built a solid routine around waking up and accomplishing your initial task then you can begin to implement other tasks. Such as exercise, errands, emails/work, meditation, walks etc.

Further along your journey you'll find that you've developed some sound habits that set up your day for success or failure dependent on your completion of these tasks. Each component will begin weighing heavily on your approach to all aspects of life and benefit from the consistency, order, and productivity you've developed from the adherence of a morning routine.

Consistency, small victories, and consistency are the three most important parts to developing a sound morning routine. So stay consistent, celebrate the small victories, and stay consistent. ahaha (All on purpose)

It's no secret that the most productive/successful people adhere to a strict early morning routine. Steve Jobs, Dwayne Johnson, Jocko Willink, Donald...Duck ;)

So why not adopt one yourself?

"Progression built through consistency and tested by passion"

JB