Mornings
I recently read an article by Taylor Pearson on the importance of morning routines. The point was not to have some grandiose plan that ends in the bin of intimidation, but to focus on small things — any small thing to be more precise — to build forward momentum for the rest of your day. The focus is momentum rather than the actual routine itself (at least that’s what I got out of it…I hope I got the right message). It makes sense to me, as we all know we respond better to recognition of relative improvement versus absolute level i.e. the quantum of satisfaction from losing 25 lbs is significantly higher than simply maintaining my ideal weight of 155 lbs.
So I decided to come up with my own, many parts of which I already do.
First, I wake up at 5 AM.
- Drink big glass of ice cold water.
- Brush.
It is now 5:15 AM.
- Go exercise/stretch/do some yoga for 30 minutes.
- Shower.
It is now 6 AM.
- Boil some water for coffee.
- Meditate for 10 minutes while waiting for coffee.
- Brew/drink coffee while writing down the following: 5 to-do’s for the day or week, 10 ideas (Altucher), revisit yearly resolutions, revisit goals by age 30. This will serve to remind you, reinforce what you are working towards and why, force you to adjust/justify, and provide focus to life.
It is now 7 AM.
- Dress and head to work in a good mood.
Every day going forward, I plan to record everything on Medium. I tried it with notebooks, but they inevitably get lost, wear out, get annoying to store, cost not insignificant amounts if you like nice notebooks like I do and are not forgiving when you don’t like your choice of words.
— From Albert to Albert
