Sculpting your own morning routine.
You have probably come across podcasts, books or essays on the power of a good morning routine. I’ve been exposed to the routines of the most successful people in tech thanks to the Tim Ferris show as well as those of other influential individuals through books, blogs etc.
Because of this I’ve tried countless times to create a morning routine only to have failed time and time again. The good news is its finally coming together and the routine is becoming a habit. I would like to share whats worked for me and why with a simple list of the elements that make up my morning routine.
The most important piece in solidifying a personal morning routine was really surprising and something I would have never suspected would be so effective.
Keeping a journal.
Robert Rodriguez @rodriguez mentioned in his interview that he journals everything religiously. Writing pages about each day. I thought the idea was nice but would have never stuck to it in the long run. So I decided to simplify it and began to jot down the date in the top corner of each page. Writing down any thoughts I had; what was bothering me, what I wanted to accomplish, something interesting I heard, sketches etc. In addition I reserved a space at the top of the page to track if I had meditated that morning or worked out that day.
It was such a simple thing to do. Pull out a notebook whilst sipping my morning coffee and jotting down the date and whatever ideas I wanted to put on paper. Through the simple act of writing down what day it is I had a greater urge to accomplish something that day. I was much more engaged in the days going by and could easily track my progress with meditating and working out. If I skipped meditation one day I would want the next page to have the three letters “med” circled in and would thus make it a point to wake up and meditate.
I’ve heard of similar notebooks like the 5 minute journal. But I enjoyed the fact that mine had nothing but empty pages. And there was no pressure or direction on what I chose to fill it with.
Stretching.
I like to begin the day with a few sun salutations to stretch out all my major muscles and feel that it gets rid of the tension and wakes me up. This usually takes 5–10 minutes and wakes me up and gets me feeling limber and ready for the meditation.
Meditation.
The benefits of meditation have been written about everywhere. upon turning thirty it was one of the things I wanted to incorporate into my life. This has been the first time I’ve managed to string a few weeks together consistently. Something I attribute to the journal. To begin, I used the free ten day program on the Headspace app. Since then I’ve continued to pursue simple meditation. Sitting on the floor withought setting a timer and meditating for 5–20 minutes.
I realize its going to take months or years to develop into a more mindful human being but for now its been great to end the small sessions knowing where my mind is at that morning. Am I calm? Or freaking out and anxious because of something? Mostly its nice to know I can sit down and do nothing for a while except concentrate on breathing.
Cold Exposure.
Having a cold shower in the morning was unthinkable to me in the past. I had seen it mentioned in morning routine articles here on medium and have friends that swear by cold morning showers but I couldn’t convince myself to stick to them. By “couldn’t convince” I mean I just couldn’t handle cold water. After hearing about it yet again through Vim Hof I decided I would give it a few weeks.
The beginnings where painfully difficult. To my surprise prior to the second week the cold water was becoming bearable. A few more days after that I came out of the showers genuinely happy. Kind of buzzed and awake with a preparedness that I had never felt that early in the morning. It something I actually enjoy after the initial 20 seconds. Its a great way to jolt yourself into “seizing” the day.
Be Forgiving.
When you try to start a new routine its easy to think of everything as black and white. We usually set lofty goals only to get frustrated the day we miss step or fail to meet our own expectations. During Naval Ravikants interview with Tim Ferris I loved what he said about reading books. He just picks up books and reads. Theres no need to read them from the first page to the last. If it gets boring fast forward a few pages! There are no rules. The important thing is simply to read. I used that philosophy in my morning stretching and meditation routine. I had no goals on how many minutes or stretches I wanted to do. The goal was simply to do them. And this made it so much easier to commit to. All I had to do was start and the benefits/joy in what I was doing took care of the rest. The same reason I decided not to put limitations on what I wrote down in the field notes. Simply writing was the goal. Therefore no pressure making it much easier to stick to the new habit.
Thats it. Simple. There is no real order but usually I wake up and get a glass of water. Stretch out. Meditate. Take a shower. Dress up. Make breakfast and pull out the journal!
If you have anything to add or can relate in some way would be great to hear about it in the comments or on twitter! @considermichael
