What I Learned Doing Tim Ferriss’ Morning Routine for 1 Month
Along with evidence based research on how these practices can benefit you in your daily life
I have been trying to find a morning routine for some time now. The problem with a lot of morning routines is they can be unrealistic for most of us. I was not going to set myself up for failure by attempting something I knew I would not follow through with.
Many routines involve waking up a few hours before you start your day. I work a full-time 9 to 5 and have obligations daily I need to give time to.
This leaves me with about a one hour block for a morning routine.
I used a combination of Tim Ferriss’ morning routine along with bits and pieces inspired by The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. Here is an outline of what I did each morning along with the why:
7am: Wake up
Or whenever you need to set your alarm to accommodate the hour.
7:01am: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP: Make sure NOT to hit snooze
This was something I was worried would be difficult for me. I had been a dedicated member of the snooze club since I was put in charge of waking myself up (think around 6th or 7th grade).
According to studies, hitting the snooze button is not as harmless you may think.
Your body sleeps in cycles where your brain is essentially shifting through stages of deep and more shallow sleep. When you hit snooze for ten minutes your brain and body are preparing for a new sleep cycle.
Bringing this cycle to an abrupt end leaves you with a feeling of fatigue that can last several hours. This feeling is referred to as sleep inertia.
Realistically, if you had an adequate night of sleep you will only feel groggy for around 30-minutes.
Just get up, and get on with the next few tasks which are strategically placed to allow you time to wake up mentally before you need to use your brain.
7:01–7:05am: Make your bed and brush your teeth
The theory behind making your bed in the morning is you start your day successfully completing a task. Now you have gotten out of bed without hitting snooze, and your bed is made.
You are on a real hot steak, and have only been up a couple minutes.
Brushing your teeth now serves to allow your more time to mentally wake up. This is a relatively mindless task which requires little to no attention for most.
7:05–7:10am: Stretch and drink water
After a night of sleep our bodies are dehydrated and stiff.
Dehydration causes us to feel more tired.
Having a tall glass of water and moving our bodies a bit will help get us going in the AM.
7:10–7:25am: Meditation
Doing your meditation before anything else is important because this is when your mind should be in its least active state. You don’t have any of the thoughts of the day weighing on you.
The benefits of meditation are countless. Meditation reduces stress, anxiety, and risk of heart disease, among other ailments. Not to mention the immeasurable benefits it has on your soul.
Calm and Headspace are great apps to get started when building a meditation ritual. There are also thousands of free guided and unguided meditations on YouTube.
I used to practice my meditation at night, however I found I was much less consistent with it than I am now.
Setting this time aside for myself in the mornings helps me stay committed to my practice and I have noticed a significant improvement in my ability to remain mindful deep into the day.
7:25–7:30am: Post-meditation affirmations and visualization
Once the bell gongs and meditation wraps up, remain seated where you are and turn your attention towards your affirmations.
The benefits of using affirmations daily can be anything from functioning as a reminder of your goals or purpose in life to harnessing the power of the law of attraction, which has been the main focus of some of the best selling books of all time (The Secret and Think and Grow Rich, among others).
Common affirmations you hear sound something like, “I am blessed financially with all that I desire” but if this language is inauthentic to you then change it. (List: Affirmation ideas).
Affirmations should be personal and true to who you want to be or they will not be very effective. If even you can’t believe yourself then how will the universe believe you?
7:30–7:45am: Journaling (Practicing gratitude and setting intentions)
After visualizing and repeating affirmations write them down in your journal, followed by 3 things you grateful for, and 3 intentions for the day.
Journaling, like meditation, has many benefits. Those who journal are more in tune with their emotions, which can help us deal better with feelings of anxiety and depression.
Greatest among these benefits, in my opinion, are the ways having a gratitude practice will improve your daily life.
As humans we have a bias for negative thought, so taking time to focus on some good things can have profound impacts on our mental health.
Revisiting the intentions you set at night can serve as an accountability practice.
7:45–8am: Make and enjoy some coffee or tea
This is seen as a reward for completing the morning ritual, because it is not easy and you deserve a mini celebration.
Or use this time to complete the tasks above if you tend to move slower in the mornings.
Important Side Note: Notice at no point did you check your phone for messages, news updates, or to hop on social media.
Opening Twitter or Facebook, even for a second, and potentially reading or seeing something that negatively impacts your mood could ruin your entire morning.
Remember, you likely would have been sleeping at this time anyways, so there is no way to justify using any time for an activity that doesn’t fit into this part of your schedule.
Now, for purposes of transparency I feel the need to share two key pieces of information. Before getting started on this journey I already had an established meditation and journaling practice.
While inconsistent, these were activities that I at least attempted to do most days.
This is important because it’s much easier to change the time of day you do something than it is to pick up several new habits and try incorporating them into your life simultaneously.
If you find yourself skeptical or it is very difficult to commit to this morning routine then start by waking up just 5 minutes early the first week.
No snoozing your alarm, make your bed, have some water, and stretch for a minute or two.
Small changes over time add up to big results.
After a couple of months, slowly adding pieces to your morning ritual you will be owning your days.
The Verdict
I have been more productive, mindful, and efficient since starting this new practice. It is hard to explain all of the ways this routine has changed me for the better, but happier is the word sticks out most.
I believe a lot of it has to do with having a mindful gratitude practice and the calm of the morning carrying me into the day.
We need to force ourselves out of our comfort zone in ways that add value to our lives.
But you can use your comfort to your advantage as support for your growth.
In the same way buildings are erected floor by floor, you can add new layers to the support structure when building yourself up.
As your practice grows and you get further from where you began it can be hard to believe how far you have come, but hopefully the view from the top serves you better.
