The Benefits of a Morning Routine

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Marcus Aruelius

The importance of a morning routine cannot be understated. It wakes you up, energizes you, and puts you in the right frame of mind to tackle the day. Study after study has shown that people who have a set routine are more motivated, excited, and content with their lives than those who don’t. Forbes and Business insider (as well as top career coaches) interview successful people about what the most important part of their day is and almost all say that along with waking up early, their morning routine, consisting of any number of activities, helps them prepare for the day before the world has time to get to them.

I used to be a night owl. I loved staying up late, getting up late, and moving through my day how I pleased. It wasn’t until I got sick that this became an issue. While sick I’ve had days where I’m in immense pain, fighting depression, or I’m happy as a clam, appreciative, and ready to take on the day. My day would then take on a mind of its own, with ups downs and oftentimes, a lot of frustration.

I started wondering if there was a way to make those great, creative, and appreciative days more common. As I researched this, I started noticing how many people, including those like Tim Ferris and Tony Robbins, stress the importance of morning routines to focus and jumpstart their day. They discussed all of the pros they saw in their days after creating their own. Things like increased energy, excitement, appreciation for life, openness to experiences, increased retention of information and creativity, and even improved libido. By doing this routine before you check your phone, reply to emails, or turn on the news, you’ll be putting yourself in the frame of mind you decide on for the day before the outside world has a chance to get to you. This makes you more in control of your emotions, energy, and life today. Seeing that my first hour or two each morning was spent just playing on my phone in bed, I had nothing to lose.

I began looking through what some of them did I began experimenting with my own routine by adding or subtracting things I found helpful or harmful to my morning. I quickly found what was working and what wasn’t. Here is my favorite approach to the morning, what habits I stopped, and some other suggestions for you to try.

My alarm goes off at 6:30 across the room, forcing me to get out of bed and turn it off. Now here comes the first challenge of the day, not getting back into bed immediately after. To prevent this I turn the shower on to its coldest setting and immediately get in (I’ll discuss the benefits of cold showers in a later blog post). This will wake you the hell up. After three minutes of focusing on my breathing in the freezing cold shower, I’ll get out and go make myself some green tea. While the water is boiling I’ll rebound for about 3-5 minutes to get my immune system kick-started. I’ll then take out one of my favorite purchases I’ve ever had, “The Five Minute Journal.” This book helps you list what your grateful for as well as ways to make your day the best it can be. After that, I’ll meditate for 20-30 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of Qi Gong (a style similar to Tai Chi). I’ll finish with reading a verse from the Tao Te Ching and think about how I can apply it to my day and then my day has started.

Now obviously this routine of mine takes time, about an hour to be exact. I currently have the time to do this but I completely understand most of the world does not have this kind of freedom. However, finding a 15 or 20-minute version is doable, and you’ll reap the benefits for the rest of the day. For example, you could wake up, shower, meditate for 10 minutes, and then journal about what you’re grateful for as well as what you’re looking forward to accomplishing throughout the day. Boom. There’s your 20-minute routine.However, the only way you’ll find what works for you or what doesn’t is by experimenting with your morning routine yourself.

Heres a list of things that you can try to help kickstart your day:

• Putting your alarm clock (or phone) across the room
• Pushups, squats, jumping jacks, or some other activity
• Drink a full glass of water
• Cold shower
• Meditation
• Journaling
• Drink tea/coffee
• Write about what dreams you had
• Pray
• Qi Gong/Tai Chi
• Laugh at something funny
• Think of a warm memory that makes you happy
• Listen to a song
• Read a book
• Take your dog for a walk
• Write out your “to-dos”
• Eat
• Visualization

Whatever you decide to do, know that making any effort toward creating this new morning routine is a HUGE step forward and you should be proud to be pushing yourself to be the best you that you can be. Now the only thing left to do is work on being consistent in implementing this each morning and you’ll soon be on your way to conquering your day!