The six step morning routine

I believe in the importance of having a good morning routine – after all it’s the start of your day and if you can make a positive and productive start then that momentum is going to help the rest of your day flow in the best possible manner.

To get the most out of your morning routine I recommend the following:

Wake up early (and on time) 6am

Todays a busy day, you have so much planned. The night before it seemed like a good idea – you were going to wake up early so that you had time to fit everything in, so you set your alarm to 6am.

It’s now 6am and you look up at the roof and you wonder what you were thinking. The temptation is to hit that snooze button – don’t do that!

Get up from bed and switch it off. Just by doing that you have already moved out of bed, there is no going back. Throw some water over your face and get moving.

Feed yourself with positive thoughts 6:05am

As you get moving about and getting ready start thinking positive thoughts. I always think it’s a new day with lots of opportunities – I think how I am going to make someone’s life better today, give myself positive affirmations, thin what I have achieved so far and what I am going to achieve for the rest of the day.

This gets you into the mindset ready to anticipate and face any problems that may arise throughout the day.

Workout 6:30am

The next step is to get some exercise which is good as it will get them feel good endorphins pumping round your body – just what you need when you are facing up to the challenge.

The benefit of exercising in the morning that it’s a lot easier to get yourself exercising rather than after a long day at work where you just want to go home, eat and crash out in front of the TV.

At the end of your workout take a good long look in the mirror and see the results of your hardwork – you have achieved that by doing the being consistent with your workout routine!

Posture: 8:15am

After cleaning yourself up from your workout start focusing on your posture. Keep reminding yourself to stand-up right. Puff your chest out and tuck your stomach in. Try staying standing for a bit and posture yourself like you are Superman.

When you walk image you have a cape on your shoulders, think about how you will stride.

If and when you have to sit down keep your upright posture and don’t slouch. Altering your posture will make you look more confident to others.

You will notice other people looking at you more. And you will feel more confident. Keep yourself smiling and happy, prepare your voice to give a powerful confident “Good morning” to the first person you see.

Maintain good eye contact – in order to do this effectively take enough time to see what colour the persons eyes are – longer than that will just creep people out.

Be creative: 8:20am

Your creativity is the highest in the morning so make time to focus on creative tasks – any projects that require fresh ideas are best thought about then. Also take time to write and get ideas. I find my commute on the train is a great opportunity to be productive and write some notes or 1^st drafts of blog posts.

I also use this as a time to do all my ‘blog management work’ – the time updating social media, responding to comments. This ensures that I am making time to respond to those kind enough to make the effort of engaging with me.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer I still think it is worthwhile maintaining a diary to record your thoughts, progression towards your goals and other ideas.

Eat: 8:50am

It’s been a productive morning so far and it’s only 8:50am – I would normally have not eaten since 8pm the night before. Now I get the chance to break my fast. When eating savour every mouth full, chew it slowly and gently – feel your delicious breakfast giving you that needed boost from your workout.

I recommend having some sort of fast between last nights and the morning meal. Firstly because of the self-discipline of not eating constantly is a good thing.

Another reason for eating last is that it makes you sluggish and not as motivated – it’s a bit like if you were hunting, the reward is the food at the end from the kill. So if we eat at the beginning what is the motivation to focus on the other activities?

Therefore to help productivity I recommend leaving eating until last.

Completion

I have now finished my morning routine walking into work at 9am – where I feel achieve, confident, fit and healthy. I am prepared to confront the day ahead.

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