“When we go back to the basics, that’s when we start to transform our life.”

Lewis Howes

There is not a “one size fits all” aproach for a successful morning routine. However, there are certain habits you can implement into the first part of your morning to set you up for a productive day. Whether you wake up at 5am and go to the gym or hop out of bed 30 minutes before you have to leave for work, there are ways to maximize your time in the morning. Though specifics depend on the individual, there is a mindset shift that everyone could benefit from to create an optimal routine.

Background

I have always had a tough time getting out of bed. Whether it was in the warmth of my childhood bed or my college fraternity house, I always found myself rationalizing snoozing my alarm. I unintentionally created the bad habit of waking up around 10am, often much later, during my freshman year of college. My most frequent rationalization was that I had no reason to get out of bed; why wake up if I have nothing to do? By the end of my sophomore year, I found myself feeling frustrated, unproductive, and unhealthy. Never waking up with intention, constantly feeling rushed through my day, and longing for a sense of calmness and grounding (that I most certainly needed) hung over my head for months. After hitting a wall, I listened to an episode of “The School of Greatness” podcast by Lewis Howes that featured Robin Sharma, author of the book “The 5am Club”. Sharma argued that successful people wake up early and do the following things every morning: move, reflect, and grow. It is up to each person’s discretion how he/she chooses to implement these habits, but the central message reads that these three practices implemented daily will reap massive results.

After taking the time to consider these foreign practices, I decided it was time for me to make the change in my own morning routine. Two years later, I can confidently say that it has changed every aspect of my life. The first noticeable change was a sense of control over my time. I had more time after awaking than in the previous years. Then I started to stack healthy habits, ones I didn’t have time to do if I woke up at 10am. Finally, I was able to clearly set an intention for my day, and constantly do this (4-5 times a week). And yes, it did take some time to establish this habit.

1: Anxiety Antidote

Reason one. A morning routine lessens anxiety. When I would wake up later, I would have horrible anxiety upon waking. I felt so rushed to get everything done, overwhelmed, and guilty for not holding myself accountable. I had a monkey mind, which many can relate to. A monkey mind is a Buddhist term that represents an uncanny metaphor to imagine the ordinary human mind as a distracted, constantly moving and flustered monkey. It takes intention to stop the monkey mind, more on this later. You feel anxiety because of a feeling of overwhelm and lack of control. The overwhelm is having too much to do you bounce from task to task in your head (monkey mind), and lack of control comes from not having something to ground you into that present moment.

A solid morning routine can help you with both of these, feel less overwhelmed and have a sense of control. This routine can immeasurably help some people because this will be a time when they HAVE control over their life and what they do, rather than the uncertainty and spontaneity that comes throughout the day.

2: Reinforces Healthy Habits

I’m assuming that since you are reading this, you want to improve your life. Healthy habits can do this. A healthy habit is any regular occurring behavior that is advantageous to your mental or physical health. To go deep on how to form healthy habits, read the book Atomic Habits or look up summaries on Youtube. But a key thought in this book is what the author calls habit loops. These are behaviors, thoughts, or emotions that cause a loop of good or bad. A “bad” habit loop would be starting your day with scrolling on Instagram. You are starting your day with comparison and a huge dopamine hit. This then usually causes a habit loop of thoughts of comparison and feeling of lack. This leads to a poor behavior/thought loop that is hard to break. Rather, if you start your morning with let’s say a 5 minute mediation and reading a devotional, you start a good habit loop with thoughts of empowerment and feelings of calmness. This could inspire you to do other productive behaviors. Once the loop of choice begins, it takes effort and energy to stop it, good or bad. Scrolling on Instagram isn’t necessarily “bad”, I would just recommend not starting your day off with that behavior. I want you to think for yourself and ask yourself good questions, this is all based off the individual person and feeling a sense of control over yourself.

3: Starts The Day With Intention

Intention: A thing intended; an aim or plan

Intention is so important. There is no change without intention and desire. A morning routine allows you to set an intention for the day, rather than reacting throughout the day. It allows you to ground yourself, not be effected by the monkey mind, and live in a way that according to your intention.

The biggest key to success with a morning routine starts the night before. Set the intention of what you are going to do before you go to bed the preceding night. Write it down, set the intention in your mind. You are much more likely to follow through with it.

Caution

With all that being said, a morning routine is critical for success. In the next paragraph I will talk about examples and habit loop triggers. But first a word of caution. For the first couple of months, I would do a morning routine as a means to an end. I would do it because I felt like I HAD to or I would fail in life somehow. Do not make this a means to an end. Do not do this because you feel guilty if you don’t. The whole point is to set your day up for success. To have the best possible mindset and positive momentum to go into your day, while also feeling a sense of control. You should control the routine, the routine shouldn’t control you. Be flexible. Have some grace on yourself. If you didn’t get good sleep the night before, take that into account and adjust the routine. One morning might be 2 minutes of deep breathing and that’s it. Another morning might be a full hour routine. The biggest component of this is consistency. Consistently do SOMETHING to take control of yourself and ground yourself. It doesn’t have to be a huge burden to do. If you like just taking 5 deep breaths and then starting your day, then do that. Like I’ve said, this is different for each individual.

Examples:

Long Routine (60+ minutes): 5am wake up –> Drink glass of water –> 20 minute stretching routine –> 20 minute listening to ebook –> 20 minutes of journaling –> Breakfast, Shower, Start Day

Medium Routine (30 minutes): 6am wake up –> drink reds powder –> 5 minutes of deep breathing –> Shower (cold for 1 minute at the end) –> Read devotional –> Start day

Short Routine (10 minutes): 7am wake up –> 2 minutes of deep breathing –> Write down what you have that day –> Start Day

Remember, consistency is the key. Do something every day to build this morning routine habit.

Habit Loop Triggers:

A habit loop trigger is something that starts a habit. I like it to be something right when you wake up that you do first thing in the morning to start your morning routine. I would recommend using the same trigger every day, and make it simple.

Examples: Drink a glass of water, drink a nutrient powder, make coffee, brush teeth, shower, quick prayer.

I hope this information helps you level up in your life.