7 Morning Rituals That Give You A Head
Start Every Day
Morning rituals set you up to win the day. They produce
small wins that create positive momentum to propel you through the rest of the
day.
Morning
habits enable you to cross off items from your to-do list before the sun rises,
which provides a sense of progress and accomplishment. Once you automate the
morning rituals, you pave a frictionless and effortless path to the start of a
successful day.
In The
Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Charles
Duhigg writes, “Once you understand that habits can change, you have the
freedom — and the responsibility — to remake them.” Build the framework of a
productive day by thoughtfully designing your morning rituals.
1. Defeat the snooze button
Waking up
without hitting the snooze button delivers your first win of the day. Resisting
the alluring temptation of the snooze seems to be as challenging as running a
marathon. However, you can transform into the person who leaves snoozing in the
rear view mirror.
There
isn’t a bulletproof method to overcome snoozing. The effective solution is
different for each person. This gives you freedom to start experimenting today
to discover the technique that works for you.
Four years
ago, I snoozed for two hours every morning. I tested countless methods to
overcome snoozing. I tried going to sleep earlier. I set different ringtones
for my alarm. I placed my phone far away from my bed so that I had to walk
across the room to turn off the alarm. No method worked consistently. I failed
at my first goal every day, which led to frustration.
I
discovered my unique solution with the help of Clocky, which is an alarm clock
with wheels that chirps an annoying beeping sound that changes pitch and
frequency every few seconds. Every morning, I chase Clocky around the room with
my eyes half closed in order to turn off the screeching alarm. I’m ready to
start my day after that cardio workout.
Approach
defeating the temptation of the snooze like a science experiment. Don’t beat
yourself up over failed attempts. Instead, cross off the failed techniques from
your list of alternatives and move on to the next iteration of the experiment.
You’ll find a method that works for you.
2. Wake up earlier
As you’re slaying the snooze dragon, commit
to wake up earlier. The external distractions from the world are dormant in the
early morning. E-mails, text messages, and errands aren’t competing for your
attention yet. In addition to the lack of distractions, you gain a
psychological advantage when you wake up earlier. You feel like you have a head
start on the day. It seems like you gained an extra hour.
If you’re not a morning person, your
long-term goal will not be to wake up at 5 am. That’s fine. If you currently
wake up at 8 am, abruptly striving to move up your wake up time by three hours
will likely result in failure. You may succeed at the significantly earlier
wake up call for a few days.
However, the drastic change in routine will
fizzle out quickly. Massive changes don’t happen overnight. Instead, start by
waking up 15 minutes earlier. This is easily achievable. You may be surprised
to find yourself waking up at 5 am everyday in a few years.
3. Make your bed
Making your bed is the easiest and quickest
way to add a small win to the start of the day. You can achieve this win in
less than one minute. It adds a quick burst of accomplishment and productivity
to your early morning.
An organized environment leads to an
organized mind. Making your bed is a simple way to start organizing your home
life. Seeing the bed made as you’re getting ready for the day adds clarity and
calmness to your thoughts.
4. Immerse in positive states of mind for 2 minutes
Immerse in the states of mind you want to
experience the most throughout the day: grateful, inspired, excited, focused on
priorities. Answer the following questions: What are you grateful for today?
What inspires you? What excites you? What endeavors will you focus on today?
Carry out this morning ritual even when you feel anxious, sad, or overwhelmed
at the start of the day.
By immersing in grateful thoughts each
morning, you train your brain to focus on the best aspects of each
circumstance. By consistently focusing on what inspires and excites you,
you transform into a more enthusiastic and optimistic person. When you clearly
identify your priorities for the day, you take control of your day rather than
being pushed around by circumstances and the agendas of others.
5. Write down your goals every morning
You must identify and set
exciting goals to begin the journey towards your
dreams. A recent study at the Dominican University of California found
that participants who wrote down their goals accomplished significantly more
than the ones who didn’t write their goals. Writing down your goals is
better than keeping them in your head. To increase effectiveness, reference and
read through your goals every day.
The best method is to write your goals down
every morning. You powerfully declare your intention by re-writing your
goals at the start of each day. This practice crystallizes your goals in your
mind and pushes them deeper and deeper into your subconscious. It sends a
consistent signal to your brain that these goals are paramount to you.
As a result, your subconscious mind will get
to work on your dreams while you work on other projects throughout the day.
Your mind will constantly search for ways to progress towards your dream
destination. Through this ritual, you recruit your brain to become your unpaid
assistant.
6. Envision living your dream life for 5 minutes
Play your dreams in the theater of your mind.
Engage the five senses. Watch yourself enjoying a two week vacation in Paris.
What does it feel like to walk the narrow streets in the Latin Quarter? What
does French food taste like? What does it smell like? What are the sounds you
hear when you drink an espresso in a cafe?
Achieving ambitious life goals is hard. You
will reach plateaus and valleys in the journey that will make you want to ring
the bell and pursue easier goals. Imagine living your ideal day, week, and
life. This boosts your motivation and inspiration. Additionally, this exercise
clarifies the meaning and purpose of your goals. The motivation and sense of
direction push you through the dark times in the journey towards your dreams.
7. Work towards your dream
Make progress on your dream every morning
before you move on to work and errands. Start by setting aside five minutes
each morning to focus on your dream. You can incrementally work your way up to
one hour.
Instead of surrendering the precious first
hour of your day to errands that you don’t want to do, spend that hour working
on the project that fuels and excites you. We have a limited amount of
willpower in our tank each day. Leverage the full willpower tank in the morning
by focusing on your most valued project.
If you funnel your efforts to the wrong
activities, you quickly progress down a road that doesn’t lead towards your
dream destination. By directing your attention and energy on your dream at the
start of each day, you guarantee that you’ll be closer to your dream today than
you were yesterday. This incremental progress adds up to significant gains over
time.
When you combine the small wins from these
morning rituals, you create a string of victories that power your day. You’ll
feel more confident and better equipped to handle the obstacles that arise
throughout the rest of the day. Regardless of the difficulties the day
presents, you have already notched important successes.
JOSE RAMOS
http://www.lifehack.org/319418/7-morning-rituals-that-give-you-head-start-every-day?ref=mail&mtype=goal_reminder&mid=20161114_with_thumbnail&uid=687414&hash=707e797f7e757e6d794c856d747b7b3a6f7b79&action=read_more&goal_id=27&token=d0e3e4b03809d240b52d71f8a6770fa9
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