Stepping into the A.M. can be a challenge. There are a number of obstacles that face you before your feet even hit the floor. What to wear? What to eat? If you’ve got them, are your kids ready for their day? What’s the morning commute like today? If that weren’t enough there is the morning time crunch. Minutes can feel like dog years in the morning. In short, your morning can set the tone for the rest of your day – good or bad. If you want to win your day, then learn how to master your morning. Here are a few tips.
1. Your Morning Starts the Night Before
One way to beat the morning is to start the night before. Write out your daily to-do list for the next day. Arrange your clothes, pack that lunch and backpack. If you work out in the morning, then have that gym bag prepped.
Why? Preparation the night before saves you time, but also energy. Making too many decisions in the morning will take away energy for decision making later in the day. If you have these items on automatic pilot, you can save your focus and energy for other big-ticket items in your day.
2. Hydrate
You’ve just gone a period of six to eight hours (if you are lucky) sleeping. During that time, you have not had anything to eat or drink. Your body needs hydration at this point. Drinking water first thing in the morning will kick start your day and give you lasting energy all day long. Early-morning water consumption also boosts your metabolism, making it easier to lose weight and helps prevent a myriad of conditions from kidney stones, to the flue to headaches.
3. Early to Rise
Some of the biggest titans of their industries are up well before the rest of the world. Oprah, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, retired Navy SEAL Commander Jocko Willink are all up at the crack of dawn. Sure, they may engage in different activities, Oprah meditates, the Rock goes clanging and banging at the gym, but the common element is they are getting a head start on their agenda before others chime in on their time. According to Business Insider in the 2015 book “Extreme Ownership” which Willink cowrote he noticed as a new Navy SEAL that the highest performers he served with were the ones who woke up earliest, beginning their days while others were sleeping
Point being, getting up earlier, can help give you more time to complete to those morning routines – grooming, eating, commuting which can make for a more productive and less stressful day.
4. Have A Morning Ritual/Routine
Just as being an early riser is a common trait among the successful, so is a morning routine and/or ritual. Before starting his day, Steve Jobs consistently asked himself a question, Kobe Bryant meditates for 10 to 15 minutes, in his words “it sets me up for the rest of the day, it’s like having an anchor”. Jeff Bezos, is known to make sure he has breakfast with his wife. Whatever it is that you choose to do, simply make sure you do it on a consistent basis. It will in all likelihood give you that anchor as well.
Now, if you don’t believe us about the power in mastering your morning, believe the experts. A 2012 study published in the American Psychological Association journal, Emotion. The study worked with more than 700 people ranging in age from 17 to 79 and showed that early risers with a routine reported feeling happier and healthier.
