Morning rituals are kind of a cliché! It seems like every entrepreneur or influencer has a complex 15-step morning routine. But that doesn’t mean that you have to follow it to reap the benefits of a morning ritual.
Instead, it’s better to create a morning routine that fits your needs.
So without further ado, let’s get into it.
Why Is a Morning Routine So Important?
Before we get into the habits of a successful morning routine, I want to talk about why should you have one.
The objective of a morning routine is to prepare yourself for the day. This is done in multiple ways:
- Getting into the right mindset. To get the most out of your day, you’ll have to have the right attitude. You need to be disciplined and positive. This mindset we’ll help you be more productive and make better decisions.
- Help your body to wake up faster. We all know how unproductive we are when feeling sleepy. With the proper habits, you’ll be able to skip those hours and work on your business more energised than ever.
- Get ahead of the competition. Morning routines can also be used to get ahead of your competitors. This is done through habits that I’ll mention in the next section.
5 Habits for Success
The first step to creating the perfect routine is to choose what type of habits you’ll start your mornings with. There are hundreds of ways to do it, but here are just a few habits you could try adding:
#1 – Taking Cold Showers
Cold showers have many great health benefits! But what is the best benefit is that once you get in a cold shower, you’ll wake up quickly. Additionally, a daily cold shower will build up your discipline as well.
#2 – Reading out loud affirmations
The best practice to get to the right mindset is to read out your affirmations. This way, you’ll start your day positively, which helps you make better decisions and be, overall, more productive.
If you haven’t done any affirmations before, all you have to do is create positive sentences about yourself. These could be as simple as “I am a happy and likeable person” or “I get everything I want in life because I’m willing to work for it”.
#3 – Learn Something
There’s a saying, “leaders are readers”. So why not educate yourself in the morning? This way, you’re educating yourself daily, which will make you into a better business person.
You can do it in multiple ways: reading a book, listening to a podcast, taking online courses, and much more.
#4 – Morning Workout
Another thing that many successful people do in the mornings is that they do physical activities. This will help them to feel more energised, instead of being tired.
Plus, you don’t have to hit the gym to reap the benefits. It can be as easy as doing a few jumping jacks and pushups.
#5 – Plan Out Your Day
A beneficial thing to do in the morning is to plan out your day. What important task are you going to complete this day? Write down, and schedule time for them on your calendar app. This way, you have time to work on goals that move the needle.
Creating Your Morning Routine
Now that you know what you can do in the mornings, it’s time to create your morning routine! The morning routine should be unique to your particular needs. But how do you do it?
The best guideline to creating a morning routine comes from Robin Sharma’s book “The 5 AM Club”. When reading this book, you’ll find a formula called the 20/20/20 formula.
This formula tells you what you should do in your first waking hour!
The first 20 minutes are called “Move”. During this time, you should do something that wakes up your body. These could be morning workouts, walks, or cold showers.
The following 20 minutes are called “Reflect”. During this time, you can plan out your day, practise gratefulness and read your affirmations.
The last 20 minutes are called “Learn”. During this period, you can listen to a podcast or an audiobook, read a book, or watch educational videos.
How to Program Yourself to Follow Your Morning Routine
Starting a new habit is difficult! You’re going against your old habits, which is uncomfortable to change. But fortunately, with discipline and the proper techniques, you can make your habits stick.
To help you program yourself to follow your ritual, I’ll use the information from Robin Sharma’s book again to explain a rule. This rule is called the 66-day rule.
The rule says that if you do something for 66-days, you’ll have integrated a new habit. You’ll go through three stages:
- Destruction Stage. During the first 22 days, you’ll go through a challenging stage. In this stage, you’ll be destroying your old habits, which requires a lot of commitment.
- Implementation Stage. If the first 22 days weren’t complicated enough, the next 22 are even more challenging. During this stage, you’ll be installing your brand new habit.
- Integration Stage. The last 22 days are, fortunately, easier. During this time, you have installed your new habits, and after each day, it will become more and more natural.
Once the 66 days are over, you have created a habit out of it. No longer will you feel and resistance to waking up early and following your morning routine!
But going through these 66 days is going to be complicated. So to make it less challenging, I highly recommend you reward yourself frequently for following your routine.
For example, you can reward yourself daily with a piece of chocolate or coffee in your favourite coffee shop.
The Importance of Night Routine
Now that you’ve learned about the morning routine let’s talk about another vital ritual called the night routine. But what is a night routine?
Night routines do two things: prepare for the mornings and help you get a good night’s sleep.
Without preparation for the next day and a night of high-quality sleep, you won’t have the energy and the desire to jump out of bed and make the day count!
But what should you do during your Night Routine? Here are a few tips for creating a night routine:
- Make your mornings easier. During the last hour, you should start setting yourself up for the morning. You can do it in many ways; prepare your tomorrow’s outfit, write down the most critical goals, pick out a book to read, etc.
- Turn off your screens. At least one hour before, you should stop looking at your screens. The blue light emitted by the displays makes your brain think it’s still daytime, and you won’t feel sleepy because of it. So give your eyes a rest, and you’ll sleep better.
- Do relaxing things. During this time, you should relax. It will help you wind down and get ready for sleep. My recommendation is to either read a book, drink some tea or take a hot shower.
- Reflect on your day. Another way to spend this time is to reflect on your day. Write down everything that you did well and things that you need to improve on. Additionally, write down solutions for the things that didn’t go as well.
Conclusion
Now you know everything there is to know about creating both morning and evening rituals. While night routines are helpful, creating a morning ritual should be your first priority. Without it, you won’t have as productive a day otherwise!
