“If you win the morning, you win the day.” – Tim Ferris
Have you ever done an internet search about the morning routine of successful people? I am sure you have. Waking up at 5 or 6 am, doing journaling, meditation, full-body workout are some of the common things that you might have seen on the list.
Maybe you have given a try to develop this morning routine. I have. And let me tell you honestly, I have failed miserably.
That is why I decided to ditch the internet and develop my realistic morning routine. A routine that is developed according to my needs and comfort.
So, how do you develop a realistic morning routine?
Why do you want a morning routine? The internet gives a lot of reasons why one should develop a morning routine. But what is your reason?
Reasons can be many such as you simply don’t want to hustle in the morning, or you need some me-time, or maybe need some extra peaceful time where you can complete your project.
The reasons for waking up early need not be limited to becoming successful or being productive. It can be anything that matters to you.
When you have a strong reason for waking up in the morning, you will be more interested to do so.
I will repeat it. Decide your time for waking up in the morning. Don’t follow the internet blindly.
Internet is full of stories with successful people who wake up super early like 4 am, 5 am, and so on. If it is not practical for you to wake up this early, just don’t.
Everyone’s schedule and priorities are different. The waking and sleeping time of a mom is different from a college student.
Find a time that works for you. It might be 6 am or 7 am.
Just because your waking time doesn’t match those of the successful people doesn’t mean that your morning routine isn’t gonna be helpful for you.
I cannot stress this enough. And this one comes from my personal experience.
I am so guilty of cutting down my sleeping hours to wake up early. So that I can have a productive morning routine just like that seen on the internet.
Needless to say, the morning routine did not stick. I was feeling tired because of being sleep-deprived and couldn’t wake up at 5 am after a few days.
I don’t do that anymore and it just feels so good.
I have to commute to my college via train. I have to leave my house at 7 am. So, I start my day at 6 am. I sleep at 10:30 pm. I make sure to get at least 7 to 7 and half hours of sleep every night.
It is said that an average adult needs to sleep for 7 to 9 hours. I prefer 7 and half hours of sleep because I feel refreshed after sleeping for those many hours. You might need more.
Anything I do in the morning before I reach college and start my day, I consider it as my morning routine. I allowed myself to define my morning routine the way I want to.
I wake up at 6 am and leave my house at 7 am. I have very little time to do the morning routine of my choice during that 1-hour time. But I travel by train for 1 hour to reach my college. I use this time to do things like reading, writing, listening to TED talks.
I always thought that the morning routine should be completed before you leave the house. This is not necessary.
If you are someone who has to commute to reach your college or workplace, then you can use this time to complete your routine. You can use all the time you have got before your day starts for doing your morning routine.
There is no fixed duration of time for a morning routine. It depends on you.
It’s ok if you cannot spend hours on your morning routine. Even a 15 or 20 minutes routine is great.
Your morning routine doesn’t become ineffective if takes less time to do so.
I used to have this feeling that the morning routine should last for hours. After all successful people’s morning routine is time-consuming.
I had this weird feeling that whatever I do in the morning is not enough. Because I have never had a morning routine that lasts for 1 hour.
Don’t skip your morning routine thinking it is ineffective because you can spare less time for it.
You must begin the day by giving yourself some time to do the things you want to do. It doesn’t matter if it is as less as 15 minutes. Make the most of it.
So, you fix your duration for the morning routine. 20 minutes or 45 minutes or 2 hours, it’s up to you.
Once you have decided how long your morning routine should be, now it is time to decide what all you want to include in your routine.
I would suggest not including too many things. If you check the internet, you will see a big list. And each and everything in the list has benefits. But one cannot do everything.
I used to feel guilty that my morning routine things are less. Less compared to what is seen on the internet.
Now, I have let go of this thought. Because I realized that it is always better to do a few things with full focus and dedication.
Once I reduced the items in my morning routine, it felt easier to do. It felt more meaningful. I finally felt that I am doing the routine for my benefit. Also started to enjoy it.
As I mentioned before, I have only 1 hour before I leave my house. My initial morning routine includes 5 minutes of prayer, making my bed, drinking water,5 minutes of journaling, 5 minutes of reading and 5 minutes of stretching. After that, I get ready, have my breakfast and leave home.
In the train, I spent 30 minutes reading, and 30 minutes listening to podcasts or ted talks. This completes my morning routine.
Before leaving the house, I do a few things for a short duration. The total time I spent for my initial morning routine is 20 minutes. But spending that 20 minutes for myself before leaving the house, creates a huge positive impact on my day.
Doing something for 5 or 10 minutes seems insignificant. But what the human brain fails to understand is the compounding effect. If you do small things continuously for a while it will make a significant difference in your life.
When you do 5 minutes of reading for 3 months continuously, it’s gonna make a difference.
I do 5 to 6 things as a part of my morning routine. And my routine is split into 2 phases: before and after leaving house. Because it is divided like this, I feel it easier to do these many things in the morning.
Also, I never tried to do all of these things together when I decided that I want to establish a morning routine. I started with 3 things and slowly I added more as days went by.
If you are just getting started with your routine, decide what all you want to include in your morning routine. It is ok if you just want to do a few things. The number of things doesn’t matter.
Get started by doing 1 to 3 items from the list. Once it becomes a habit, add another 1 to 3 items from the list.
When I said, don’t include too many things into your morning routine, I only took into consideration major habits like reading, journaling, exercising, etc.
The smaller habits like making the bed, drinking water in the morning, soaking in sunlight aren’t included in the list. That is because it doesn’t take much time and effort to develop these as habits. Also, it doesn’t take much time to do these small habits
You have to watch different genres of movies to know which type you enjoy the most. Until and unless you don’t try different sports, you will not know which one you are interested in.
Just like that, you need to experiment with your morning routine. Try doing different things in the morning. And notice if it is making a positive impact on your life, whether you are enjoying them or not.
Keep on experimenting and finding a set of things that you prefer to do in the morning. Unless and until you don’t enjoy your morning routine, you will not be able to successfully develop it as a routine.
Developing a morning routine is going to take time. First, you will have to experiment and find out what you want to include in your morning routine. Once you decide then you need to spend time to develop it.
It might take many months to develop a proper morning routine. So be patient and enjoy the process. Even if it takes you 3, 4, or 6 months to develop it as a routine, go for it, stick to it.
A morning routine, no matter how short it is in terms of duration and the number of things you do, will do wonders in your life. Starting the day by giving yourself some time by doing things that will help in your self-development, will have a huge positive impact.
I hope that this post will encourage you to develop a morning routine. Share this with your friends and family, if you enjoyed this post and found it useful.