Creating A Daily Morning Routine

byacebh

162 followers

Updated 6 years ago

Just wanted to mention a morning routine I'm trying out in an attempt to get a handle on life balance and making effective use of time. I think automating some of our time is key to success. Small daily disciplines add up to large achievements.

My goal is to break apart the day into sections, figuring out when I'm most effective at executing certain types of activities. Get a better handle on scheduling the hours within that time. Every day becomes an experiment, using the previous day as a baseline.

Obviously your morning routine won't look anything like mine. The key takeaway is to know that you can probably make more effective use of your time. It helps to log daily activities with times for a week, to see where you're putting your time.

6:30am

Get up. Put on my workout clothes. Do 30 crunches, then get presentable enough to make my way to the kitchen =)

I drink 2 glasses of water & hang out with the wife for a bit.

Note: Drinking 2 glasses of water immediately is a habit I've wanted to automate for myself. I'm horrible at drinking enough water through the day, so downing 2 glasses immediately makes me more successful there & alleviates headaches from dehydration.

6:45am

Morning workout. It only lasts 15-20 minutes. It wouldn't matter if it was only 5 minutes. The important thing is doing SOMETHING daily. It all adds up.

Elliptical for 4 minutes. Lift some weights. Exercise bike for 10 min.

DONE.

7:05am

I solder circuit boards for 60 minutes. Yep, that's weird right? Well, my main business right now has been selling circuit boards I've designed to a hobby community. I don't enjoy soldering in the morning, but it's a mindless task & it accomplishes something. Kind of makes me feel good to have made progress before 8am. Plus, those 60 minutes every day add up over 5 days a week & I can stay ahead of inventory a bit better without sacrificing other time during the day.

What's nice is I listen to success / mindset recordings during this time (lots of Jim Rohn lately). This helps to set my mindset right for the day.

8:00am

Say goodbye to my wife. Head upstairs, check emails. See what orders came in overnight.

Note: I used to check emails first thing in the morning. BAD IDEA. This leads to distraction and breaking routines. We MUST keep some routines completely in our control & I've seen/heard others mention the first XX minutes of the morning is COMPLETELY THEIRS. That's the attitude I'm taking too. The first 90 minutes is mine now.

At this point I've done more for myself before 8am than I have done before NOON many other days that I decided not to get out of bed right away.

• I've worked out
• I've been productive with some assembly of products.
• I've set my mind up for success for the day.

There's a few other tweaks I'm trying to make. Like taking 5-10 minutes to meditate or identify things/people I'm grateful for. But this time is all MY TIME. I'm not allowing myself to be distracted by emails, websites, blogs, etc.

9:00am-12:00pm

From here on, the schedule's a bit loose. I try to take the dog out early-morning. Grab something to eat (before I forget) & shower.

Finally, I'm printing invoices & packing order that came in overnight.

My plan here is to dedicate time before noon to the business of assembly/shipping of products.

Even if I don't have orders to ship, I can use this time for:

• Assembly of more inventory
• Getting caught up with business records
• Figuring out what material orders need to be made
• Responding to emails
• Cleaning up work areas
• Any other tasks related to this business

This is a HUGE change for the way I've done things. I was trying to "wing it" with each day, bouncing between businesses (product sales & Affiliate Marketing). It's not working.

I have to dedicate specific time for each business. Deciding to spend the first half of the day on one business & second half of the day on the other business is a better plan. At least right now. It forces me to work within a 4-hour time limit and BE PRODUCTIVE.

That's easy for the business where I'm assembling/shipping inventory. Not-so-easy for Affiliate Marketing right now, with so much to research, learn and try. But, I'm going to recognize that as a problem and not want to waste the 2nd half of my day every day. That's a bigger pill to swallow, than say.. figuring well, I'll dabble here and there on this business and that business over the 8 hour day.

By breaking apart time, you start seeing how effective or ineffective you are in that time.

Defining Your Morning Routine

Again, your schedule will be different from mine. Maybe you're working a 9-5 job. Or you have other commitments in the morning. Or exercise just doesn't suit you in the A.M. That's okay, but consider the time you do have and good habits you'd like to form. Or maybe just taking 5 minutes to put yourself in a good mood. That's worth 5 minutes, isn't it?

An hour is an hour, no matter what time of day it is.

It's easy to forget, but every hour is the same amount of time. Even though it may feel like early morning hours aren't that productive for you. I've never been a huge fan of doing a lot of things first thing in the morning, but when I've disciplined myself to do that, I've found I accomplish a SURPRISING amount. Somtimes more in 2 hours than I'd have accomplished in half a day. Plus, it makes sense to find things that motivate you. Productivity is motivational. Exercising more consistently is motivational. Listening to motivational audio recordings in the morning is, well, motivational =)

Here's the good news. Even if today's schedule didn't work, there's always another tomorrow! That's the beauty of a 24-hour clock. We get a lot of chances to create something that can work FOR US. So find something that works for you!