One of the most important times of your day is in the morning. Your morning will determine how your day will look like and whether you are productive or not, it depends on how you kick-start your morning.
Your morning will set the pace for your entire day. Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said it well, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” And it all starts with your morning.
When you wake up, your mode and your energy level will determine how much you will accomplish the entire day. This is why successful people develop powerful morning routines to get them the extraordinary results.
Below are the 5 morning habits that most successful people adopt. Learn them and make them your morning routines too.
1. Exercise and Move your Body
One of the most important things that you can do early in the morning is to exercise and get sweat. Studies have shown that exercise can make you feel happier and healthier, both physically and mentally.
Former president of the United States, Barrack Obama said that he exercises for about 45 minutes every morning, alternating between cardio and strength training. Besides, Obama, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood started his day very early and he hit the gym strong. Other successful people such as Richard Branson of Virgin Group, Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, Gary Vaynerchuck, etc, exercise early in the morning before they get to work.
And you have to understand that these are extremely successful and busy people. If they spend the time to exercise, it simply means that it is an important activity that everyone should follow.
2. Spend Time with Family
Some of the most successful people in the world spend their morning hours with their family members. In the book “What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast”, the author Laura Vanderkam wrote that a lot of successful people would read stories to their kids, cook up breakfast or simply have fun with their family before they get to work.
BlackRock executive and his wife commute into New York City each morning and this couple would spend the hour-plus trip talking about their lives, finances, household to-do list, and also plans for the week. Besides that, Richard Branson, the billionaire who started Virgin Airline also stated in an interview that he would spend most of his mornings to be with his family.
3. Commit to Reading and Learning
Another morning habit that highly successful people do is to read and learn. One of the world’s richest men in the world, Warren Buffett is known for his habit of starting his day with reading. He said he would read 5 or 6 newspapers and other materials throughout the day. Bill Gates, practiced the same morning habit too. The Microsoft co-founder said that he would read Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Economist, and also books on a wide array of topics.
Reading is great for the mind just like exercise is to the body. When you read, you are exercising your brain power and training your mind to think more creatively. “Reading and quiet time to reflect is the most important part of my morning routine,” says CEO of fast-food chain Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Cheryl Bachelder. She said she would read books on leadership most of the time because that was her favorite.
4. Start the Work
One thing that makes early morning so powerful is that there is nobody to disturb you during those early hours. Meaning to say, you get to spend undisturbed and productive time doing either your top-priority business task or a pet project.
Highly successful people such as Tim Cook, Steve Jobs, and Howard Schultz wake up extremely early and they started to work on their most important tasks during those golden hours. You can concentrate better when you work in early in the morning because it is quiet and your willpower is at its highest level.
Besides working on top-priority work, successful people also use their morning time for their personal passion project. Writing a book and making an art is easy to skip when you are busy and the distractions are everywhere during the day, so the best time to work on these projects is in the morning.
5. Plan and Strategize
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Planning and strategizing for the day, week, or even month ahead is an important key to success in life. And using your morning to do big-picture thinking helps you prioritize and understand what needs to get done during the day. It puts you in a clarity mode so that you can start your day strong and proactive.
For instance, the author of “The Happiness Project”, Gretchen Rubin wakes up at 6am every morning and she uses the morning time to schedule the day, clear her inbox and also read social media. Scheduling her tasks for the day allows her to better concentrate when her day starts.
Brian Tracy, in his best-selling time management book, “Eat That Frog”, suggests people plan and schedule their day so that they can jump-start their morning without wasting time to think about what needs to get done. When you plan and strategize your day, you will remind yourself of your goals and priorities. This will put you in a better position to work on what truly matters to you in work and at life.
These are the 5 morning habits of highly successful people. What you can do right now is to identify how you can leverage these habits. If you love to make reading part of your morning routine, by all means, do it. Choose the books or newspaper to read and start practicing it from tomorrow onward. When you make these productive morning habits part of your life, you too, can become highly effective and accomplish outstanding success in life.
No comments yet.