Morning Routine Sets You Up For Success
To achieve bigger goals, one has to do two things:
For achieving any goal, building the right habits is essential, and the foundation of all those habits is a “Morning Routine.”
But before that, let me walk you through my mornings before I became aware of the significance of morning routines.
Not-so-good Morning Routine (Pre-awareness era)
I considered myself a failure at my 9-to-5 job. It wasn’t because I couldn’t reach a particular designation or because my monthly salary wasn’t seven digits, but because I eventually quit.
Quitting felt like a failure.
Looking back, the major reason I left my 9-to-5 was because my mornings always started with panic or a jolt. There was no focus on making my mornings peaceful; they were chaotic.
I used to stay up late due to office work or random late-night parties, resulting in waking up late. And the first thing I always did was reach for my phone and eventually open my Mac to do some urgent work.
I was tense from the moment I woke up. Breakfast was skipped, and I rushed to the office, always panicking in traffic.
I had no idea:
But, I was doing it.
And the day would end with a stressful meeting or an alcohol party.
All three aspects of my life — work, health, and relationships — were negatively impacted.
It was during the novel COVID-19 lockdown that I realized the messiness in my life. I badly needed to solve it.
It laid the foundation of my awareness of my mornings. They needed to change.
But, the biggest hindrance was my 9-to-5. It created so much imbalance that I couldn’t do something impactful about my mornings. I didn’t even know where I was heading in my 9-to-5.
I struggled hard for another two years, and in 2022, I called it quits.
I restarted my life, and the first thing I focused on was the mornings.
It took me another 400+ days to establish a morning routine that set me up for the day like never before.
The Morning Routine
My goal is to become a great writer, and I am nowhere near it right now. But, I have confidence that with this morning routine, I could achieve anything.
1/ Waking up without an alarm
Alarm clocks induce stress. They disrupt natural sleep.
Have any of you enjoyed the sound of your alarms?
It’s pure cacophony.
Reaching a stage of waking up naturally without an alarm clock is a simple practice of following steps:
Sleeping at the same time every night has amazing benefits on our circadian rhythm.
It also helps in better quality (deep sleep) and efficiency of sleep (no more tossing on the bed).
All this results in waking up happily and energetic, which is the cornerstone of an amazing morning routine.
2/ Morning Pages + Water
“Morning Pages” is a concept from Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way,” involving the practice of writing three pages of stream-of-consciousness every morning.
I love doing it the tactile way — pen and notebook.
This habit also ensures that I don’t indulge in screens early morning.
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My pages revolve around:
Critical things go into my second brain.
The other thing that complements my morning pages is water.
I make sure I drink at least 750ml of water while I am writing.
Water hydrates the body after a dehydration phase in the night.
Other than hydration, it has many benefits like kickstarting metabolism, flushing toxins, promoting digestion, supporting brain function, and improving skin health.
Morning pages with water are like meditation that declutters my mind and is my creative vent.
Doing this keeps me away from screens and hence boosts my self-confidence.
3. Sunlight With Son
Morning sunlight has multiple benefits. A few of them are:
I make sure to go out with my son to play. I try to do it within an hour after I wake up.
It not only makes me feel happy and alive seeing his cute activities but also strengthens our relationship.
And when it’s raining, we sometimes play in that as well.
Ever tried playing in the rain with a kid?
4. Focus of the Day
Now, I open my screen and figure out the theme(s) of the day.
My theme preferences of last year were in this order:
After figuring out the theme of the day, I write my priority tasks.
I make sure they shouldn’t exceed three.
Doing this gives me a good visibility of my day. I am also focused the whole day, which keeps me productive.
And the satisfaction I get when I complete my tasks makes me positive about life.
In my 9-to-5, this was a big miss, hence I was in a perpetual FOMO.
This activity marks the end of my morning routine, and I start my day.
How You Can Make a Stellar Morning Routine
If you think that you can copy my routine and feel the way I feel, you are highly mistaken.
Every individual’s morning routine is different. No two people can have a similar satisfaction level from mornings doing the same activity.
It took me multiple iterations and more than a year to get to this morning routine, which gives me real satisfaction.
To build a morning routine, there are two important things:
Also, focus on fewer activities. Don’t create hurdles for your morning routine by doing many activities.
Doing a particular activity for 66 days straight will convert that activity into your second nature, and that is the habit.
Keep finding your perfect morning routine until you reach a point where you are excited once you wake up.
P.S. — If you miss any part of your morning routine for any reason, strike that day off. Avoid getting caught up in streaks, as it can turn this positive routine into the opposite. On days you strike off, even accomplishing just one productive thing will leave you feeling fulfilled.