For the longest time I couldn’t quite figure out what made me productive and what didn’t. Some days I’d wake up completely full of motivation, jump out of bed onto the computer, and work non-stop until 12 hours later when I realized I hadn’t eaten yet. Other times I’d go weeks without making any forward momentum on my projects or towards my goals.
A few months ago someone suggested I try structuring my day a little bit more rigidly by starting with a morning ritual. This meant no more sleeping in until the last possible moment only to rush myself into the office unshaven, hungry, and groggy. I would have to actually wake up early, and start my day off productively. More than that I decided I wanted to start getting my most important task for the day done before I ever set foot in the office.
This is still a work in progress. while I’ve seen tremendous productivity gains from it I consider it in no way an original creation. In fact if anything most of this is from AsianEfficiency and ZenHabits.
That being said, here’s what I’ve been trying to do:
- Wake up at 6AM.
- Drink water until stomach wants to explode.
- Do a few sun salutations.
- Meditate for 10-15 minutes.
- Review my goals for the week in Evernote(Usually 3 big ones, just need to remind myself of them daily.)
- Review any items I’ve scheduled for myself in Things.
- Complete most important task for the day(usually writing.)
- Wake up The Girlfriend for Breakfast.
- Eat Breakfast and Drink Coffee.
- Shower and get ready for the rest of my day.
In the beginning the hardest part for me was waking up early. If I had one late night my sleep schedule would be thrown off for a week. Now my body is better about naturally waking up at 6, but if I stay up late I’ll generally suffer through the next day with a headache straight out of hell until I can find some time for a quick nap.
Life isn’t flawless with this. I’m still not perfect about doing it everyday. In fact for the past week and a half we’ve had a guest staying in our house so I’ve actually been really bad about it. But seeing how much less I’ve gotten done has really motivated me to make sure I keep up with this. If you haven’t tried giving some structure to your mornings I’d recommend you try. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes in the rest of your day.
Nice work man! Having a morning ritual makes a huge difference. The way you start your day has a profound effect on how the rest of your day goes. I like what you have going on there.
Thanks much! It means a lot coming from one of my favorite productivity bloggers.