How do you spend the first 20 minutes of your day? Last week I was driving in to work and listening to Les Brown talking about controlling the spirit of your day. “When you wake up your brain operates at around 10.5 waves per second this is when your subconscious mind is most impressionable. Whatever you hear in first 20 minutes when you wake up, that will affect the spirit of your day”
So how do you spend your first 20 minutes? Do you actively control the spirit of your day?
What morning routine drives your success?
My advice on starting the day is as follows:
1) Lose the snooze! – nothing has ever been achieved by pressing the snooze button. (outside of a few minutes of extra rest) It’s a false start to the day. Don’t let it become a habit! Push through!
2) Don’t check your email, social feeds or the news – this allows other people’s agendas, story or actions to control the start/spirit of your day.
3) Build and maintain a morning routine – with my recent neck injury and recovery my personal morning routine has been affected. The good news is that my recovery is on track and my voice is back! Returning to my morning routine has been difficult as you quickly adjust to a new normal, particularly if it is more comfortable. Challenge this state and build a routine that drives success!
4) Don’t get derailed if you don’t start the day right – no one is perfect, we all have off days, just don’t let a bad habit form.
My routine in the morning currently looks as follows:
Wake Up (no snooze!), prepare a coffee.
First 20 minutes – practice gratitude, visualisation, pray/meditate, affirmations.
Cardio – I enjoy morning cardio to get the body moving and into action. I alternate between completing my cardio workout before or after my commute (depending on the day) – this allows a level of flexibility while maintaining a routine. It is dependent on the time I spend on the point above. 20 minutes seems like a lifetime when starting to practice gratitude, visualise, pray/meditate and work through affirmations, but this is an area of my routine that I allow flexibility. Some days may only be 10 minutes, others longer.
Commute to work – again I use this time to focus on the spirit of my day. This is time that I use to my advantage. It is a great opportunity to read/listen to an audiobook or consume content.
Review Goals / Daily Schedule – I have modified a copy of Brendan Burchard’s daily planner to suit my industry and role. (http://www.highperformanceacademy.com/HPA-1pageproductivity.pdf) I recommend watching his YouTube video that explains the daily planner and then alter it for your needs and industry.
Daily Stand Up – with our team
What works for you? Share your morning routine below.
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