The morning routine may be an old favorite in the personal development community, but I still consider it underrated. As illustrated below, choices made in the first hour of the day tend to echo throughout the remaining 23 (and beyond). That’s why lives lived on the right and the left of that vertical line will turn out as different as night and day.

Since recognizing the disproportionate importance of the morning about five years ago, I’ve grown into quite the morning routine nerd. I tried many new ideas, failed with most, and tried again. And again. And again…

And then, toward the end of 2019, my morning routine just came together seamlessly. Finally! Since that beautiful day, the routine shared below has become so deeply ingrained that it’s hard to imagine life without it 🙂

Waking Up

Most days, I wake up naturally around 5:30. My first action is to start today’s morning playlist on my phone. Guided by these audio queues, I flow effortlessly from one element of my routine into the next.

First up: a 5-minute guided meditation from Headspace. This clears the fog. It centers me in the present. And most importantly, it makes getting up feel much more natural.

As I rise, my 2-minute gratitude track begins. This is basically just me playing some fingerstyle guitar and naming the three things I’m most grateful for in my life. Prosperity. Health. Freedom. Mindful of these privileges, I drink plenty of water, make my bed, and turn on the lights.

Then the third track kicks in to ramp up the energy. It’s hard to find a better candidate for this particular job than Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk:

The song is perfectly structured so I can do all the typical morning stuff like washing my face, swirling some mouthwash, and putting on deodorant in the verse, and get back to the dancefloor (a.k.a. the living room floor) for each of the three ultra-funky choruses.

Yes, this is silly. And, for the first couple of days, I sure felt silly. But trust me, your day is heading in the right direction when it starts out feeling like a well-choreographed music video 🙂

Mental Conditioning

The next three songs on my morning playlist are quite dramatic. The first of these is the perfect match for my Constitution — a set of statements describing how the ideal version of me will act. It works. After two years of daily Constitution recitals, I’ve certainly become a much better me.

The next (equally dramatic) song triggers me to record my previous day’s performance on my Graph of Life. This practice offers an instant graphical representation of my growth trajectory and has delivered several great insights into what really makes me tick.

Last in the dramatic song trilogy is my trigger to recap and prioritize my plan for the day. My habit of recording essential todos as they come up throughout the day makes this task brief and pain-free. Google Tasks is the perfect tool for this job.

Double-Time Yoga

Next up, my playlist automatically starts a sped-up version of a Rodney Yee morning yoga routine (a different one for each day of the week). I struggled for years to integrate yoga into my morning. And then, one fine day, I made an amazing discovery: the 2x playback speed button.

Since then, it’s been a breeze. The yoga routines now move at a very pleasant pace, take only half the time, and no longer put me back to sleep.

Try doubling the playback speed in the video above. At first, double-time Rodney sounds a little odd, but you’ll get used to him in no time 🙂

Reading

Next, I treat myself to 10 minutes of reading on some exciting topic, triggered by two quiet piano songs on my playlist. Since I established this habit at the start of 2019, I’ve read 15 valuable books, gaining several profound insights that drove me to make some major life changes.

There are plenty of habits I wish I started much earlier in life. This one tops the list.

Accountability Buddy

During the first two years of my morning routine experiments, I had real problems maintaining a consistent wake-up time. Like a complete amateur, I would sleep in and disrupt my pattern for days to come.

Then, one fine day, I booked a recurring 15-minute online chat with my parents, scheduled for 6:30. That was three years ago, and we’re yet to miss a single morning chat! That’s the power of an accountability buddy. The simple knowledge that someone I care about is waiting forced me to master my sleep-wake rhythm. And, as a bonus, this practice saved my relationship with my parents across an 11000 km divide.

Breakfast and Dumbells

The final element in my morning routine is a superfood breakfast composed mainly of nuts, seeds, and berries. This breakfast can be made in several variations, each of which offers a zero-compromise combo of health, taste, convenience, and price.

While enjoying a mouthful of this morning perfection, I rip through two minutes of vigorous weight training on my trusty gym chair. This simple practice keeps my upper body in great shape. No gym membership. Almost no time investment. Heck, it almost feels like cheating!

Is There Really Time for All This?

Let’s break down the time commitment involved:

• Waking up: 10 minutes (the average person takes 24 minutes to get up).
• Mental conditioning: 7 minutes.
• Yoga and reading: 20 minutes.
• Accountability buddy: 15 minutes.
• Breakfast and weights: 15 minutes.

In total, this routine takes a little over an hour, after which I’m charged and ready for the workday. Interestingly, this may be considerably less time than the average person spends between waking up and going to work.

So, in summary, this morning routine actually saves time while giving me a big daily boost in health, productivity, relationships, creativity, and energy.

If you don’t have one already, please take two hours to build yourself a solid morning routine. It could be the best time investment you ever make!

All images in this article were created by Janet Cloete.