The 4th one is the most important.
Everyone is talking about the « benefits of waking up early ». Few years ago, I asked myself « why would I do if I woke up earlier every morning? ». And my first answer was: a big breakfast. The only purpose for me was to take my time to wake up slowly while eating a good cooked breakfast. And that’s what I did. I set the alarm 30 minutes earlier, and tried.
After 5 years of training (don’t worry, it actually worked till the 1st time), I realized that I need to wake up 1 hour and a half before leaving the house in the morning. It’s what I call « my body timing ». I wake up every working day between 6am and 6:30am and I leave at 8am. No I do not work out… I just take my time. Here is what I do and why.
Everything starts the night before.
1.Go to bed early.
To make my body feel tired early, I created 2 types of alarms in my brain. First alarm: at 10pm, I turn off technology (tv/smartphone/computer) and divide by half the light sources in my apartment. I use this time out-of-technology to tidy up a little bit, prepare my stuff for the next day. I take a long shower a take care of my skin with essential oils, that’s my preferred routine. Second alarm: at 10:30am, I go to bed, I sometimes read or write or just close my eyes right away. In fact I’ve set my Fitbit go-to-bed alarm at 10:30pm (no it’s not what I call technology 😉 ).
2. List the 3 things you need to do tomorrow.
Before turning off the lights, I prepare my next day thinking about the « 3 things I really need to do tomorrow ». You can create a mind-note, write it in a notebook or send you an email. Oh, no I won’t believe you if you say that you really turned off your smartphone at 10pm (if you did, you did great, I realized that I sleep much better when I do that). 3 things noted and you can turn the light off.
When your morning becomes a routine.
3. Count down from 10 to 0.
I set my alarm clock 8 hours after my go-to-bed time, and when it goes on in the morning, I hit snooze, and stay 10 minutes more in bed. But not a minute more. That’s my way of living the count down from 10 to 0 that Mel Robbinstalks about. Yeah I know that’s supposed to be seconds. But those 10 minutes are the best I know. This is the time when I cuddle myself, I take this time to be aware of the temperature (in the room vs under my duvet. This is the time I take with my cat waking up slowly. I usually turn the light on (at 6am in Paris there is no sun) and stretch myself.
4. Choose a goal every month and focus on action every morning.
After I get out of bed, I take time to prepare my breakfast. Yes every morning. That’s like a therapy. I set the table with my breakfast and my personal computer or a pen and paper (depending on the focus I chose for the month). While eating my breakfast, I work on my morning action during 30 minutes. First, eating slowly is better for your health (have you ever tried the Miam ô fruits?). Then, your brain is a sponge ready to absorb or to think first thing in the morning. I use that energy to focus on my goals and work on a 30 minutes action every morning.
My attention is focused on this action at this unique moment of the day, when everybody else is still asleep. Sometimes it take few minutes more, and I know already that I’ll be late at work 🙂 it happens when I’m obsessed or craving for hitting ‘the end’ on my article (my focus of this month).
To optimize your mornings, choose a goal every month and focus on action every morning. You can try few things, but always choose an action that you like and that is linked to a strong goal, ideally a SMART one (Specific Measurabe, Achievable, Relevant and Time phased). It could be: intense writing to extend your community, reading to learn something, playing one music till the end, breathing to reduce stress, meditating 15 minutes everyday for a month… Well there are some actions you can’t do while eating obviously, you can schedule it.
5. Take time for yourself
And then, to finish your preparation without rushing, let’s take time for yourself: doing your hair, your make up, getting dressed … I always prepare my day thinking I’m the best by listening to motivational vidéo or podcast. My colleagues think I’m crazy but I love this moment of the day. It’s mine only.
Try it!
After trying this new evening/morning routine, you’ll find yourself searching for more time to spend in the morning. I actually spend 30 minutes in the evening to read/write and create my TO DO LIST (the 3 main points of the next day, it’s sufficient), then 30 minutes to have my breakfast while reading. and 30 minutes to get prepared.
That’s my way to invest in myself. Because I know from my entrepreneur experience that the only time of my day I can really choose is « the time before I begin my working day ». then everything is about what someone else wants me to do, always urgent, always high priority. That’s where the 3 things to do list have the best place : it will be your congratulate tasks. Because at the end of the day, when you cross on your list those 3 thinks you though was important yesterday night, you will be the happiest person you could be! Whatever happened during your day, you will manage to finish those 3 things you though was important 24 hours ago.
Then what? Do it again. That’s why it’s called a ROUTINE.
Begin tomorrow morning and stick to your routine the more you can. But don’t be too hard with yourself. In reality, I think I count in average 4 mornings out of 5 when I respect my focus, each working week (the 5th day sometime I wake up late, I schedule aworking sessions during breakfast, or I’m just not in the mood).
Take care.