Morning Routines
I am a strong believer in the philosophy that ‘your day is only going to be a strong as the morning you start it off with’. This is a quick post about morning routines and what has worked well for me in the past few years.
First and foremost, by ‘morning’ I am describing the period of time between you waking up, and you starting your daily activity (i.e. usually arriving at your work place). For some people the morning routine begins at 0400, yet others who may have overnight shift work start their morning at 1600. This is not necessarily a post about when to wake up, as that differs for different people, but a post about how to maximize the use of your morning routine to set you up for success during the day. Regardless of when your ‘morning’ begins, the morning routine should always be a time for a) preparation for the day ahead, and b) personal-growth.
Three Hour Rule: To address those two tasks, particularly the personal-growth aspect, I prefer to wake up no less than 3.5 hours before my work-day starts. Three hours is a pretty good number as well, but if you factor in the time it may take you to commute, prepare breakfast, maybe take care of your children, etc. you wont have a lot of time left for that critical self-growth if you are cutting it less than 3 hours.
These 3 to 3.5 hours allow you to develop and take care of things before the hassles of the work-day get in the way. Simply put, if I workout or study for that exam in the morning before work, there are no last minute meetings, deadlines, or projects keeping me late at work that will get in the way of me getting completing that workout or studying time.
Movement: Movement is extremely important the second you wake up, and it starts in bed. Instead of snoozing that alarm and remaining horizontal, I sit up and have my feet on the ground when I turn off my alarm. That is already halfway to getting out of bed, which makes it easier to avoid lying back down where it is warm and comfortable.
After I get up I start my first set of movements, no more than 10 minutes all together. Starting slow and gradually ramping up, these movements include pushups, pull-ups, abdominal exercises, lower body calisthenics, dynamic stretches, and on occasion a short jog around the block. It is important to keep these at a low intensity, to avoid overstressing cold muscles and tendons. I will execute another 5 minutes of these movement after preparing and eating breakfast and having everything ready for my first commute.
Personal Growth: Making time to grow is critical in becoming the best version of yourself. Growth takes many shapes and forms, whether it is physical (ex. Going to the gym or for a run, or to a jiu-jitsu class), intellectual (ex. studying for knowledge, whether it is for an official class you are taking or just part of pursuing a curiosity), spiritual (ex. Meditate and finding your daily dose of inner piece), etc. The list of growth opportunities is long, and different types of growth are preferred by different individuals at different times in their journey. Currently, I generally spend my time in the first two cases, physical and intellectual.
No matter how busy you are, you need to get in the mindset of leaving some time each day for growth. If you set aside at least 3 hours before your work day starts, you’ll be able to enjoy a growth period before the hassles of everyday life start. Whether you study or go to the gym or work on your passion project, you need to make it a point to do a little bit every day.
I typically prefer to work on my physical/mental growth in the morning, by putting myself through a hard workout. This will usually be a two-hour process. When I come home from work I typically pursue intellectual growth in the late afternoon/early evening, for another two hours. Currently that means me studying/preparing for my next training flight, or for my IFR check ride. Other times it may be studying for my EMT refresher or learning a completely new skill or working to learn a new language. These are just a few examples of intellectual growth. If I am preparing for a big race or competition, I may use both the morning and afternoon growth periods for a workout. Follow your passions and try to learn something new outside of the workplace every single day.
My goal is to pursue personal growth for 4 hours each day by splitting up two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. Do I always succeed? No. You’ll have to adapt from time to time based on external factors such as work schedules or hectic travel plans. You should, however, always hold yourself accountable to use the time available to pursue that growth.
Preparation: You can do a lot of little things the evening before to make your morning routine much smoother. I will prepack my bag with everything in need ahead of time. Clean work clothes, towel, extra shirts, wallet, keys etc. all go in the bag the night before, so I don’t have to go looking for it in the morning. Similarly, I will prep my food kit for the day the evening before as well and put it in the fridge. Typically ill pack a post-workout recovery snack (peanut butter and banana/apple), my main food item for lunch (typically left-overs from dinner), and a pre bike-home snack if needed (vegetable or fruit pack, or a sandwich).
Food kit ready and prepped the night before
Breakfast: An important part of my morning routine is breakfast. It’s the first meal of the day and often the one that sets the tone and pace for the rest of the day. You should carve out some time in your morning to prepare and eat a healthy and constructive breakfast, rather than try and gain a few minutes by going through the local fast food drive-through.
Ill typically have 2 different parts to my breakfast, 3 if I am planning on going to put myself through a larger workout. Fresh fruit is one of the cornerstones of my breakfast and I try to incorporate it as much as possible. I usually have a bowl of plain yogurt with fresh fruit. Yogurt is a great source of nutrients and proteins, and getting plain yogurt often omits the large amounts of sugars that vanilla or other flavored yogurts have. I often use frozen fruit (for convenience) with my side of oatmeal, in addition to adding a banana. I typically also have two slices of toasted whole wheat bread, sometimes plain without anything on it, sometimes with eggs and avocado or ham.
Set some time aside in your morning routine to take care of your breakfast, it sets the tone and your energy levels for the rest of the day.
Consistency: There is a reason why we call it a morning routine. A routine should be regularly followed, because the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Again, you can expect to hit roadbumps here and there that will throw you off from your routine some days. But your intent should be to try and realize the routine to the best of your abilities as many days of the week as you can, especially if you do not have anything that will get in your way. Use your time wisely in the evening. Prep for the next day and utilize the time you have for personal growth.
Example Timeline: Below is a sample of my target morning timeline. My priority most of the time is to get 7 hours of sleep (sleep being the time I get in bed to the time I get out), so I put in a conscious effort to get to bed by 2100 every day so I can wake up at 0400 and be ready to go.
Hour 1
0400 – first light
0400-0410 – Shave and personal hygiene
0410-0420 – complete first set of 10 min movements
0420-0445 – Prepare and eat breakfast
0445-0450 – Get gear and bike ready for commute
0455 – Finish second set of 5 min movements
0500 – Leave apartment
Hour 2 (first block of training – cardio)
0500-0535 – Bike to base or pool
0535-0600 – Finish hour 1 of cardio with either a run or swim
Hour 3 (second block of training – varies depending on the day)
0600-0700:
- On cardio/calisthenics/cross training WOD days: complete 2nd hour of cardio (run/swim) or calisthenics/WOD
- On weight training days: resistance training routine for selected muscle groups
Hour 3.5
0700-0710 – Cool down, foam roller, stretch, and recovery.
0710-0730 - Shower and report to work by NLT 0730
