Why A Morning Routine is a Must | Productivity 101
How you start the day influences how you spend the day.
Imagine that you already have a morning routine.
Day by day, you follow it.
Each move in the routine is there for a reason.
Others don’t need to understand your routine, only you do.
Day by day, you continue to follow the routine.
Everything is going smoothly…
Until one day, you don’t follow it.
Then what?
I don’t know about you, but for me, I get confused.
I think:
‘What should I do now? I have so many options to do whatever.’
Let’s back up a bit.
What if you don’t have a morning routine?
Is it too late to design one?
Not at all.
The Simple Philosophy to Designing a Routine
This post is not about me giving you a bunch of random acts to implement as your morning routine.
Instead, I am going to give you a philosophy.
Morning routine philosophy:
Get 1-3 of your hardest tasks done before you check your phone.
Most folks out there have a morning routine.
Just not the good kind.
Their routine consists of them surfing on the phone first thing in the morning.
These people are not free.
They have been sucked into a rabbit hole of other people’s thoughts.
Since it’s easy to scroll, it’s easy to have your entire morning ruined.
Instead, get 1-3 of your difficult tasks done.
“Difficult” is relative to the person.
In this context, I view “difficult” as things that we have to do, but don’t always like doing.
Maybe for your life, meditation is a must.
Whenever you are about to meditate in the morning, there is the thought of:
‘I know I’m supposed to meditate, but meditating is so boring. I’ll just do it later in the day.’
So, you wait to meditate later in the day.
The problem is that your day is busy.
You’re getting pulled from one task to another.
By 7 pm when you’re back to your place, your willpower is fried.
There is no more willpower left to meditate.
Oh well, you’ll do it tomorrow.
Unfortunately, tomorrow has the same script as today.
How to Build Momentum in the Morning
One of the tasks in my morning routine is to do something active.
I lift weights 3 times a week and walk.
A burst of activity in the morning helps me feel good throughout the day.
There is tension though….
- I’m still groggy after waking up.
- A lot of other people go to the gym in the morning.
- Driving is a pain in the butt.
- Finding parking can be a pain in the butt too.
Luckily, I have a clear target in mind.
Get at least 1 task done before checking my phone.
Side note: checking the phone in the morning is not always bad. If you are using your phone to listen to music at the gym, I don’t consider that bad. Why? Because it leads to production. If you are a content creator who uses your phone to send out tweets, I don’t consider that bad. Why? Because it leads to production. I consider using the phone in the morning bad when it does not lead to production.
After the gym, I am tempted to check my phone.
But then I think:
‘Watch some film.’
For the ArmaniTalks business, it’s high ROI for me to watch my YouTube videos, listen to my podcasts, and read my blogs.
This allows me to see what I’m doing right and what I can improve.
Every morning, I’m supposed to watch 1 video, listen to 1 podcast, and read 1 blog.
Keywords: I’m supposed to.
However, I hate doing it.
I know that consuming my content will help me polish my skills, but it takes roughly 20-30 minutes.
I don’t want to do that!
After completing my workout at the gym, I think:
‘I already got one difficult activity done, how about I get one more difficult activity done before checking my phone?’
I go home and watch my content back.
After that, I’m about to check my phone, but then I think:
‘You know what? Let’s do 1 more difficult activity.’
After doing 1 more difficult activity, I feel good.
3 wins already and it’s barely 9 am!
When you get 1 win, it’s easier to get another.
Sort of like when you have to write a paragraph but don’t want to.
Rather than focusing on the paragraph, focus on writing 1 sentence.
When you write 1 sentence, it’s easier to write another.
What Happens When You Stumble?
Every productive person has their off days.
They miss their routine one day.
Then another day.
Then another day.
I would argue that occasionally straying from your routine is a good thing.
When you are productive for some time, then you fall off for a few days, you obtain a new data point.
- Data point 1: Life with a morning routine
- Data point 2: Life without a morning routine
A lot of meaningful information is learned through contrast.
When we contrast data point 1 with data point 2, we see:
‘I don’t only do my routine because I have to, I do it because I want to. On the days that I don’t execute my routine, everything feels so slippery!’
When I used to fall off my morning routine, I’d be pissed.
I’d look at the past 4 days in regret.
Nowadays, I say:
‘Okay, those 4 days without the routine weren’t great. So, let’s make today great.’
Finding a Routine for Your Life
A routine repeated again and again becomes a ritual.
A ritual is a routine with a narrative.
I like to view a ritual as the routine’s older brother.
It takes work to get a ritual.
Therefore, start off with a routine!
Ask yourself:
‘What are 3 tasks that I have to do but I hate to do?’
Most folks spread these tasks throughout the day and never get to them.
The life cheat code is to start your day with these 3 tasks.
