I was reminded of this when I was researching morning routines as part of my High Performance Routines concept.
More than any other stage, there are huge differences in terms of peoples’ morning routines:
For example, there’s a whole category of morning routine that’s about doing hard things. Think Jocko Willink, The 5am Club. Embrace the suck! Take a cold plunge! Carry a dead Moose up a hill!
A lot of this literature assumes lots of time and control over how our mornings start. For example, the popular ‘Miracle Morning’ advocates a morning routine of Silence, Affirmations, Visualisation, Exercise, Reading and Scribing.
I couldn’t see anything about chasing a toddler round the house, trying to get shoes on, whilst wiping snot from their nose.
Like I say, it’s not for everyone.
So what are some of the universal features of effective preparation?
I believe there is compelling evidence that pretty much all humans benefit from 3 simple morning rituals, which should be achievable for most people (and which can even be combined):
- 🌅 Mental preparation – start the day on your terms
- 🚶♀️➡️Morning walk – provides daylight, movement and thinking time
- 📝 Prioritisation – narrowing of focus
All of these can be achieved quickly. All of them have benefits for both health and performance.
And I’ll be unpacking them in the next few posts.
In the meantime, I would love to know what is the most important element(s) of your morning / Preparation routine?
My answer is over on my LinkedIn post here…
