Morning Routines Can Make You More Productive

I have learned a lot of different things in my lifetime.  One of the more important things is the necessity of early morning routines.

Does what time you get up in the morning make a difference?  Believe it or not it does.  Earlier this year I began to get up at 5:30 in the morning in order to have a couple of hours to myself before my 6 year old got up.  I created a morning routine and stuck to it until I realized that it was easier to let her sleep longer in the morning so she would be more cooperative.  She is really not a morning person.
I started getting up at 7:00 in the morning instead while still maintaining my morning routine.  I found half the time she got up before 9 and the other half I just had a hard time sticking to my daily tasks.   I am now getting up at 6:00AM and finding that my earlier productivity is back.

So what kind of things do I do in my morning routine?  I do spiritual study, journaling, exercise, affirmations, meditation, visualizing and success study.

With my journaling I do two forms.  I use a guided journal and I use a free form journal.  My free form journal gives me the freedom to write whatever I feel that morning, while my guided journal helps me focus on what I did well, what I need work on, what I am grateful for and what I feel.

Meditation, affirmations and visualization kind of work together.  I do my affirmations separately, but during my meditation time I focus on them and then visualize the actions I need to do to make success a reality.

I exercise 6 days a week.  I spend 3 days focusing on my cardio vascular health and I spend 3 days focusing on muscle resistance exercises. I really miss this if I have to miss it due to injury so I try hard to do things in a manner that won't cause injury.  Most of my exercise stopping injuries have happened outside my exercise routine as a result.

Success study is a big part of my routine.  I take at least 30 minutes and either read or watch some kind of podcast to help further my knowledge and understanding of the career that I have chosen to pursue.

What happens if I interrupt my routine to check out my facebook or email?  I find that my routine takes much longer because I get lost in trying to respond or like certain posts.  There is time in the rest of the day to get to my computer interactions so it is best for me if I do not touch the computer during my morning routine.

What has having a morning routine done for me?  There have been so many benefits of my morning routine.  I feel less stressed, I am healthier and I find myself more productive during the day.

If you want to make some serious changes in your life and do not have an early morning routine, doing so will be the first step in making those positive changes.  Start slow and don't try to do too much at once.  Just learn to do better each day and eventually that morning routine will help to effect change in the rest of your day as well.