Week 36 – Morning & Week-End Routines (inspired by Laura Vanderkam)

Some time ago, while I had been listening on Blinkist to the audio summary of Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, I tried to implement an early Morning routine despite the fact that I am not AT ALL a Morning person. However, in the brief time I did it, I saw significant change in my mood and my Motivational Level. Problem is, I was starting a new job (and already getting up an hour earlier than on my previous one) & a new relationship (which resulted in me not being the only person deciding about my weekly schedule). There were too many unknown and new aspects that I did not master yet, which resulted in me failing miserably at the first attempt. Until, a few weeks back, I stumbled upon What the most successful people do before Breakfast, by Laura Vanderkam.

The Miracle Morning

The answer to having a successful, fulfilling life, according to Hal Elrod, lies in a Morning ritual which should be divided in the following 6 steps:

1 – Silence – particularly important when you do not live alone or/and have a family life, it could be something like purposeful meditation, yoga, or even knitting, anything done in silence on your own to reboot

2 & 3 – Affirmations & Visualization – take time to picture your goals and remember where you want to go and what you want to achieve

4 – Exercise – put your body in motion before going to work, not only does it clear the head and boost your energy for the day, exercising on an empty stomach is also proven to be more effective to stay fit (read about intermittent fasting and its application on the Bulletproof Diet on Week 12 – The Guillain’s Method, my latest Nutrition experiment)

5 – Reading – preferably books on self-improvement which give you ideas to think about during the day

6 – Writing – to lay down ideas during the most creative moment of the day. You can also review what you have learnt the day before, gain clarity on your problems and achievements and acknowledge your progress while writing all down on a piece of paper. It can actually be any form of creation like drawing, composing, etc

The first way to succeed in life is to wake up earlier than usual in order to haveingimportant things done before most of the people even start their day and having time to anticipate the day coming ahead with excitement (like you would do it for your Birthday, the first day of your Holidays or Christmas!) and never hit the snooze button again. And to find the motivation to do that, the first advice is to start thinking every night before going to bed about what you could look forward to on the next morning. To increase the chances of committing to this new routine you can also drag with you a friend, partner, brother to support one another and hold each other accountable to your new morning habits.

But why is it so important to do things early and not in the evening after work? Well, hitting the snooze button keeps you from waking with a sense of purpose while you are subconsciously saying to yourself that you don’t want to rise to your life, your experiences and the day ahead. Instead, if you wake up every morning with excitement (like on any special day) and a purpose in mind, you’ll be on your way to crafting a happy life.

But it’s not just about waking up early but keeping up a stimulating routine while stopping making excuses.

“How you do anything is how you do everything.” Author and businessman T. Harv Eker, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast

yoga at home In Laura Vanderkam What the most successful people do before Breakfast the idea is the same. A good start in the day gives you energy and a sense of purpose and fulfilment. You need to schedule some personal quiet / thinking time, creative time (writing, drawing) and some physical activity before your regular family / work hours. The part I particularly liked in that the author also emphasizes on making room for precious moments (IMPORTANT but not URGENT) like compulsory family breakfast will not be shortened by any other commitment (a night out, homework, grocery shopping, cleaning).

red wheeled bicycle I had already thought about doing some 30 minutes activity before breakfast but because I live in a big city and far from my job I cannot really walk there (it won’t even be pleasant), and of course I won’t hit the gym before going to work! I thought and tried Yoga with different Smartphone Apps but it is not the kick I need to start my working day (it’s good for the week-end tough).

Then I bought my Red Wheeled race bike (see Week 35 – I bought a Red Wheeled bicycle blog’s post) and a realistic routine set up almost automatically. Now my new routine on a week day will look like something like that:

wake up at 7AM, coffee is programmed the night before and ready to drink!
start with 100 wheel abs (5 minutes)
read some self-improvement book – I am currently finishing the What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: How to Achieve More at Work and at Home draw/write/work on business ideas depending on the day, to be scheduled the day before (20 minutes)
prepare a healthy breakfast on the living room table (5 minutes)
if I am with my S.O. have compulsory breakfast together to talk about the day and the schedule (15 minutes)
it is 7:45Am so I get ready and at 8:15 AM I leave for work with the bike (30 minutes journey)
for my thinking/alone time work is the best place yet – I always give myself half an hour in the morning to write my journal online on journalate.com or update my blog

What The Most Successful People Do On The Week-End

The author also emphasizes the importance the schedule the week-ed ahead, even leisure time, to avoid walking around losing precious time while thinking but also because the anticipation is as thrilling as the activity itself.

To be sure to feel satisfied with your week-end, Vanderkam advises to plan at least:

Friday Evening
Saturday day
Saturday Evening
Sunday Day
Sunday EVening

I agree on the fact that the week-end is made for resting but that it is also the time to accomplish all the things you put off during the week. If you consider that from Friday 6PM until Monday 6AM you have 60 hours available and you sleep 24 of them, it leaves you with 36 hours, a full work week!! So much can be done!

So Instead of waking up at noon I am now waking up at 9AM ready and most of the time excited to start the day (provided I have scheduled it the day before,or in fact it is much harder to get out of bed).

Her final advice is to make a list of 100 things you could easily do but never actually make time for. The purpose is to keep active and feel like having achieved something. Here are a couple of personal ideas for this end of the year:

Visit the Versailles castle
Visit the Orsay Museum
Organize a big Sunday brunch with friends
Go to the family country house for the day, to enjoy walking in the woods and making fire in the chimney
Go visit some friends or a new city in Europe just for 2 days
Run and cycle around the city parks/woods
Have Sunday lunch with my family
Work on personal projects: master the Wacom drawing tablet, work on my children’s book idea, make several new drawings for a sale on Etsy
Take alone time to read romantic novels while drinking hot tea and putting a fire video on my TV screen (as a replacement of a real chimney)
Have a Christmas movies marathon
Have a Horror movie marathon with friends (I still need to see all the Saw movies)
…

So what’s the Morning Routine you’d like to implement? Do you already have some ideas for your 100 items list?

2 Comments

cat9984 says:

26 October 2017 at 4 04 28 102810

I work overnight. It makes “mornings” interesting, since I sleep “regular” hours on my days off to be with my family. Did I mention I’m also very disorganized? 🙂

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Frankie Beane says:

27 October 2017 at 14 02 05 100510

My mind is not awake until 11:00 am. I get up and lie on the table for a good 15 minutes. I think this is advice for people who are “morning people.” I like the idea of making a list of things we want to do but have never done.

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