All of us live busy lives and can find it challenging to find time to think, read, or concentrate on improving the things we want to work on for ourselves.
I’m not going to suggest for one moment that we should all get up at 5 a.m. or some other ungodly time. I, for one, get up at 6:30 a.m. on a working day, about an hour or so earlier than I need to get up.
That gives me an hour or so to work on my goals. It is an hour for myself.
I will go through my routine, but what works for me won’t necessarily work for you. But in this post, I will share with you the benefits I get from this hour and from the specific things I try to do in that hour.
My morning routine
I will go through each in the order I normally do them, but I do mix it up on occasion.
Meditation
I try to spend 15 minutes a day meditating. I find it good to spend those few minutes alone with my thoughts. There are different types of meditation, but they all have the same objective of:
- Calming the mind
- Observing our thoughts and emotions
- Centering our focus
Meditation can help us to enter states of flow.
I’m not sure I’m great at meditation, but I certainly feel the benefits. I feel calmer, and it has helped me develop my self-awareness.
Journaling and Brainstorming
Most mornings, I like to capture my thoughts by braindumping them into my bullet journal. This is a great way to capture any thoughts, ideas, or tasks that are in my head.
Some mornings, I will also look to brainstorm ideas. These brainstorming sessions can either be freeform or about something more specific.
Again, journaling helps me live in the moment and with awareness, which allows me to explore what is really important to me.
Reading routine
I then look to spend some time on reading-related activities.
Firstly, I complete the Readwise daily review, which consists of a few notes. The idea is that regular regurgitation of your notes will help you to remember. Readwise tries to gamify it by keeping a record of your current streak; there is even a scoreboard.
I will then sync my Readwise with my Kindle and Medium accounts.
I then spend a few minutes reading an article via the Readwise Reader application.
Walking the dog
The last thing during my morning routine is to take my dog out for his walk.
The benefits of having a morning routine
By setting aside some time each morning, I have put the foundations in place to take steps in self-improvement. I give myself time to work on the things I want to improve, even if I don’t have the time to do so later in the day.
It allowed me to find the space to start habits by stacking them together, such as meditation and reading. I try to read before bed, but that isn’t always possible. However, it doesn’t matter as I would have done reading in the morning.
It fits in with the idea of planning out your habits to promote the things you wish to achieve, as defined by James Clear in his book Atomic Habits.
Why don’t you experiment with getting up an hour earlier than you need to and see if it improves your life?
Further Reading
Hector Garcia, Ikigai, The Japanese secret to a long and happy life.
James Clear, Atomic Habits
Readwise Review 2023
My first thoughts on Readwise Reader
An Introduction to Bullet Journaling