PPI #174: MORNING ROUTINE 2021 | Healthy & Productive Habits

Today I'm going to share with you one of my most powerful morning routines. Because the way you start your day has an incredible effect on the entire rest of that day. And winning at business and life is about stringing together as many winning days as possible.

Hi, my name is Eric Partaker and I've been recognized as one of the top entrepreneurs in the country. And I'm also the author of two best selling books including the Three Alarms. So I like to think of the morning as the time where I'm going to rev the engine of my day, where I'm going to rev the am. You know, we have our AM and our pm, you know, morning and evening. And the morning is when I rev the am. I rev the engine of my day. And that literally is the acronym of the routine I letter. I rev R E V A M A M I rev AM. The I stands for identity. Behavior follows identity. Not long ago I got a Captain America shield for one of my sons and the shield arrived and I gave it to him and, and I didn't have to, you know, teach him how to be like Captain America or be like this superhero. Once he got the shield, he just immediately became the character and he started to run around and jump all over the place. And, and that's because as children we get that identity drives behavior, that behavior follows identity. And this is incredibly powerful because we can harness this power as adult each and every day. And the way that I recommend doing this is by separating your life into three domains. The health, your wealth and your relationship. And at the start of your day, coming up with or tapping into what's you at your best on each of those fronts. What's the superhero version of you? What does that version look like? Give that version a name. On the health front, on the wealth front, on the relationship front, for example, for me, on the health front, I like to think of myself as a world fitness champion, even though I'm nothing close to being a world fitness champion and I never will be. That's the mentality that I like to set goals from for the day. And so with that identity in mind, I ask myself, what's the one thing I could do today that will evidence that I'm being that version of me on the health front. And I might pick a particular set of exercises that I'm going to do or think about a particular intensity level that I'll do with those exercises, or if it's a rest day, I might think about, okay, I'm going to go and do a bit of Sauna or, you know, a little bit of relaxation or maybe an extended meditation. But I'm choosing these number one things to do in the context of my day from the vantage point of me at my best, identity wise. And I also do it on the wealth front or the work front. And I think in the context of today, what's one thing that I could do which by doing it would allow me to step into or prove that I was being me at my best on the work front? My identity that I use there is world's best CEO. Am I the world's best CEO? No. But I like to think from that point of view when it comes to setting my goals for the day. So if I was operating from that perspective, how would that version of me go about the day? And I pick one thing. And then last but not least, on the home front, when the day is going to be coming to an end and I'm getting back home, what's my identity there? I like to think of myself as the world's best husband and father. Of course, you know, there's no award for this and I probably wouldn't win it if there was one, but still, that's the intentionality that I like to bring in because it helps me think about. Well, if I had to evidence that, for example, if I had to prove that in the context of today, what's the one thing I could do such that by doing it would prove that I was being that person? So that there only takes a handful of minutes for me to think about each of those three identities and pick simply one thing that I can do in the context of that day that would evidence that I'm stepping into being the champion version of me in each of those domains that matter most. Or you can think of it as the superhero version of me in each of these areas that most matter to me now that's the I part. So again, just a few minutes there. The R is for reading. So for me, I like to read. It constantly allows me to continue learning new things, which I find exciting. I tend to read nonfiction, but you could perhaps read fiction if you like that. Maybe you don't like reading, maybe you like audiobooks. But I use the R for reading simply as that's the block in my routine where I'm focused on my growth and development. I'm learning something new. And I do about 20 minutes there out of my favorite book or whatever I'm reading at the moment. The E is for exercise. I like to spike my energy at the start of the Day by getting enough exercise, which will also positively boost my mood for the rest of the day thereafter. And I do 20 minutes, at least 20 minutes of moderate exercise. These days. I've actually changed that up. I mean, when I originally created this routine, it was about 20 minutes of moderate exercise. These days, I'm actually doing about 45 minutes. And I do a mixture of strength training and endurance training or cardiovascular training throughout the week to keep myself fit and healthy. And I do that Monday through Friday. And I allow myself to kind of just relax Saturday and Sunday, you know, our bodies were designed to move, right? We're designed to be active. When an astronaut, for example, goes into space, one of the biggest things that they need to worry about and help the astronaut combat is something called muscular atrophy, which is simply the fact that in the absence of any gravity, which creates resistance, right? Gravity, you have to, for example, when you get up off of a chair, you don't just float off, right? You actually have to use your muscles to push off. Why? Because the gravity is pulling you down to Earth. It's keeping us attached to the planet. Well, when you go into space, you don't have any of that gravity. You don't have any of that resistance. And so the muscles of the astronauts actually start to atrophy. They actually start to degrade. So they have to constantly keep them active so they don't come back to Earth completely frail and unable to move. So exercise. Our bodies are designed to. To experience resistance. They literally are. We've evolved to constantly experience, you know, stress in some form or another physically, throughout the day. And that keeps us strong. And in the absence of that, you will weaken quickly. So exercise. E for exercise. Some moderate exercise at the beginning of the day, or, you know, a little bit more, whatever you prefer. But at least 20 minutes of some kind of moderate exertion activity. The V for me is visualization. So it stands for. It simply means that I picture those identities mentioned earlier going through the course of the day, and I picture how would those versions of me show up throughout the day? You know, how much excellence will they act with? You know, how decisive, inspiring, reliable will they be? You know, how strong and confident will those versions of me be? And I just visualize me going through the day with that excellence. How will I go into that meeting? How will I handle this call? Having that intentionality and thinking through my day in that way is just so incredibly empowering. It just makes you feel like you're totally in control and that you really are the master of Your own destiny on a day to day basis. Last but not least, we have the a.m. part of the acronym. So the A stands for affirmations. What are affirmations? They're essentially just positive statements, a selection of phrases, sentences or words which when you say to yourself, foster your self belief, foster your confidence, foster your, you know, your courage and will to stand up and express yourself and walk through your day. And you know, as you would, as the most courageous version of you would, as the best version of you would. And whatever you choose there is really up to you. I came up with some affirmation statements years ago that I've been using ever since. And my statement simply, I read to myself, well, I don't need to read it anymore to myself. I simply say, I never give up, I keep going, I win, I'm a warrior and I'm a champion. And so these simple statements that I use with myself affirm me at my best. They mean something to me. They help me keep going even when I don't feel like it, even when the times are tough, knowing that things will always get better on the other side. That whatever it is, in any given moment, this too shall pass. And last but not least, we get to the M. Meditation. So we started with identity and then so Irev am right. Identity, reading, exercise, visualization, affirmations and then meditation. And if you haven't tried meditating yet, if you think that it's this thing where, you know, oh my gosh, I'm going to have to go to like India or China and spend all this time in a monastery and you know, learn a. You don't need to do any of that. I've never done that. There's so many simple ways that you can learn to meditate. The net is full of, you know, there's apps that you can be downloading to your phone that can help you meditate. There's videos on YouTube that you can find to help you meditate. There's articles that you can read to learn how to meditate. It is not as hard as you think. And the benefits are astounding for, you know, just a handful of minutes a day, literally just five minutes a day, you can literally, you know, 60 seconds times five. It's 300 seconds. In a period of 300 seconds with your eyes closed and just focusing on simply counting, you know, count up to 10 and then back to 1 again and then up to 10 and just doing that over and over. 1, 2, 3, and cycling through while you have your phone, perhaps on a timer to tell you when the five minutes have passed. If you just do something as simple as that, which is one simple form of what's called a breathing meditation, where you're focused on your breath and then you're just counting to 10 and then back just doing something like that, you'd be amazed. It's like all these clouds sort of develop over the night in our brain. It's almost like it's like a stormy sky. And when you do that, it's like a big gust of wind has come through your brain and all the clouds get blown away and it's a bright blue sky with a shining sun and. And it just makes your day feel more warm and vibrant. And it all starts here in the mind. And when you have that kind of clarity and that peacefulness within you, you find that you're able to just navigate your way through all the unexpected things that might happen in the day in a much stronger, more fulfilled, more confident state. So, in summary, if you haven't yet installed a morning routine, highly recommend that you go to bed one hour earlier. Create an extra hour in your day. Get control of your day. How you start your day really affects how the rest of the day flows. And if you can start that day right every single day, you'll be amazed what it does for your work, for your life, for your health, irevam, identity, reading, exercise, visualization, affirmations, meditations. And I'd love to hear from you, so don't forget to leave a comment and a rating as well. And if you'd like to get a copy of my new book, the Three Alarms, please head over to my website@ericpartaker.com that's eric ericpartaker.com where you can pick up a free digital copy of my new best selling book, the Three Alarms.

Sa.