A Simple 3 Step Morning Routine for Increasing Productivity

One of the most important things in my life is my morning routine. You may have read a book about habits of successful people. You may have heard about how you got to get up and crush the day at 5 or 6 AM. But what if I told you that what time you woke up didn't matter nearly as much as what you actually do when you wake up? Morning. I wasn't always a morning person. I was someone that would sleep as late as possible when I was in college, or even several years post-college. It did create a feeling, and that feeling created a reality of being very rushed, having the day kind of happen to me, me just spending the day reacting to whatever life threw at me. Now, maybe like many of you, I read a couple of books and saw some TED Talks and listened to podcasts about how critical an early wake-up was for being successful throughout your day, and how many successful people had a rock-solid morning routine, woke up super early, and got their important things done. And so for a little while, I was very gung-ho about that. I woke up at 5 or 6 AM and didn't really see the benefits. Because instead of reacting to, you know, work or class or whatever, you know, whatever the commute threw into my way, I was just reacting to whatever was on the phone screen, which is not a great switch. But all of that changed for me when I started my simple 3-step, 30-minute morning routine. I'll tell you about it in 1 minute.

I want to thank the Full Focus Planner for sponsoring my YouTube channel this month. They're an incredible company with a mission to help you win at work and succeed in life. I've used it to help focus my attention and energy on the work that matters most, something that's even more important in chaotic times. One thing you'll like about the Full Focus Planner is the daily ritual section. We all know the power of actually writing things down. The act of pen to paper creates a special connection in your mind to the act you're writing about. There are sections for the morning routine, like we're talking about in this video, but also for workday startup and shutdown rituals, and an evening ritual for literally closing the book on the day. I find these pages really helpful in getting ultra clear on what I need to do each phase of the day. If you want to know more about the Full Focus Planner, just check out the link below in the description and watch my complete review if it helps. Each week in May, I'll be giving away a Full Focus Planner, and all you have to do is check out the end of the video. That's where I tell you everything that you need to do to enter. It's really easy, but big, big props to Full Focus Planner for sponsoring. And now let's get back to the video.

What helped my morning routine out immensely was to keep it really simple. There are only 3 things that I try and do in the morning, every morning, before everyone else wakes up. And those 3 things are to write in my journal, move my body, and meditate. One of the things that was tripping me up early on is that I was trying to do all of those things for about 30 minutes. I was trying to read and journal for 30 minutes, and then I'd try and work out for 30 minutes, and I'd try and meditate for 30 minutes. I gotta tell you, I I got 2 kids, I don't always have an hour and a half before they wake up. But oftentimes I can wake up early enough to give myself 30 minutes. I can compress it a little bit more, I can expand it a little bit more, but these 3 simple steps— I tried all kinds of different things and activities and actions and rituals to start off my day, and I found that those 3— journaling, moving, and meditating— were the 3 that made the biggest difference in how the rest of my day went. Because I realized that with those 3 things, I was engaging my mind, I was moving my body, and I was aligning my soul with what mattered for the day ahead. The biggest change in me now from my past self is that I'm no longer as rushed or reactive to whatever the day is throwing at me. I'm able to take a proactive look at the day during my journaling and planning session. I'm, you know, doing a brain dump of whatever's in my head. I'm getting really clear on what those top tasks are for the work ahead? Or if it's the weekend, like, what are some projects that I want to work on? Or do I just write down that I want to be really clear and really present about being with my family instead of thinking about there's always another project to do? Because to me, there is always another project to do. The movement session is normally very light. It's not something that I'm going to get all sweaty over and have to shower right away because of the movement. A lot of times that does happen, but it's never something that I go into it saying like, okay, it's got to be 30 minutes and I've got to get, you know, I've got to burn X number of calories and I've got to get my heart rate up to 150, 180. It's nothing like that. It's just 10 to 15 minutes of very light movement, part bodyweight, part yoga, just trying to move, get the blood going a little bit, and loosen up the muscles, you know, just kind of activate the body for the day. The meditation piece is the one that is the newest addition for me to my morning ritual. And what I do for 10 to 15 minutes is just a mix of meditation, of just kind of sitting with myself, of observing thoughts, feelings, letting them just kind of pass me by in the, you know, the mental river that is my mind. It's a mix of prayer and affirmations and declarations and really setting my intention for the day and getting clear on it and just, just sitting with it, just being still, because the rest of the day is going to be pretty chaotic. And that stillness in a rather chaotic day, a rather chaotic world, is just a reminder to myself that even if things around me are kind of messy or loud or, you know, not entirely within my control, because they're not, We're in a place, we're in a world, oftentimes we're in a family where things can get a little crazy. And if we can be the ones that are keeping our heads, if we can be the ones that are being still and calm and understanding and assessing the entire situation and not getting caught up in the emotions of it, we will be better leaders, better people, better community members that are able to serve the world in a better way. Here's an important distinction and something that I have to remind myself of often. My day is absolutely 100% better when I'm able to go through my morning routine, through my morning ritual. But on days where that doesn't happen, where I'm not able to do all of it, that does not mean the day is going downhill from the beginning. This was an important thing because I'm very much like, when I get rolling on something, if something gets thrown off that's out of my control, then I'm like, Day is ruined now. And I noticed that I pass a little of this on to my 5-year-old. Like, if something, you know, throws him off, he might be like, oh my gosh, it's the worst day ever. I'm like, no, it's really not the worst day ever. And he said that yesterday, and I found myself thinking, oh my gosh, if I'm not able to do my morning routine in time, mentally— maybe not that dramatically, but Mentally, I'm kind of thinking to myself like, ah, the day's kind of shot now. And that's not the case. So, when you have those times, when you have those days, and this doesn't just apply to a morning routine, it applies to journaling, to Bullet Journaling, to really anything in life. If you get thrown off for a day, that doesn't mean that you're going to have an entirely bad day. Even if you do have a bad day, that doesn't mean you're going to have a bad week. If you have a bad week, that doesn't mean you have to have a bad month. There are things that you can do to reset. You can also just take a deep breath and realize, you know what, things didn't go the way that I expected this morning. That's life. What's important is being consistent and being proactive and knowing that what time you wake up doesn't matter nearly as much as what you do when you wake up. So you don't have to be a 5 AM miracle morning, you know, like guru, you can wake up at 8 or 7 or 10, I don't care. What matters is what you choose to do with your time and your early actions in the day. For me, that's journaling, that's moving, that's meditating, so that I can center myself, I can engage my mind, I can move my body, and I can align my soul with the things that matter to me in any given day ahead. Do me a favor and let me know what your morning routine looks like. Even if you don't have one right now, let me know what you think an ideal morning routine would look like, and one thing that you can do in order to take action on it the next day. Again, doesn't matter what time you wake up, what matters is what you do when you wake up. Just a reminder that I'm giving away another Full Focus Planner in this video. Thank you so much to the Full Focus Planner team for sponsoring my channel for this month. All you have to do to enter is make sure that you're subscribed to this channel, give the video a thumbs up, and leave a comment below with what you want your ideal morning routine to be. Thank you so much for watching this video. I love sharing these ideas and concepts with you about how a morning routine can positively impact your life. Can't wait to hear from you in the comments about what your ideal morning routine is. There's lots of other videos on the way about routines, rituals, productivity, simple things that you can do to focus on what matters most to you. Hope you have a great day, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.