Super Quick Outline of the Morning Routine that Worked for Me (and may for you)

• Begin the day by writing down or verbalizing 5 things you are grateful for. Our view of the world is constructed by what we focus on.

• Read something positive for 30 minutes.

• Carve out anywhere between 1 – 10 minutes to sit in silence and focus on your breathing. You don’t need to be a Zen master to take a few minutes of personal inventory each day.

• Eat something healthy. The benefits are twofold: you’ll feel energized, while also doing something good for your body, mind, and capacity to focus. 

How Waking Up Early has Changed My Life

Rise and Shine

Trying to sleep past 6:30 am in the house I grew up in was like parallel parking an A380 Airbus. It was difficult and ill-advised.

Assuming you weren't jolted from your semi-peaceful slumber from the clamor of pots and pans in the kitchen you would likely hear the words, "Chop! Chop! Time to get up!" ringing in your ears.

To this day I'm still not sure why the first two words of that bizarre rallying cry were so effective but they worked every time. I didn't realize it back then, and I certainly didn't appreciate being plucked from a dream but waking up early has served me well throughout my life.

Time and Tide Wait for No One

First, I learned very early on the value of time and the many forms it can take. It can be an ally, or a bully. A motivator or a deterrent. And what's interesting about time is the quality of our partnership with it is completely up to us. It's like being in a committed relationship with someone where you do all the work. You're never rewarded for remembering anniversaries or taking out the trash without being asked. It just needs to happen without pageantry or celebration.

But in the process you start to cultivate your own meaning of time, it's fleeting nature, and how to utilize as much of it as you can. 

For me, it feels like there's more time the earlier I rise. Obviously, the amount of sand in the hour glass isn't actually modified but it's the illusion I've created that motivates me to protect it.

Whenever I've gotten up a little later than I would have liked to I start the day in an emotional deficit. I feel irritated, frenzied even. And instead of spending the early hours setting the tone of my day I end up quelling the frustration I feel for not rolling out of bed sooner. 

In other words, I'm trying to figure out how to make more time rather than leverage the amount I have.

Time to Make Something

Second, my creativity is at a peak state in the morning. This is a byproduct of setting up good morning routines, and equally important, evening ones. Before going to bed I jot down 3 things I'm grateful for, take a moment to reflect on the day, and look over some insightful notes from anything on productivity to spirituality. All in all it takes about 3 minutes.

Essentially, I'm making sure I don't go to bed with natural disasters, scandals, or deficits dancing in my head. I'm doing my best not to add fodder to the my subconscious mind so I don't wake up in a state of fear. 

Because we're already working with an outdated piece of hardware whose sole purpose is to help us survive, we instinctively look for what's wrong. That's equally true in the mornings.

But if I can somehow influence the programming in my mind I can, to some extent, update my software. 

As a result, I often feel an extra bounce in my step and look forward to the reading, writing, and meditating that have now become indispensable parts of the early hours of my day. 

By 6:30 am I've learned something, expressed something, and taken a few moments to prime my brain to pause rather than react to all the unexpected events that will happen as soon as I walk out my front door.

Discipline is Fleeting

Finally, getting up early means I now feel more inclined to slip under the covers early as well. I take solace in a day well spent and don't feel especially compelled to find all the ways to distract myself during the evening hours. 

My body is ready to rest again which should take precedent over mindlessly surfing the web or staring into my smartphone. It's not to say those things don't ever happen but I'm much more cognizant of its compound effect. I understand that one minute texting can become an hour, or how one Youtube video can seamlessly become eight. 

I try my best to avoid distractions rather than resist them. Discipline is fleeting but good habits can last a lifetime. 

Don't Take Advice So Literally

This morning as I was driving, an excerpt of the very large audiobook I've been listening to literally stopped me in my tracks. The book is about investing and developing a better financial IQ.

"You need to rebalance your portfolio on a regular basis," I heard the voice say. "This requires discipline."

It then dawned on me that though this was very helpful advice when it came to keeping your finances in order, it was also equally valuable insight to nearly every facet of life. Take regular inventory of what you're doing to see if it's actually working, I thought.

How many times have we taken a bit of advice from a book written by someone who claims to be an expert in a field and only applied it to that discipline? Why not cross-pollinate those big bold ideas?

Why can't the lessons from a book about finance be relevant to what you put into your body? What can science teach us about leadership? And on and on.

My take, don't take advice so literally. You might find the lessons gained from one area of expertise apply to others as well.

Pick Your Pain

Author, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, “We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons."

No one I've ever spoke to has ever regretted a committed effort toward a goal even if the outcome failed to meet their expectations. We must decide if a fear of failure is worth discouraging us from trying something we know to be worth our application. My guess is that it is not.

If you want something you owe it to yourself to at least try. You'll be glad you did. 

You Gotta Start Somewhere

One of the reasons people never begin a creative endeavor is because the distance between where they are and where they hope to be feels so daunting. What's helped me over the years see a project through from beginning to end is breaking it up into small stages, while trying to infuse a little bit of perspective into the overall goal.

Start small. Whether you're an actor, writer, singer, or visual artist begin by beginning. Set aside a specific time each day where you'll work on your craft, or build your project. It can even be 10 minutes a day until it becomes a discipline. From there you can slowly increase the amount of time you work until it accommodates your schedule and gradually moves the needle forward. Just make it a priority.

And that part about perspective? What's helped me is the realization that every project, whether the screenplay for a critically acclaimed film, or a best-selling novel began at a dimly lit kitchen table, or a noisy coffee shop, with a first word, a stroke of the brush - an idea.

 

Consistency

"Most people stop right before they're about to see results," I heard the moderator say. I was listening to a Webinar about digital marketing strategy. Her observation was in response to a question I'd asked about when to shift targets versus when to change tactics.

But the more I thought about her answer the more it began to resonate with me. For years, I'd stayed consistent in just about everything I started: morning routines, taking acting workshops, travel, and incorporating steps to maintain my mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.

To be honest, it was often difficult to gauge whether the years of consistency had paid off. It was kind of like expecting to see immediate results in your body after going to the gym for a week.

It wasn't until friends began pointing out the disciplines I'd developed and largely taken for granted. They started asking questions about my routine, how they could include them in their own busy schedules, and any books, seminars, or podcasts I could recommend. In other words, the work I'd put it had not only began to show, but influence others.

In a previous blog post, I wrote about a word I love called, Kaizen. Kaizen means incremental improvement over time through little, seemingly insignificant actions.

Find your own method of Kaizen and remember once you cultivate those routines not to to quit. Chances are you're much closer than you think to reaching your goal.

Easier to Avoid than Resist

There's a great deal to be said about having discipline. It's not always easy to maintain a heightened focus on the task at hand. Those who are able to consistently zero in on what's most important over a sustained period of time are often very successful in their careers and personal lives.

Still, I think  one of the less talked about keys to the success of such productive people is not discipline alone.

High achievers know that distraction is easier to avoid than resist.