“If you haven’t got a morning routine nailed. You ain’t going to be successful.”
Even though I’m in the 5 AM club. And have a routine.
I call bullshit on that statement.
If you don’t have a routine. Can go about your day. Get all the stuff done you need to. And work towards your definition of success.
Good for you. I’m impressed.
But, if you’re finding that you struggle to get started every day.
Or you aren’t getting the most out of your day.
Then a simple morning routine will help (more on this shortly).
Keep It Simple
There’s a quote by Leonardo da Vinci
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
In a previous blog post, I talked about the issue of making a morning routine complicated. And what my simple morning routine looks like.
Once we try and complicate things. That could be by adding too much of something. Or chaining events together.
It won’t work.
The main reason is you’ll give up on it.
Or you’ll be forever tweaking it and never see any benefits.
The Case For A Simple Morning Routine
So why even bother?
As I said. If you want to get more out of your day?
What I’ve found is getting hard things done and dusted, early in the morning. Sets me up for the rest of the day.
I’ve been getting up at 5 AM for 20+ years. Because that works for me.
I’m not going into detail here, I do in this article if you want to go a bit deeper into it.
After chatting with people on my Twitter/X account. A lot of people. Who are either building their own business. Or want to be more productive. Ask a lot, about people’s morning routines.
And it’s not about forcing yourself to get up at 5 AM.
Get a good 7-8 hours sleep and wake up when you want.
It’s more about the boot-up sequence that works for you.
Some people. Like Alex Hormozi. Wake up early. Grab a coffee. Then he locks himself in a windowless office and works for six hours straight.
A few tech entrepreneurs. Wake up naturally. Grab a coffee, go for a walk. Tend to a few admin tasks. Then get started with their day, even at 11 AM
Other people. Like Hal Elrod. Wake up at 5 AM. Have this 6-part morning routine to try and maximize their output.
There’s no right or wrong answer.
But if you’re frustrated with your output. In both the health and wealth areas of your life.
It’s time to get up a little earlier every day.
And put in place a simple morning routine.
Simple Morning Routine To Get Started
I hope you’re saying: “OK, You’ve convinced me”.
Great.
The simple morning routine has 3 stages to it. I’ll go into more detail in a second.
The first two are to help with your health. Both mind and body.
The last is in the wealth area. You may not care about starting your own business. So I’ll give another suggestion, related to your mental health instead.
Does that sound good?
Start With Consistency
Before I break down the routine.
What I’ve found. Regardless of whether it’s 5 AM or 8 AM.
Is to wake up at the same time every day. And to try and go to bed at the same time every night. Aim to get the same number of hours of sleep every night.
Now, I’m in my 40’s. I find that 7 hours of sleep is enough for me.
It could be you need 8 or 9 hours, that’s OK.
TOP TIP: Buy yourself a sunrise alarm clock. It wakes you up in a natural way. Which is more in keeping with how we have evolved. Instead of getting shocked awake.
Now that’s out of the way.
Let’s get into it.
Simple 3-Step Morning Routine
Before I go into the weeds.
Here’s the structure for a simple morning routine.
- Exercise (mind and body)
- Cold exposure (mind and body)
- Writing (wealth or mental health)
That’s it.
A simple 3 part plan to get started with a morning routine.
Now I’m going to give a few suggestions.
But I recommend doing what works for you, for each of these steps.
Let’s say you would rather go running, or weight training in stage 1, exercise. Great. Do whatever you can stick to.
That’s the key to this.
Developing the “stick at it” muscle.
Exercise
If you’re going from “zero to one”. And don’t have an exercise routine in mind.
Then I’ve got a great suggestion for you.
It’s called “The Happy Body”.
It’s the brainchild of Aniela & Jerzy Gregorek.
I won’t go into detail about how impressive these two are (Jerzy still holds a lot of powerlifting world records). If you want to find out about their back story? Check out this amazing podcast with Jerzy.
What I love about The Happy Body workout is again its simplicity.
Don’t let that fool you, it’s an incredible way to become stronger and more flexible.
What I love about it is:
- It’s a single routine consisting of 3 parts (there’s a theme here)
- After a bit of practice, it will only take you 30 minutes to do
- You only need two sets of dumbells to get started
- You can do it at home
- You can do it every day
- It makes your stronger (health: body)
- It makes you more flexible (health: body)
- It uses the breath to focus on an exercise (health: mind)
So, if you want to become stronger, fitter and more flexible.
And, because this workout incorporates breath work. You are also doing a form of meditation.
Result.
If you sit down, at a desk for longer periods?
There’s no better workout to get started with
Cold Exposure
I love Wim Hof.
If you don’t know who he is. Again, check out this podcast with him on.
What I love about cold exposure.
Yes, there are lots of health benefits in terms of the body.
But for me, it’s the impact on the mind that is the biggest benefit.
I never want to do the cold plunge each morning. It’s always a battle. But that’s the point. You’re steeling your mind each morning.
If you can take a cold shower for 60 seconds every morning.
On average, There’s nothing tougher, that will get thrown at during the day than that.
So, how to get started?
The best way is to have a “cold shower”.
Not cold all the way through. But start by having your normal shower. Instead of getting out when you’re done. Turn the shower to the coldest it will go and stand under the water.
You want to aim for 60 seconds.
But, start with 10-15 seconds for one or two weeks.
Then, work your way up to 60 seconds.
TOP TIP: If you struggle to do this, reverse it.
What do I mean?
Well, I struggled doing this cold shower technique. Before I bought a cold plunge and used that instead.
What I realised is my shower takes about a minute to warm up. Before that, it is freezing.
I found I could stand under the shower head. Turn the shower on to the temperature I shower at. Get blasted by the cold water. But stand there until the water warmed up, which took around 60-90 seconds to get there.
That seemed to work for me.
You may need to try different ways till you can do a full minute.
It’s about trial and error.
Writing
This may or may not be for you.
But stick with me.
The 3rd and final thing I recommend in my simple morning routine is to commit to some form of writing.
To develop a writing habit.
Focus on it for around 2 hours using the Pomodoro technique.
If you haven’t heard about the Pomodoro technique before. Check out this guide I put together. About what it is and how you can get started with it.
For me, I spent two hours writing or editing a blog post.
This is how this article came into being. 2 hours or writing the first draft.
A few days later, after another 2 hours of editing, get it ready for publishing.
Now, writing for you will be different.
You could be launching a blog or newsletter. You could spend two hours writing to create posts on social media. Drafting a script for a YouTube channel. Scripting a play. You could be an aspiring author and haven’t got started.
From Authors To Comedians
The habit of writing has a million and one uses.
And that’s me underplaying it.
I used to think it wasn’t. That you write when you can. But I was wrong.
A lot of the business folk I admire. And are trying to mirror. Developed a habit of writing for hours every day.
The best-selling author, Stephen King, still commits hours each morning to writing.
Even the best comedians like Jerry Seinfeld block our hours each day to writing jokes.
It’s wild.
“What if I haven’t got anything to write for?”
Great question.
Then, start journalling.
It doesn’t make sense to try and journal for 2 hours each day. But swap writing for journalling. Again, it’s a great way to improve your mental health.
Journalling helps you to “get out of your head”.
Trying to figure something out, a problem at work. It will help you figure it out.
Not happy with a relationship. It will help uncover the root cause and how to move forward.
Feeling a little lost, not motivated. Journalling will help you think through what you want and find purpose.
Regardless of what the end goal is.
Writing = clarity.
And it helps you think better too.
Conclusion: A Simple Morning Routine
As I said at the start of this.
A morning routine doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be successful.
And there isn’t a perfect, or one size fits all morning routine that works.
It’s a process. To find what works for you. To figure out, not only what you can stick to. But also what you get the most benefit from.
You want to do things that help improve and strengthen your mind and body. To improve your mental and physical health and steel yourself from stress.
Again. here’s my suggestion for a simple morning routine.
- Exercise (mind and body)
- Cold exposure (mind and body)
- Writing (wealth or mental health)
If you’re unsure of what to do for each get started. Try this.
- The Happy Body
- Cold shower
- 2 Pomodoro sessions writing blog posts
I hope this helps.
If you want to talk more about a simple morning routine. Reach out, more than help to help. Visit my About page to find out how you can contact me.
