6 Minute Morning Routine

I was reading a piece about Energy Management, which included some rituals to help cope with the demands placed upon us by both work and personal lives. This got me thinking about health and well-being within our lives and how critical it is to all. You don’t have to become part of the so-called 5am club and wear a badge of honour for getting up before the birds, but you do need to set your day up correctly. Ideally you set it up the night before so your brain knows what you are going to do when you first wake up.

I have read and studied many opinions and strategies in this area. From reading pieces by new leaders in this field like Medium.com top writer Ben Hardy, the fascinating Hal Elrod with his Miracle morning and New York Times best selling author James Clear through to the legendary Seth Godin, Simon Sinek and John Maxwell. There is a never-ending stream of information and opinions in a variety of media online to digest and you eventually find one or a blend of some that work for you. It is important to note that there are so many ideas out there that there really isn't a silver bullet to success. However there are commonalities across them all.

My father used to have a strict routine in the morning and he called it his Merry morning, This was something I thought odd when I was growing up but has since made more sense and I look back on it in admiration. Whilst he didn’t do everything I have listed in my routine below, it was his routine for setting up his day and that is where it is important. It needs to suit you and your life. A few years ago I decided that I was going to start my own Merry morning routine and it has since developed using the ideas I had collated from some of the above experts as well as others and put it into a system that worked for me and my life.

Where did I start?

So where did I start with my current Merry Morning routine? Well I started by trying to form the habit by simply getting up a little bit earlier and doing a 6 minute morning routine that consists of the following 6 elements for 1 minute each. The idea is that they become 10 minutes each and therefore an hour in total.

All 6 of these are just to focus my day towards my daily goals and fire up the brain from its slumber.  These daily goals are the cornerstone of achieving your main goal.

All of the below is done after I drink a big glass of water and I do not turn my phone off flight mode or check emails or any social media until after I have done this routine. 

The 6 Minutes - A Merry Morning

1. A - Affirmation - 1 minute of affirming; What I am grateful for, what I want to achieve today and ultimately and why it is meaningful to me.

2. M - Meditate / Reflection - I had never done it before as it always seemed a bit new age but I downloaded the Headspace app and I use the app to learn how to do it. I love it now. It can also be just sitting in silence and contemplating or praying , whichever one your most inclined to do.

3. E - Exercise - I do 1 minute worth of push-ups just to get the blood flowing. I normally do this while the kettle is boiling for my morning cup of tea. 

4. R - Reading - Read a couple of pages of a book or an article.

5. R - Recording -  I physically write in a notepad / journal for 1 minute about anything that comes to mind, a blog topic, a letter, an opinion, just bullet-points of anything that is the forefront of my mind. But you could do a short video, a podcast or a voice recording. Anything that captures your thoughts at that time.

6. Y - You can do it - This is all about self belief and to Visualise for 1 minute to close my eyes and think about one main task I want to achieve today and I visualise me doing it, not visualising me achieving it.

Research says it take at least 30 - 66 days to form a habit and soon it will become second nature to you. Every week try to increase the time so each element above gets 2 minutes in week 2 and 3 minutes in week 3 etc. the time step by step up to the 10 minutes for each of the above 6 elements. This also means you have to get up earlier and earlier as I increase the times, but the momentum should keep you motivated to do so. I also have an evening routine as that actually sets up the next morning but that is another topic.

I hope you have found this of interest and please feel free to share your own routine that helps you focus on the day ahead, in the comments below.

If you wish to hear more about this particular topic or tips that I find along the way please comment below or feel free to reach out directly to me on email. My aim is for this to be a regular topic on the blog that can help you in some way.