My Wake Up Routine - Part 1 - Rules I Stick To

After recently reading Hal Elrod's brilliant book The Miracle Morning, I finally commited to my own morning practice, 10 years prior!

See, I actually listened to a review on his book around 2014, and just decided to do it then and there and I haven't looked back. God knows why I read his book just now, and if you haven't, it's a worthwhile investment of your time.

And it basically kick started me to map out my Miracle Morning routine. I've called it a "wake up" routine though, to acknowledge those people whose "morning routines" may start in the afternoon or even the evening (and NOT 4AM like mine does). Weird flex right?

For Part 1, I'll share some helpful rules I stick to, morning in, morning out.

• Uninterrupted. Your routine should be just you and only you. Sure, I guess you could try to do it with someone else, but I have no experience in that; my wife loves her sleep way more than getting up early to conquer the world. My advice here, is to keep this time yours, uninterrupted.

• Zero distractions. This one is simple. Know what could possibly be a distraction, and avoid it during this time. So don't put on the television, don't clean in-between tasks, and most defintely don't go on your phone to check socials!

• Find YOUR place. Routine is key, and that doesn't just mean what you do and how long you do it for, but also WHERE you do it. Starting your wake up routine by spending 5-10mins finding a suitable place isn't ideal. So find your spots, try them out, and claim one as your own. And then use it every time.

• Stick to the tasks you've told yourself you would do. If you don't do this, you're only playing yourself. If you say you're going to Meditate, Exercise, drink a glass of water, then eat a healthy breakfast, do that. Don't skip anything. This might take some getting used to as you work within the time you've allowed yourself.

• Do things in order. This will help with consistency and maintain a confident, happy momentum. Again, when you first start off, it may take different combinations of tasks to get things just right.

• Give yourself (and the tasks) enough time. If you only have 30mins for your routine, do tasks that will fit in that time frame. If there's not enough time, and you want to do more tasks, do those another day, then alternate. I.e. if Exercising takes 15mins of your 30mins and you also want to fit in Meditation and Journaling, keep Meditation a constant, and alternate between Journaling and Exercising on different days. I would recommend doing this over reducing the time for each task. Alternatively, you can allocate more time to your routine. This is recommended, of course. :)

• Experiment. Experiment with different tasks, different durations and of course times of the day. Remember, the ideal times to do this is when there are no interruptions. This could be in the morning, when everyone is still asleep, or in the evening, when everyone is in bed. Experiment often as well. If a task feels a little weird or not worth your while, try it again in a month's time, it might have a different influence.

• Self assess. Don't just do things because I tell you (others tell you, or other internet people tell you) and expect it all to just work. Try things out and see how they're affecting you. Certain tasks, like exercise are a known quantity, but others like meditation and journaling will take some auditing (regardless of how much science and literature there is saying it helps). So try it all out for yourself, and regularly, check-in and see if it's helping. Self assess!

  
  

  Note: this will be something I'll be writing about A LOT. Checking-In. Awareness. etc. I think it will be my first course, too. Stay tuned!

These rules have helped me stay the course with my wake up routine. I still self assess regulalrly and experiment on occasion. Most of the order is set and I'm free of distractions and have 3+ hours of uninterrupted me time.

Right, now in my age, I've found my body only wanting around 6 hours of sleep. Though people much smarter than I will say I need 7-8+ hours, my body will simply not let me sleep in that long. Yes, I'm one of those annoying people that will wake up minutes before the alarm has gone off and will tell you about it too.

So in order for me to get my 6 hours, and to stick by my "uninterrupted" rule I go to bed early (9-930AM) and wake up early (330-4AM). Sounds a little crazy, bit it works for me, and I kinda love it.

dEx