Today’s article is going to cover the power and effectiveness of the routine. Routines create sustainable predictability, they allow you to plan things in your day properly and massively decrease the probability that you’ll fuck up on your diet or training or anything else you really need to be doing in the day.
When we were children our parents put us in routines as quickly as possible to ensure we were happy, energised and well behaved. Well, I’m not being funny, but I reckon the majority of adults could do with being happier, more energised and better behaved. Be your own parent for a minute and think about what’s best for yourself.
I’m not saying that you need to have every second of every day planned out. That would be boring, and you’d lose interest in life pretty rapidly. But there are certain areas of your day that you’ll notice drastic changes in your physique, productivity, energy levels and mood if you implement a good routine – namely the very start of your day, and the very end of your day.
Routine Tip #1: Win The Morning, Win The Day
You don’t have to look very hard into the leaders and top dogs of this world to see that a common thread amongst a huge percentage of them is they believe in the importance of winning the morning. How you spend the first 60 minutes after you wake up sets the tone for the rest of the day.
Most people are scrolling through social media and wasting time before they’ve even rolled out of bed. They’re moving extremely slowly and if they’re lucky they get some breakfast before they drag themselves to work or wherever they need to go.
The day they have then reflects how they spent the morning. If any work gets done it’s normally doesn’t match what they’re capable of, they’re tired pretty much all the time and training sessions are weak and slow. Pretty much everything suffers.
Implementing a good morning routine might not necessarily fix everything wrong with your life – I’m not trying to claim that. But it will get you started on the right foot, and make it more likely that you’ll make good decisions throughout the day.
When I’m on my normal morning routine I get 2 social media posts written, a blog post (as I’m writing this at 7:45am), a podcast listened to, the dog gets walked and I’ve eaten breakfast & prepped the day’s meals all before 8:30 – and I’m at work by 9am for my first client of the day. This is in massive contrast to the occasional day I sleep in and throw my teddies out the pram when precisely fuck all gets done before 9am. Big difference.
The main thing my routine does for me is take the pressure off. If I have a full day of clients, and I have to train, I have very little time to even think about creating online content or writing plans, furthering my own education, reading and all the other stuff that will push my business and reputation forwards. Getting all this done before I actually start my day frees up my mental energy to focus on my clients, my own training and giving 100% with no distraction towards my actual job.
You don’t have to do what I do. But if you improved your mornings by just 10%, what would that do for your day?
Of course, in order to get so much done in the mornings I have to get myself out of bed early. This isn’t easy as I’ve traditionally never ever been a morning person (and I’m still not, really). But getting in the habit of getting up at 6am has been the best business decision I ever made.
But, as you might have guessed, getting up at 6am is nigh-on impossible if you don’t get to bed at a reasonable time the night before. This brings me on to part two of today’s article, night time routines.
Routine Tip #2: Win The Evening, Win The Morning, Win The Day
So, in order to win the day, we have to win the morning. But in order to win the morning, we must win the night before. This means optimising sleep, mainly, to get a good quality 7-8 hours so you’re not an absolute zombie the next day.
The steps I take of an evening in order to make sure I can fall asleep start 2-3 hours before I intend on going to bed. If at all possible, I try to eliminate sources of blue light at this point. That means I’m shutting off the TV, laptops/computers, phone goes on aeroplane mode, and I start the winding down process of calming my nervous system.
Obviously no stimulants go in at this point, I’ve never understood night time coffees at the best of times but please stop it if that’s your thing. If the weather allows, I like to go outside before the light fades too much and get in contact with the ground. Although I’ve no concrete evidence for this, at least none I’m aware of, the grounding movement seems to work for me. Give it a google and you’ll get a better explanation that I can give you.
I tend to spend the rest of the time before I go to sleep reading, and I just stop reading when I’m literally falling asleep. The room itself is as dark as I can make it, all light sources are gone and it’s as quiet as possible. The darker the room is, the more you can stimulate melatonin production and elicit deeper sleep.
Optimising your sleep will make it that much easier to get up early and win the morning, which will make it that much easier to win the day, and consistently winning every day is how you get whatever you want in life (within reason).
Get in a routine. Win the evening, win the morning, win the day.
Cheers
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Andy
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