Spending Your Mornings the Best Way Possible

I’ve always been a morning person.

In college, I would get up at 3:00am to deliver newspapers. I would then get home, shower, and be ready for class. After I graduated and after my wife and I were married and had our children, I would still get up early so I could get important reading done before we had to change diapers, get children dressed and take them to school. For a short time, I worked for two major stock brokerage firms as a stockbroker. I would often get to the office before anyone else so I could plan my day, write down the sales calls I would make and scan through The Wall Street Journal to be on top of the day’s economic news. Even after our children have all left home to start their own families, I still get up early. It’s the time of day I get the most done; it’s the time of day when I do my best work.

There are a number of podcasts and books that teach how we can make the most of our mornings. Maybe you’ve listened to some of those. Here are a number of activities I’ve gleaned from such sources that help me get the day started right—

Get up at 5am!

Brush my teeth

Wash my face

Drink a big glass of water

Make a full pot of coffee

Pray my morning prayers

Read a chapter from my Bible

To help me stay fresh and on top of things when it comes to my job, I also read a couple pages each from a handful of books that are geared to my profession. I also read a couple pages out of a good motivational book. Finally, I end my morning preparation by listening to a motivational podcast as I’m driving to work.   

The books that I personally read each morning are centered on what I do for a living. If you’re a business owner or a factory worker or a farmer or an airline pilot or an IT professional or a retail clerk or a bank loan officer or an administrative assistant or whatever, the types of books you read in the morning will be vastly different from mine.

As a Christian, I would encourage you to first read every day at least one chapter from God’s Word, the Bible. I’m not talking about reading a devotional book or an article from a religious magazine or a blog from a website, but read for yourself what God has written in his love-letter to humanity on the pages of the Bible.

Besides starting your day out right by reading God’s Word, the Bible, and spending some serious time in prayer, you should also make use of the many motivational books that are available at your local bookstore or online.

__________

At the beginning of each week, usually on Sunday evening, I spend about an hour reviewing the upcoming seven days on my calendar. I write in my appointments, meetings and classes that have already been scheduled. I also time-block on my calendar the hours I need to prepare for each of these events. By time-block, I mean that I reserve a certain period of time to get ready for these commitments. For a meeting, I may only time block half an hour to prepare my notes and agenda. For a class that I lead, though, I may time-block an hour or two to prepare my notes that I will share with the class.

That’s Sunday night. On Monday morning and every morning for the rest of the week, after I’ve finished my morning reading, I continue with my planning for that specific day. But first, I review my roles, goals and action-steps to reach those goals. I then review any appointments, meetings or classes I have scheduled for that day, along with any time-blocks I’ve already entered into my daily calendar. I then consider each of my roles and ask myself the question, “What is the one most important thing I can do today to carry out this role and reach my goals?” These are what I refer to as my big rocks. I will work through all my roles and come up with a big rock for each of those roles. I will then time-block each of those big rocks on my daily calendar.

So what do I do in the evenings? I’m fairly tired after maintaining a full schedule all day. But I try to review each day before I go to bed and I ask myself the following two questions. I write down my answers so I can review them later—

1)      Did I accomplish all my big rocks today?

2)      If I didn’t, what could I have done differently?

Questions for Your Personal Reflection

1.      What time do you usually get up in the morning?

2.      What books are you currently reading? What podcasts, if any, are you currently listening to? Do your current books and podcasts help you reach your goals?

3.      How do you currently plan your days, weeks and months?

Action Items

Sit down this evening with your planner or your scheduling app. Write in your appointments, meetings, classes and other commitments for the next 7 days. Block the time on your daily calendar that you need to prepare for all your commitments.

When you get up tomorrow morning (at 5:00am!), read a chapter from your Bible, spend time in prayer, read from a book or two as well as listen to a podcast that will help you in reaching your personal goals.

Tomorrow night before you go to bed, ask yourself the following two questions and write down your answers:

1)      Did I accomplish all my big rocks today?

2)      If I didn’t, what could I have done differently?

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