How to Start a Morning Routine and Quit Procrastinating

In this article, I'm going to show you how I create a morning routine and stick to it.

We'll go over the common issues that can hold people back and how to overcome them.

After using my current framework, I've seen the biggest daily productivity increase that I've ever seen.

I've been able to establish a meditation habit when I've failed for years.

And I no longer procrastinate to get my most important things done because I have the energy to tackle them head-on!

Unfortunately, many people struggle to make this work for them.

I'm not Negative Nancy, but just because you watched "Billionaire's Morning Routine" doesn't auto-magically qualify you to rake in cash.

Successful morning routines start the night before.

People get this wrong for many reasons:

• Packing in too many tasks

• Being too rigid about the routine itself

• Not setting up a complimentary night routine

• Waking up late when more distractions are present

But what if I told you that I've found the key to making a morning routine practically effortless and highly effective?

Plus, I'll outline my own morning routine as an example for creating your own.

Let's jump in!

Step 1: Prepare your morning routine at night

I used to think I was a night owl and my energy was higher in the evening, but this was just an excuse for my lack of discipline.

The fact was I trained my body for years to be active at night because of screens from video games, social media, and Netflix shows.

Just like any bad habit you have to replace it with something better and train your body to make this work.

To do this, you set up your night so that your morning requires you to make fewer decisions.

I found that my routine was easier to stick to when going to bed early cutting out screens at least an hour before bed.

For example, I set up the automatic timer function on the coffee maker to go off at wake time.

Now if you're thinking that this isn't for you because you're not a morning person think of it like this:

Wake up before your distractions arise.

Step 2: Stack your Habits

Next, you're going to want to plug the 1-2 habits that you want to work on into your morning routine.

For me, it's meditation and mobility work.

Make it really hard to fail by only committing to 2-5 minutes of that habit. It may not be much but you're still ingraining the habit by lowering the barrier to getting started

The point is to do the habit not the length of it. If you decide to meditate longer the extra time spent and mental clarity of the habit is simply a bonus.

Focus on being consistent day after day.

Step 3: Keep routine items to 10 or fewer

Then you're going to want to make your routines short and easy. no longer than 10 activities.

Simplicity is key to making this work! Start with whatever makes the most sense and follows a logical order.

Don't quit because you missed a step. Adjust the next day and find what works this is a long-term process so you'll need to be patient with yourself.

Here's a routine that I follow:

Night Routine

Starting at 8 pm, I'll set up my coffee station.  

I take my supplements early in my routine so that I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom (quality sleep). I'll have a water bottle filled up in the morning so that I can rehydrate.

Next, I write my daily reflections. What went well and what didn't in the plan tomorrow so that I can be aware of any adjustments that need to make

Then, I shower and read before bed with a physical book because I do want to stay away from screens. I'll do this for at least 5-10 minutes so that I can also get my reading in for the day

Finally, I'm in bed by 9:30 pm at the latest so that I can make sure that I get enough sleep.

Morning Routine

First thing in the AM, I wake up to use the restroom and then pour my coffee.

After this, I will drink several cups of water to rehydrate. Usually, at night, we are slightly dehydrated so this is helpful for that.

My first habit is getting into movement usually in the form of stretching or some band work. I'll do a few exercises depending on how I feel. If you're not savvy with exercise selection, I would get a list of something that you can repeat every day for 2-5 minutes

I found that I had a hard time sticking to meditation. There are definitely more stimulating things out there so having it in my morning routine for only 2-5 minutes makes it a lot easier to accomplish. 

Then I'll write down some of my thoughts that came up during meditation just so that I can get them out of my head and on paper. I write down what I'm grateful for so that I can start the day with a positive frame of mind.

Step 4: Knock out your high-priority work.

Lastly, the most important part is my focused work.

I pick the 1-2 most important tasks during the day and do them immediately after journaling.

Now I'm pretty much distraction-less and I'm able to knock these out and have the rest of the day to enjoy.

For me, I write this newsletter you're reading! I get to organize my thoughts and experience into this little snippet on the internet that's easy for you to act upon right away!

Consider it habit #3. The one that takes a bit more energy and effort but returns the highest result!

I like to do focused work using the Pomodoro technique.

However, I made some modifications that I found work better for deep work like long-form writing. Instead of 25-minute blocks, I'll do 45-minute blocks. 

This is a total of 90 minutes of work. Plenty of time to go hard on 1 task that compounds the most over time.

Experiment and decide on which method will work better for you!

TL;DR

Step 1 - Prepare your morning routine at night: Make the morning effortless with by setting up the night before.

Step 2 - Stack your habits: Add your 1-2 habits that are most important to you first thing after waking up for a minimum of 2-5 minutes.

Step 3 - Keep routine items to 10 or fewer: Easy and short routines are more doable.

Step 4 - Knock out your high-priority work first: Do deep work in 25 or 45-minute blocks for maximum productivity.

This framework has helped me to stop binging on quick instant pleasures, and become more productive than ever before because I get easy wins first thing in the morning.

I enjoy the mornings now because I have the freedom to not worry about the rest of the day filling up with distractions!

What does your morning routine look like? Or if you're starting a new one let me know.

As always if you got value out of this, let me know with a reply or DM on Twitter!

How else can I help you?

Want clarity on your personal or professional systems? Book a free strategy call with me!

Or check out any of the valuable resources I use below!

See you next time!

Resources:

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• Modern Mastery: Join a like-minded group of individuals committed to self-mastery, building an online business, and gaining financial freedom.

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