How to Build a Morning Routine that Lasts a Lifetime
Self-help gurus have been preaching the virtues of morning routines forever. There’s a simple reason for that: Morning routines work. Time to make them work for you — permanently.
“Your morning routine generates a 10x return for good or for bad. Make it good.”
— Todd Stocker
Todd is right: Your morning echos throughout your day. Get ahead early, live life on your terms, and set up an even better tomorrow. Or fall behind early, live life playing catch-up, and repeatedly sabotage tomorrow.
Just like your morning echos throughout your day, your day echos throughout your life. A good morning routine will help you get more stuff done, sleep better, reduce stress, learn faster, build better relationships, eat healthier, and move more. Every one of these effects offers serious compounding benefits when done year in and year out.
But I’m sure you know this stuff already. Otherwise, you probably wouldn’t be here. Most likely, you also know from experience that all the morning routine advice in the world (and there’s a lot) won’t get you to follow through with the required level of consistency.
It’s time to address this problem once and for all. Here are the three steps that will take you from recognizing the importance of morning routines to enjoying the benefits of morning routines.
Step 1: Commit
Back in the noughties, there were still some tough initiation rituals at South African universities. The hostel I attended introduced us to a specially designated tormentor of first-year students whom we had to address as “General.” And there’s one quote from the General that stuck with me through the years:
“Jarre, dis of fokken alles of fokken niks!”
— General Greeff
It loses most of its zing when translated to English, but here goes: “Freshmen, it’s either f***ing everything or f***ing nothing!”
This sage advice applies to a surprisingly large swath of life, morning routines included. If you half-ass your attempt at establishing a morning routine, it simply isn’t going to work.
Step 2: Design
If you want a morning routine that lasts, you must invest considerable time and effort into its design. The finished product must be uniquely yours. It must fit your life like a glove.
The design process involves plenty of research, trial, and modification, especially if your life is relatively complex (e.g., small kids or frequent travels). It will take time before your creation truly clicks. And it’s during this time that most people give up and return to randomness.
Getting through this trying period requires an architect’s mindset. Your job is to design the most practical and rewarding morning routine the world has ever seen. If you fully commit to this fascinating challenge, the difficult formative weeks of your morning routine actually become fun!
Clear this hurdle, and your routine becomes 10x more likely to stick. Not only will your creation add substantial value to your life, making it easy to maintain, it will also claim a special place in your heart, making it hard to give up. If humans get deeply invested in something, they rarely let go.
Step 3: Choreograph
If you want to permanently embed your handcrafted morning routine into your life, add the finishing touch: Choreograph your routine to a custom-made soundtrack.
I’m not talking about simply throwing a few of your favorite songs together on a playlist. Your soundtrack should contain a good variety of audio inputs, and, ideally, it should vary subtly from day to day to keep things interesting.
As an example, my morning routine playlists (I have one for every day of the week) contain inspiring music at a high volume, yoga instructions, background music at a low volume, and guided meditations.
Right after I wake up, I grab my phone, launch that specific day’s playlist, and then everything happens automatically from there. My mind effortlessly glides from one activity to the next, guided by these carefully designed and automated audio triggers.
If you get to this stage, you’re set for life. Executing a beautifully designed and choreographed morning routine of your own making is an awesome experience you simply won’t see any point in ever giving up.
A final note on families: Ideally, you would enjoy your handcrafted and choreographed routine together each morning. But that’s a tough ask in the real world. Yes, share your routine whenever possible, but, for all those other days, make full use of wireless headphone technology and execute your well-choreographed routine without bothering anyone.
Summary
Here’s the simple 1–2–3 to a lifelong morning routine:
- Fully commit or don’t bother. There’s nothing in between. Doing it properly takes time but promises 1000x returns.
- Assume the role of an architect to put together a handcrafted routine that is uniquely yours.
- Assume the role of a choreographer to bring an effortless flow to your routine using custom-made soundtracks.
18 months of perfect morning routine consistency have made me a better person in every way imaginable. And, since better people create a better world, I sincerely hope you commit to design and choreograph yours!
This article is part of Chapter 1: Morning Routines in the HHWPS project.
All images were custom-made for this article by Janet Cloete.
