There’s a saying, “If you can win your morning, you can win your day.” What you do in the morning will dictate your entire day.
If you start your morning strong, with motivation and productivity, you will accomplish more and go through a great day.
However, if you start your morning with stress, negativity, and a lot of complaints, guess how your day will turn out? Not good, right?
This is why morning habits are important.
It is especially important if you want to live a better and more successful life. It all begins with your morning routine. What you do in the morning will influence your mood and hence, your entire day.
So, what are the best morning habits for success you should develop? What should you do to kickstart your morning with motivation and productivity?
Here’s the answer – follow the 20/20/20 Rule.
I learned this simple but powerful rule from Robin Sharma, the best-selling author of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and Everyday Hero.
Here’s how the rule work…
Invest 60 Minutes to Jumpstart Your Morning for Success
To develop a great morning routine, you must wake up at least an hour early. You don’t want to wake up late and rush things.
Imagine waking up at 8 AM and you have to reach your office by 9 AM. You will skip your breakfast and rush to leave your home. You’ll not get properly groomed and maybe you don’t even have time to take a shower.
And when you’re stuck in the congestion, you’ll blame the traffic and start thinking about why your life has to be that way. It creates a lot of negativity and it is not a good way to begin your day.
Now, imagine you wake up at 6 AM or 6:30 AM. And because you wake up early, you have plenty of time for other things like exercise, meditation, reading, or even making a good breakfast for you and your family.
And because you have a good time with yourself and your family, you enjoy your morning. You feel good about your morning. Guess what, you start your day with greatness. And you go to work with a great feeling.
That’s why the first key to building morning habits for success is to wake up early. Get up at least an hour early to give yourself time to plan, prepare, and start your day on the right foot.
Now that you have an hour to prime yourself for success in the morning, here’s what you should do…
Spend the First 20 Minutes on Exercise
Upon waking up, you want to spend your first 20 minutes exercising and moving your body.
“He who sweats more in training bleeds less in battle.”
George S. Patton Jr.
Exercise is one of the most important keys to success. It does not just build your physical well-being but also improves your mental health.
If you have no idea what exercise does to your body, check out this article from CDC.
In her best-selling book, What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, author Laura Vanderkam shared that most successful people exercise in the mornings.
- Mark Zuckerberg works out at least 3 days per week, usually in the form of taking his dog running first thing in the morning.
- Richard Branson wakes up as early as 5 AM to kitesurf, swim, or play tennis in the morning.
- Anna Wintour wakes up at 5:45 AM so she can play an hour of tennis every morning.
- Tim Cook wakes up at 4:30 AM and hits the gym several times per week. He also enjoys cycling and rock climbing.
As you can see, these are extremely successful and busy people, yet they make time to exercise. Don’t you think you should do so as well?
When you exercise, you don’t just get physically healthy, you also train your mental strength and become more resilient.
And this is why exercise is important and you want to make it a part of your daily morning routine.
Spend the Second 20 Minutes on Planning
That’s right, you cannot go through your day with productivity if you don’t plan for it. Stephen Covey has a great saying about planning…
“Wars are won in the general’s tent.”
Most people don’t plan their day. They go through their day randomly. And that’s why most people are not successful.
The good news is that you are NOT most people. When you plan your day, you know what your objectives are, and you know your priority. You then become proactive rather than reactive.
You don’t have to wait for things to happen. Instead, you go and make things happen.
Most people are living in mediocrity because they don’t know what they want out of life. Not just that, they don’t make plans and design their life. As a result, they are living life without a clear direction, like lost sheeps.
Each morning, before you start your day, you want to spend 20 minutes reviewing, reflecting, and planning your day. You want to remind yourself of your goals and dreams, connect with them, and then plan and schedule your tasks to make them happen.
If you have no idea how to set goals and plan to achieve them, check out Goal Setting Formula masterclass.
Larry Winget nails it when he said…
“Nobody ever wrote down a plan to be broke, fat, lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan.”
Spend the Last 20 Minutes on Self-Improvement
Now, you have started your day with exercise, and then you proceed to review your goals and plan your day. What next? You work on improving yourself.
Great leaders are great readers. Robin Sharma has an amazing saying you should always keep in your head…
“Ordinary people have big TVs. Extraordinary people have big libraries.”
I’m an avid reader. On average, I read about 2 to 3 books per month. How do I do it? Well, every morning, I spend about 20 to 30 minutes reading.
I don’t have to read the entire book in one go, I just need to read one or two small chapters. And eventually, I will finish the entire book.
There are many benefits of reading…
- First, you get to learn more and gain better knowledge.
- Second, you get to motivate yourself especially when you read personal development books.
- Third, reading improves your ability to focus and concentrate. That means you’ll be able to focus better at work.
- Forth, reading also reduces stress and helps you relax better.
- Fifth, reading and learning are one of the main keys to success.
Therefore, commit to reading. Spend at least 20 minutes reading each morning. This is a great morning reading that will change your life.
If you read just 1 book a month, you will have read 12 books in a year. And in 5 years, you will have read 60 books. And if each book inspires and gives you just 1 new idea to improve yourself, you will have 60 ideas to work on.
Don’t you think that’s life-changing? You just need to constantly program your mind with great knowledge. There’s a saying…
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
Hence, spend at least 20 minutes every morning reading. The more you learn, the more places you can go.
If you have no idea what books to read, check out my list of success books here.
Apply the 20/20/20 Rule as Your Morning Habits
And this is how you should start your morning. These are the 3 core activities you should develop as your morning habits for success…
- Exercise
- Review and plan
- Read and learn
Again, mornings are the most important and sacred time of day.
How you go through your morning will dictate how your day turns out. When you start your morning strong, you will accomplish more throughout the day. But when you start your morning weak, your entire day will be ruined.
So, make good use of your morning.
If you can win your morning, you can win your day. And if you can win your day, you can win your life.