I tried 5 morning habits of highly successful people and here's what happened…
In my last blog post I wrote about the morning habits of highly successful people and decided to test 5 of them, to see if they would increase my productivity during the day. Well, the results are in! Read on to find out my key learnings and takeaways from this mini experiment…
1. Get up an hour early
I set my alarm for 5:30am every day for a week
What did I learn from doing this?
This was by far the hardest one to stick to but once I was up and out of bed, I realised I could achieve so much in that first hour of the day. Some days I made a start on the housework, others I got straight to work and one day I decided to read in bed with a cup of coffee. Okay, so the last activity wasn’t technically that productive, but I felt well rested and ready to take on the day!
Will I continue to do this?
If I’m honest, I think I love my sleep too much to commit to a 5:30 alarm every day but doing this experiment has shown me that if I achieve something early in the morning, then it increases my productivity throughout the day. It also made me realise that I don’t have to achieve anything groundbreaking - just doing something small makes a big difference.
2. Visualise!
Apparently early morning is the best time to reflect and map out your to do list for the day. According to research, spending just two minutes visualising positive outcomes can improve your mood and clarity for the entire day ahead.
What did I learn from doing this?
I was a bit sceptical about this one, but I tried my best to manifest those positive vibes first thing and I have to say it worked. Visaulisation gears our brains up for action by consolidating our plans for the day. I did this when I took the dog out for his morning walk - I thought about what I wanted to achieve, visualised the steps I would take to achieve the task and then thought about the outcome. By doing this every day for a week, not only did my productivity increase but I also felt more creative and inspired.
Will I continue to do this?
Yes! I found this activity very easy to incorporate into my morning routine and it’s a quick fix to put you in a good mood for the day.
3. Say bye-bye to THAT one big task:
Get the big task out of the way, otherwise you’ll end up procrastinating the whole day.
What did I learn from doing this?
It made me realise that the big scary task is not actually as bad as I think it is going to be. I ended up saving so much time and had a more productive day because I confidently approached tasks; knowing that they wouldn’t be as daunting and as time consuming as I thought they would be.
Will I continue to do this?
Absolutely!
4. Get moving
Exercise first thing in the morning helps to boost your mood. This is something I used to do at least three times a week when I was in my early twenties but I fell out of the habit.
What did I learn from doing this?
Will power is everything! There were some days getting up and getting moving first thing required a gargantuan effort! That being said, once I had begun my workout, I noticed the benefits immediately - my mind felt sharper, I approached the day with a positive outlook and yes, my productivity increased!
Will I continue to do this?
Yes, I will aim to do this at least 3 or 4 times a week. I also won’t get annoyed at myself if I decide to have a lie-in every so often!
5. Declutter your mind
Write down what’s worrying you and try to rationalise the anxious thoughts in your mind, first thing in the morning. This will enable you to focus your mind and attention on other, more productive things.
What did I learn from doing this?
My key learning from this exercise is how game-changing challenging anxious thoughts can be. By spending 15 mins every morning writing down any anxious thoughts and then challenging them helped so much. Here is the template I followed:
Anxious thought:
Worst outcome:
Best outcome:
Most likely outcome:
Then I would say to myself - “Now put this thought to rest and get on with your day”
I was able to clear my mind of anything that worried me, enabling me to crack on with my day and free up space in my mind to focus on work.
Will I continue to do this?
100%
I realised pretty early on in this experiment that I wasn’t going to wake up the next day with a new found sense of productivity and will power - it takes time to build these new routines. I also learnt that it’s imperative to build flexibility into a routine - especially in the early days. At the start of this experiment I would get really annoyed with myself if I didn’t complete all five habits in one morning. Obviously this attitude is counterproductive, so it’s important to take small steps each day to create the optimal routine. Overall my key takeaway would be to incorporate these new habits into your existing routine whenever you can, as I found it was much easier to maintain them.
I hope these will help you as much as they’ve helped me!