Take Control of Your Morning

Happy Monday! I can’t even lie, I absolutely love Monday’s! (reference: Happy Monday) This is the first (work) day for you to execute your morning rituals. Do you know that how you start your day will help determine your level of success? Be honest with yourself and answer this question: When you wake up in the morning, do you:

a) check e-mails

b) check text messages

c) check social media

d) focus on your morning goals and rituals

e) none of the above

If you answered a, b, or c, did this answer surprise you? Most people don’t realize it but, this is actually a very habit that you need to try and break as soon as possible.

Why? When you check e-mails, text messages, and social media, first thing in the morning, you switch on your reactive habits instead of your goal oriented habits.

“Oh, Bob sent me an e-mail about the upcoming conference, I better validate that everything is good to go.” Meanwhile, you just missed breakfast.

“I better respond to this text from Ashley, she probably wants to talk about last night’s crazy episode of that show.” Is this an emergency? Meanwhile, you were supposed to leave for the gym at 6:00am and you’re 20 minutes behind schedule.

“I wonder if Ryan posted those pictures from the Ohio State Buckeyes game, last night? He had some amazing seats. I better check Facebook, real quick.” If the pictures are posted, are they going to disappear in the upcoming hours? Remember when you wrote out your schedule for the day? Are those things still important? (reference: Setting Yourself up to Win | Make a Schedule)

I’m not saying that these things are not important. Staying connected with your family, friends, and employer are incredibly important. The problem is, you have to learn how to prioritize how you approach, aka attack, the day. When you start off your day, doing these things, you become reactive by allowing external things to dictate your day. Your schedule is pushed out of the way and these things become the new focus. Would it really hurt you to wait until 9:00 or 10:00am before you checked external things?

I get it though, it’s hard to break these habits because regardless if we like it or not, we’re a instant gratification society. If you want a new product, hop on Amazon and get it in 2 days. If you want to watch a tv show, forget about waiting week-to-week, stream the entire season on Netflix. If want to know what your friends are doing, send them a text and get a response in less than 45 seconds.

This is why so many people are programmed to check their phone (e-mails, text messages, and social media) when they first wake up. They do it because they know that they can get what they want, instantaneously. But consider this: does instant gratification help you reach your goals? I’ll answer for you – no, it does not. Achieving your goals requires:

1. work
2. patience
3. consistent action

Bottom line: Take control of your morning by giving yourself a few hours (example: wait until 9:00 or 10:00am) before you start addressing external things. If you have to, consider this a reward for you taking care of your morning rituals, aka setting yourself up to win. You can do this once you make the commitment and stick with it. Your future is worth it and you are worth it.