Story originally appeared on Influencive and was written by Matthew Turner –
Richard Branson wakes up at 5am each morning, but instead of getting straight to work, he exercises, spends time with his family, and gets himself in the right frame of mind.
He’s not alone.
Pick any person you admire—the world’s thought leaders, billionaires, and uber successful—and you will find someone who wakes up early and dedicates themselves to their morning routine.
But it isn’t as easy as waking up early and expecting instant success.
There are certain do’s and do not’s when creating your morning routine, so if you find yourself making one or more of these morning routine mistakes, you may sabotage your future success.
Morning Routine Mistake: You Dive Straight into Your To-Do List
You are busy and have lots to do, so you figure you’ll get a few hours of work in before you hit the office.
Big mistake!
Rising early is the perfect time to work on yourself and prepare yourself for the day ahead. Your to-do list can wait. That client project can wait. And yes, even your inbox can wait.
When Dan Miller wakes up at the crack of dawn, he starts his day with exercise and family-time—like Sir Richard before him. He works on himself, and once he’s done this, he is ready for whatever the day has in store for him and ‘The 48 Days’ empire.
Morning Routine Mistake: You Don’t Feed Your Mind, Body, or Soul
The one constant in your life—no matter what happens—is that you remain you.
You’re made up of your mind, your body, and your soul—however you define the latter.
Those who take care of these three aspects during their morning routine tend to be the most productive, innovative, and successful.
- Mind: do you read, learn, and reflect during your morning routine?
- Body: do you move your body, exercise, and awake it up after a night of sleep?
- Soul: do you meditate, think, and appreciate who you are and what you’re working on?
This doesn’t take much time. You can take care of all three of these core pillars in under thirty-minutes. This is what Erlend Bakke does each morning—the bestselling author of Never Work Again. Through reading, meditation, and exercise, Erlend starts every morning with a successful mindset.
He starts with himself and goes from there.
His work can wait a few minutes, just like yours can.
Morning Routine Mistake: You Don’t Rehydrate Your Body
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but this saying doesn’t scratch the surface.
Think about it for a second. You’ve just slept for eight hours. Would you ever go eight hours during the day without drinking or eating?
The moment you wake up, your body craves water and nutrition.
Don’t keep it waiting a second longer.
When Mathew Park wakes up, the first thing he does is down a large glass of water with lemon juice squeezed into it. By the way, lemon juice helps balance the pH levels in your body after a night of sleep.
Founder of ‘The Peak Mindset’, Mathew has helped athletes, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders take their work and life to the next level. This begins the moment they wake up. Before you do anything else, make sure you rehydrate your body and fuel it with the right kind of foods.
That means no coffee or bacon, I’m afraid.
At least, not to begin with.
In Conclusion
It isn’t about how early you wake up—although early risers tend to be the most successful—but rather how well you spend this time.
Your morning routine literally stands between you and your perfect day.
Are you setting yourself up for success, or is the way you start your day holding you back?
If it’s the latter, I recommend you research how those you admire rock their morning routine. This is how I know what I know, after interviewing 163 successful entrepreneurs, authors, and thought leaders for my book, The Successful Mistake.
I created my own morning routine after learning from the best.
You can do the same. The only thing standing between you and a successful morning routine is you.
So, what are you going to do about it?