How CEOs start the day
Mary Barra of GM arrives at the office by 6 a.m. Marc Benioff of Salesforce starts his day with an hour of exercise on the elliptical, paired with answering emails. Satya Nadella of Microsoft begins the day with a 90-second meditative exercise. Sundar Pichai of Google starts his mornings reading the newspaper and eating an omelet. These are very typical. Yahoo Finance polled 20 CEOs and found 80% wake up before 5.30am, 70% exercise in the morning and almost all of them made a point.
Why morning routines are important
Morning routines are important because they set the tone for the rest of the day. If you wake up late and skip breakfast by mid morning you will be hungry, tired and unproductive. First thing in the morning is also when you have most control over what you do. As the day goes on people will ask you to do things for them – but when you get out of bed that hasn’t happened yet. If you start the day in control you are more likely to feel in control for the rest of the day. Habits also don’t live in isolation. A habit of drinking a glass of lemon water as soon as you get up will cause a ripple and then make you more likely to eat a good breakfast which in turn will make you more likely to fit in 7 minutes of exercise. Either you run the day or the day runs you. If you start off the day with a purposeful routine you will be more likely to go through the rest of the day on your terms. This is why successful people have morning routines and this is why people with morning routines are successful.
5 morning routines you can start
If you are looking for some inspiration on morning routines you can adopt, consider one of these.- Meditate for one minute. Learn about One Moment Meditation with this Youtube video.
- Do a 7 minute workout. Learn about the NY Times 7 Minute Workout.
- Eat a good breakfast. Drink some water and eat some eggs to give you good fuel for the day.
- Do a crossword puzzle. Get your brain working by doing a crossword puzzle as you eat your good breakfast.
- Journal. Use an app like the 5 Minute Journal.