Develop a Morning Routine—and Stick to it

The way you start the day is the way you go through the day—so, if you want your day to be productive, you need to start the day on the most productive note possible.

When you ask productive people the secret to their success, nine times out of ten, the answer? The right morning routine. Everyone from Tim Ferriss to Oprah to Tony Robbins tout the benefits of a solid morning routine—and if you want to get on the same level of productivity, a consistent morning routine is a must.

Luckily, the morning routines of the world’s most successful people have a ton of similarities—and are easy to replicate if you’re willing to commit to saying “sayonara” to the snooze button. In The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed To Change Your Life Before 8am, author, speaker, and productivity guru Hal Elrod shares seven activities (which he describes using the acronym S.A.V.E.R.S.) that align with the habits of the world’s most productive people and, which he claims, will completely transform your life and business if you practice them every morning:

– Silence (aka meditation)

– Affirmations

– Visualization

– Exercise

– Reading

– Scribing (aka writing or journaling)

You don’t have to spend hours each morning on these activities—a few minutes of each is all you need to reap the benefits. So, your morning routine might start with five minutes of silent meditation, followed by five minutes of jumping jacks, five minutes of reading a book on personal development, five minutes of journaling, five minutes of visualization (which is the practice of envisioning the future life and business you want for yourself), and five minutes of saying positive affirmations in the mirror—30 minutes total.

But taking those 30 minutes to start your day with intention allows you to go through the rest of your day with intention. And, as a result, you can tackle your work with intention—and get a lot more done as a result.