How do you start your day?

The first few minutes of your day directly dictate how confident, productive, and happy you’ll be for the rest of the day.

After interviewing Hal Elrod (bestselling author The Morning Miracle) about 6 months ago I’ve re-committed myself to performing morning habits every single day.

Since then my I’ve exponentially increased my productivity, eliminated practically all of my anxiety, avoiding getting sick even once, and most importantly, I feel like a fucking boss every single day!

I’ve experimented a lot of different morning habits to get my morning routine to where it is today. I’ve also helped a lot of friends and clients form their own morning routines. And I still get a lot of questions about it…

So I decided to put together a guide to help you form a morning routine that fits into your schedule and matches your own personal needs.

Why Do a Morning Routine?

Obviously my morning routine has paid off big time for me. But why should YOU care about forming your own routine?

Put simply: it will revolutionize your life.

The things we do every single day are the things that form us. Far too many guys get side-tracked thinking about what they want and who they want to be, and engaging in absurd amounts of mental masturbation.

Your goals and aspirations are secondary to your daily habits. You’re not going to get anywhere fast without taking action and putting in work on a day-to-day basis. A morning routine is a simple and practical way to make sure that you’re taking these small steps every single day.

Aside from all of this, here are 3 more compelling reasons to get on the bus and form your own morning routine…

1. Self-Discipline

When you do a morning routine every single day, you’ll quickly begin to yield an enormous amount of self-discipline. You’ll change your mental programming to be someone who gets shit done RIGHT NOW rather than making excuses and ‘waiting for tomorrow’. This is a result of forming the habit of self-discipline by starting off every day with a series of habits (that you definitely won’t always feel like doing).

2. Habit-Specific Benefits

The beauty of a morning routine is that it’s a collection of multiple habits that each have their own respective benefits. You can improve your anxiety, productivity, focus, self-esteem, wisdom, and overall mood in a matter of minutes by stacking together a few awesome habits that each offer incredible benefits on their own.

3. Adherence

Face it, when you put things off, you usually don’t do them. This applies to daily habits more than anything. If you plan to read, meditate, and do a bunch of other habits each day during your lunch break or before bed, chances are you’re going to be too busy or tired to actually do them. By tackling all of your habits first thing in the morning, you ‘get them out of the way’ and don’t have to try to fit them in later on.

In addition to these 3 benefits, you’ll also achieve an intense sense of accomplishment if you can stick to your morning routine. You’ll build trust in yourself and your ability to make commitments to yourself and make real changes in your life.

3 Steps to Get Started

Ok, let’s get our hands dirty. Let’s dive into the exact steps you should take to create and get started with your new morning routine.

1. Pick Your Habits

The first step is to choose the actual habits you will perform as part of your morning routine. I suggest starting small and choosing just three. This way you’re more likely to actually do it.

Below you’ll find 2 core habits that I recommend everyone uses. Their benefits are unmatched. They simply should NOT be ignored by any man. In addition to these core habits, you should select one more habit from the recommended habits section below. Don’t overthink it, just pick one that appeals to you, you’ll have the freedom to change it up later on.

2. Do Them First Thing in the Morning

You must perform your morning routine as soon as you wake up! This is non-negotiable.

As we explored above, much of the magic of morning routines comes from the fact that you do them before getting sidetracked by the rest of your day. If you need to wake up 30 minutes earlier, then do it. If you’re running late and you have to shorten the individual habits (e.g. do a shorter meditation or read for only 5 minutes), then do it.

Open your eyes, get out of bed, and get going! Oh, and I also recommend downing a large glass of water before starting habit #1.

3. Tackle Your Biggest Obstacle Directly Afterwards

As soon as you complete your morning routine, you’re going to be in a peak state. This means that you’re going to feel fully energized, focused, and confident. You’re going to feel like a fucking beast!

This is the perfect time to tackle your biggest or most challenging task for the day. Don’t waste time procrastinating, responding to email, or doing some other mindless bullshit. The quality and sheer quantity of work you’ll be able to accomplish will only decline as your day goes on, so take advantage of it.

The Core Habits

Below are two habits that I believe every man should incorporate into his morning routine. Their benefits cannot be ignored.

1. Meditation

Since I’ve began to meditate every morning, I’ve drastically improved my ability to remain present and engaged in everything I do throughout the day. I have more fun, perform better, and worry less. Studies have also shown that meditation lowers blood pressure, improves digestion, enhances your immune system, and even transforms the grey matter in your brain to make you more compassionate and less stressed.

To get started I suggest downloading the Headspace app on your smartphone (also available for your computer) – it offers extremely quick and effective 10 minute guided meditations.

2. Reading

Reading is the gateway to unlimited learning, wisdom, motivation, and creativity. Almost every single successful person credits reading and as an irreplaceable part of their growth and development. I’ve learned about everything from weightlifting and dating to marketing and web design from reading books. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without them.

To get started, buy a book that offers a solution to an issue you’re currently facing or teaches a skill you need to take your life to the next level. I suggest buying Kindle books and reading them on an iPad or Kindle device. If you’re really struggling to find a book you like, check out my books 🙂

Other Recommended Habits

Below are some other habits that you should consider for your morning routine, they each offer some amazing benefits.

1. Cold Shower

I fucking love cold showers. If you’re unsure of which of these habits to pick for your third habit, I suggest this one. Cold showers will wake you up and fill you with energy and determination, not to mention they’ve been proven to release key hormones and neurotransmitters that fight depression and make you feel happy.

To get started, turn on the cold water in your shower and step inside. It will suck, but man up and step in. After a few short seconds it won’t so bad. Now stay in there for at least 1 full minute.

2. Journaling/Daily Review

There are many forms of journaling, but my preferred method is the daily review. In a nutshell, you should answer a few key questions. I recommend using the following 4: what did you do well yesterday? What would you do differently? What are you grateful for? What do you need to get done today?

List out 3-4 items for each question. I use the Grid Diary app to make this quick and painless.

3. Yoga

When I say yoga, I just mean doing a handful of sun salutations, the basic sequence that most yoga practices utilize. The benefits of doing this are getting your body moving, your blood flowing, and your mind focused. It’s essentially a micro-dose of exercise to get your day going.

4. Affirmations

Affirmations are an old school self-help technique where you repeat a positive belief to yourself several times over in hopes of internalizing it. For example, “I love myself,” “I’m going to crush it today,” or something like that. They can make an noticeable impact on your immediate self-esteem and overall mood.

5. Power Posing

The last morning habit I want to cover is power posing. Power posing is when you hold an expansive posture for 60 seconds. For example, standing up with a wide stance and holding your hands overhead in a wide position, as if you just won a race. Power posing has been proven to increase testosterone, decrease cortisol, and make people report feeling immediately more confident and self-assured.

Some Closing Thoughts…

Start tomorrow morning! Make the commitment to yourself and see it through. Not only will it make you feel unstoppable on a daily basis, but it will also build long-term trust and confidence in yourself and your ability to make real changes in your life.

I suggest experimenting with your routine every few weeks. Switch out a habit if you’re not feeling the benefits. Add a fourth habit in if you’re ready for it. After a while you’ll have a stable morning routine that works great for YOU.

To see a quick video I made of a myself demonstrating a sample morning routine, click here.