An odd curiosity of mine over the last few years has been morning routines. Through books and podcasts, I always hear different people, typically quite successful types, describing the habits they begin their days with.

As someone who has never been a morning person, I decided I would try changing up how I start each day. The most difficult part was waking up earlier than normal. But once I solidified the following habits into a daily ritual of sorts, I’ve noticed a significant increase in mood, productivity, energy and focus.

I won’t get into too much detail here, I’ll save that for a future post. In one form or another, this is how I begin my day, typically waking around 3:30 or 4 am.

• Meditation using the ‘Waking Up’ app. 10 – 15 minutes
• Journalling to clear my head and set some daily goals while enjoying a coffee and smoothie. 15 – 20 minutes.
• Sit down to work on writing projects or websites. I break up work every 10 minutes to do simple exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, kettlebell swings, etc., and yoga/stretching every other day. Depending on what time I start my day job that day, this period is 1 – 2 hours.
• Read some non-fiction and eat a simple omelette. 15 – 20 minutes.
• Breathwork and a cold shower. Hyper-oxygenate the blood while shocking the body to life. It’s awful and amazing at the same time.

That’s it. Then I go kick the day in the nuts.