I’ve been playing around with a morning routine, or ritual, for a few weeks now.

Why?

Well, I know of some people who swear by their morning routine. So I thought I’d give it a go. Plus, I know from observing myself that when I’ve had some form of routine in the morning that kick-starts me and focuses me it can help to avoid the admittedly infrequent occasions when I don’t really get started and I end up having one of those unproductive, frustrating days that drive me nuts.

So, a wee while ago I put together my first proper morning routine. It looks like this –

1. Get Up – good start.

Set the alarm and allow myself one press of the “snooze” button. When it goes off a second time I get up. That’s 18 minutes snoozing.

2. Drink – loads.

Descend stairs and drink a large glass of water while the kettle boils. Make coffee.

3. Exercise – so early!

Do 30 minutes of stretching and weights whilst listening to Mahler in my 37^th attempt to get into classical music.

4. Plan The Day – it’s not the plan that matters, it’s the planning (General MacArthur).

Most of what I need to do is already in the diary: client facing time; high-payoff activities. But I just make sure I am absolutely clear what else I must do before the working day is over.

5. Eat – full English!

You must be joking. I’m talking protein shake. I love eating but this is not part of the love. It is a system reboot. Just do it.

6. Get presentable – you may get run over.

Shower/dress etc.

That’s it. Fifty to sixty minutes all in.

It covers the bases –

• Physical – exercise is great and eating is good.
• Mental – planning the day is good for the psyche.
• Emotional – the major emotional component is also the exercise. I cannot tell you how relieved I am after doing thirty reps of the trunk twist while lying on my back with my knees in the air, clutching a 6kg medicine ball between the aforementioned knees. I have dropped the ball once. That will not happen again. Plus, with the exercise I’m wired on endorphins (and Guatemalan coffee).

Keeping to the routine was a bit hard for the first two weeks. As always, I overdid it and tried to stick to it for 7 days/week. Now it’s 5 days/week – the working days. I do get up earlier so that I can have it done by 8/830-ish. Now it’s been about three weeks and it is still a wee bit hard but getting easier.

I am aware that it takes about twenty to thirty days to establish a habit but once you have the habit things get easier. You make your habits and then your habits make you. (Many people claim to have coined this phrase but the first guy was my main man Aristotle).

So, has this been worthwhile?

A resounding “yes!” to that:

I think the key is the exercise. It stretches my muscles and kick-starts my system. And equally importantly, exercise also touches me emotionally – it just lifts me. It makes me happy. Endorphins. So the exercise is a big, big plus.

Eating is also good. I have never, ever felt hungry in the morning so the great temptation is to skip breakfast. But when I actually eat breakfast (especially a protein shake) it’s like a massive switch inside me has been slammed into the ON position.

And finally, despite invariably having my day filled with high-payoff activities, it is good just to spend ten minutes really, really defining what tasks I must do today and I will not stop until they are done. Never start the day until you have finished the day on paper (as Jim Rohn said. Aristotle would have liked Jim).

I still resist the discipline of the morning ritual but I am beginning to love it and it has huge benefits.

I guess I’m about twenty days in now. It takes thirty days to make a habit. So if I persevere for another ten days or so my morning routine will become a habit that I will have made and then I can allow the habit to make me…

This week’s Pearl of Leadership Wisdom is on….

Procrastination – Part 1 – Causes of

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them” – Aristotle

I’ll just…

I’ll just make sure this email’s gone, first…I’ll just make a quick coffee, first…I’ll just return that phone call to my friend/Mum/new girl in accounts with the swimming pool-blue eyes…I’ll just have another fag, first…Oh! Is that the time? See you tomorrow.

Procrastination, the curse of the nation…

Why do we do it? Or, more accurately, why do we not do it? Why do we procrastinate? Maybe you don’t, in which case I imagine you are so successful that one of your PAs is reading this for you, and is now reaching for the delete button because he/she knows this is not relevant for you.

I’m busy! I can’t be a procrastinator…

Busy doing what? Running around doing exactly what you want, when you want, in the way you want…I’ve seen pretend busy done at expert level in every organisation I’ve ever worked in.

I’m as successful as I want to be…

I’m happy…I’m not ambitious….really? Good for you. For some, yes. For most, I don’t believe you. It’s more like simply accepting your lot. Coming to terms with your situation. Things are “OK”. Your life is…“OK”. This is called complacency.

Fear…

… of failure, of success. Whatever you can think of…someone’s fearful of it. Or more accurately, has failed to manage this emotion effectively.

I really don’t feel like it…

Oh diddums. I was listening to Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour the other day, as you do, and there were some ideologically pure feminists on…you know the type of person – educated but stupid. Who needs to think when they’ve got an ideology? Basically their argument was that having sex with your partner when you don’t feel like it is a form of rape. They didn’t say “rape”, but that’s what they meant. Girls!!! Get a grip. Do it until you feel like it….don’t wait to feel like it. (Some of my male friends have told me that they have sometimes pleasured their partner when they’d much rather be doing something else, or maybe it was…much rather be doing someone else. I’ll check.)

Which type of procrastinator are you?

Next week – how to overcome procrastination – this huge limitation that keeps your future just there – in your future.

Mark

This week’s Pearl of Leadership Wisdom is on…….

Excellence

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
- Aristotle

We are creatures of habit. Habit is powerful and is a great force for good….or bad. Success is measured by the extent to which we reach our goals. That, in turn is determined by what we do…….our behaviours. Behaviours are driven by our attitudes. And our attitudes are HABITS of thought. It’s worth saying that again……our attitudes are HABITS of thought.

We can form habits for the good……..set goals, do all the things we need to do to achieve our goals, develop internal motivation, determination, a winning attitude, and take MASSIVE ACTION…….

Or, we can form bad habits…….don’t set goals or set poor ones, don’t do what we need to do to be successful, or do too little, allow external forces to motivate us, give up too easily, settle for mediocrity and take only MODEST ACTION.

This is our choice. In time, each leads to radically different outcomes.

Psychologists have shown that most habits can be broken and replaced by new ones in only 21 days. Three weeks of discipline and then the habit takes care of itself. A good habit is no more difficult to maintain than a bad habit. Only 21 days to choose a better road to travel. And today is day 1……

Next week…..Goal Setting.

Setting goals is simple. Achieving them can be harder. Learn how to set goals to ensure success……it’s much more than simply being S.M.A.R.T.