For you who wants to start better and be better.
Do you relate to this?
You hear an alarm going off. That is your phone waking you up at 7 in the morning. “Yet another exhausting workday…” You murmur to yourself and hit the snooze button. “I have it until 7: 40 if I skip breakfast…” You quickly fall asleep and wake up again by the alarm, feeling annoyed. So you hit snooze another time. At 7:30 you are finally up, checking emails, swiping Instagram feeds, and watching a short YouTube video. Before you know it, it’s already 7:45. “Shoot, I better run”
If that is how you start your day, you are not alone.
When I came across Mel Robbins, a best-selling author and motivational speaker, who said motivation is garbage on Impact Theory, I found her morning routine provokingly minimal. That is probably why it is so effective, evident by many readers' and viewers' of hers.
The Million Dollar Morning
Consider this alternative morning routine.
You hear an alarm going off at 7 am in the morning. “Oh shit, the phone is in the bathroom…” Still feeling tired, you know you have to get up and go shot it off. So you climb out of your bed, reach the bathroom, and turn off the alarm. You put your phone down, backside up, and tell yourself “This is my quiet time”, “No notifications or anything can interrupt me.” When you brew your coffee and make yourself breakfast, you let your mind wander, and ask yourself this question,
“What is one thing that I can do to make progress today?”
You resist thinking about jobs and other people and focus on what inspires you. You remind yourself again why progress towards this particular goal matters so much to you. In this moment of relaxed reflection, an interesting thought come to and you quickly write it down. “Hey, that might work!” You are now excited and cannot wait to try it. Now, it’s almost 7:30 and you need to get going. Before stepping into a day full of challenges and obstacles, you want to prepare yourself for the last bit. So, you ask yourself a second question,
“What’s the minimum time I need to complete my one thing today?”
A gut feeling responds quickly, “Three hours is sufficient, but what I really need is probably two and a half.“ You simply accept the challenge, “I will make that happen and quit at deadline no matter what.”
Five simple steps
Mel Robbins’ advice for the genius in you in the Million Dollar Morning consists of 5 parts:
1. Geniuses don’t sleep with their phone
—Do yourself a favor and put the disturbance away.
2. Geniuses let their mind wander
— Let your right brain work to connect the dots for you, relaxed.
3. Geniuses make daily progress, not to-do lists
— What is your one thing today?
4. Geniuses take 30 before 7:30
— Have 30 minutes of quiet time for yourself
5. Geniuses always quit
— At what time will you finish your one thing? Save time for other things.
What do you think of this routine? Will you try to implement it? What’s the result?
View the original videos by Mel Robbins here.
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