I’m writing this at 6:00AM – and I’m loving it.
For many years now I have been ranting about getting up early to jump start your morning. Sometimes I see my audience nod in agreement, sometimes they give me that yeah-right-skinny-guy look, and sometimes they just laugh.
But I know if they also joined the Morning Club they would be hooked.
The idea is pretty simple. Get up early (maybe even really early) and get work done work. It could be reading, writing, meditation, or exercise. I like to do the things I know I won’t get done any other time of day.
How to join the Morning Club
The best way to join the Morning Club is with a routine. It took me a while to perfect mine, but now I count on it every day that I’m at home. Here is my Morning Club routine:
5:00 roll out of bed. Drink tall glass of water and stretch while water boils. Make a big mug of D.F. Culver tea (a wicked concoction my Dad created some 40 years ago that I order from the same tea house he used).
5:10 open up the project I’m going to work on. This might be a mind map for a new blog post or keynote presentation I am working on, a draft proposal, or show notes to a podcast. I prefer to work on projects that are already started.
7:00 stand up (see below, this is very important).
7:05 Out the door with my dog, Riley for a fast walk
7:45 Feed Riley, head to basement for 15 minute strength training workout
8:00 Eat, shave, shower and all that stuff. Breakfast with family.
8:45 Out the door to drop one daughter off at school
9:10 In my office. 10 minutes to check email, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+
9:20 – 10:30 This is when I do all the hard work for the day. No email, no social media, just client calls, proposals, and work that makes me money.
But, maybe I’m just insane
By now you are either thinking I grew up on a military base, or I’m just insane (or both). But, there is method to my madness. My Morning Club (you can join anytime) is designed to do three very important things:
1) get work done (mostly creative writing) that I literally cannot get done any other time of day
2) provide for consistent exercise (not just when I feel like it)
3) put me in control
I am convinced that the most successful people (however you want to measure “success”) continually make decisions to help them regain control over their day. They say “No” to opportunities that don’t meet their goals, they constantly review their goals and measure their success, they choose who they associate with (and who they don’t), and they are disciplined about their time. Successful people know time is their ultimate commodity and they are not about to waste it. [Tweet this out!]
Best of all, I get control
My Morning Club (you are ready to join, aren’t you?) puts me in control. Sure, it’s regimented, and bit crazy, but it works. When I arrive at my office I feel fantastic. I have finished a big piece of work that will add value to my followers and clients and I have kept a series of small promises with myself. That’s huge.
A couple of tips for creating your own Morning Club
- create a routine. It will take a few weeks to perfect this, but a routine you repeat is much, much better than some ad hoc bunch of activities you make up each day. Avoid decision-making fatigue and create a routine.
- keep your promises. If your plan is to switch from writing, or reading, or whatever at 7:00AM, like I do, DO IT. Don’t wait even another minute. Procrastination loves to find a crack in your armour and expand it. When the time you planned to stop rolls around stand up, don’t wait, and go to the next activity.
- notice the results. If you are a fan of the science of habits, like I am, then you know how important rewards are. The biggest reward I get from my Morning Club routine is the satisfaction of sticking to my plan. It’s no different than going to the gym, making that sales call, or doing your taxes on time, when we stick to our plan we teach our sub-conscious that we are promise-keepers. And that’s huge.
To apply to my Morning Club click here (admission is free, but you have to keep your promises).
Hugh,
While I’m glad the morning routine is working for you, I sincerely hope that your readers focus on the idea of having a routine and being disciplined about their work and NOT on joining the Morning Club. This kind of ‘get up early and get things done’ message creates a great deal of pressure and guilt for night owl types who simply cannot be creative early in the morning. But they take these messages to heart, struggle to get up early and end up with depression and high levels of fatigue. The message really should be ‘know your best time’ and ‘organize your work around your best time.’
Secondly, the quote about time as a commodity and ‘wasting time’ is what has made us into a sleep deprived society. Again, though I’m glad getting up early works for you, people who force themselves to get up at 5 a.m. because they think it is more important to exercise or get to work are depriving themselves of the physical, cognitive and emotional benefits of sleep. I understand everyone has a long ‘to-do’ list, but depriving oneself of sleep is not the healthiest or most productive strategy for accomplishing the list.
Thanks Carolyn. I actually agree with you. What I am promoting is changing both sleep patterns and waking patterns to get more from the day. I’ve now asked over 20,000 people as a keynoter and most everyone in my audiences admits to wanting to change their sleep/waking routines. Of course, some people are night owls, while some are morning people. I get that. The trick to keep looking at your patterns and looking for better ways to get the most from your minutes. For me, it’s about maximizing the morning. “Results may vary” as they say on the TV ads! Thanks for the comment.
I know this is well past a timely answer, but I just found this blog.
Thank you, Carolyn. It’s just as quiet and just as conducive to creative work late at night as it is in the early morning. If that’s when your creative brain wakes up, that’s when you should work on creative work.
A story to illustrate why I refuse to try to force myself to get up early. I’ve been my mom’s main caregiver for about a year. Her illness means that she gets the EMTs every so often. We live in a smallish town, so they’ve gotten to know us a little. The latest episode was between 4 and 5 am. The EMT knew from previous conversations that I have Type 2 diabetes and he told me to check my blood sugar level because I wasn’t as sharp as he was used to seeing me. I told him I would, and I did. My sugar levels were fine. It was just my usual super early morning sleepy brain. I am totally hopeless in the early morning. My husband won’t let me cook breakfast. I would never try to do anything creative before 10 am. So, I agree that the key is finding your particular best time and make a promise to yourself to set aside that time for your creative work.
I am looking forward to earning my “Morning Club” badge! Not quite there yet, but working on it!
5:44am Day 1: enjoying a delicious DF Culver tea, while making an immune buster herbal concoction to kick this cold in its butt. Time will only show if mornings will work for me or not, always dreamed to be that morning person who can be out walking the wilderness with no one around, or getting things done while others are still dreaming. If so, rule number one: Go to be earlier!
Nice one Sarah – yes there is no doubt I had to hit the sack earlier than I wanted (thank you Lee Child) or it all falls apart! Time for another Culver City Salad for this lad.