1 - Make my Bed (10 secs)
Now this sounds silly, because if like me you were a messy teenager you never made your bed and it was a constant source of conflict with your mum. However I have discovered that when I make my bed each morning I will feel an intense sense of pride and achievement. This provides me with a number of benefits. The first being, Consistency, no matter how bad a day is going to be I know walking out my door in the morning I have already reached one of my goals for the day. This means to me that once I am challenge I am already a leg up on whatever is confronting me. The truth of life is there are a number of things you can control and things you cannot control. So at the end of a particularly bad day where everything out of my control went wrong I still have a sense of hanging on because what I can control (making my bed etc) I had some success.
Yes I put 10 seconds down, this is because although I like to make my bed I don't go over the top. I simply pull up my sheet and duvet and make sure the pillows are at the top of the bed.
2 - Meditate (20 mins)
This is a step that took me sometime to come around to. Studying science for years I was alway very skeptical of the practice. Now the reason I stuck at it was because every successful individual I learnt from whether in person or through research I discovered that nearly all of them had some sort of meditation. Meditation is a workout for your brain just like going to the gym to condition your muscles. I found the best way to get into meditation is to use a pre-recorded guided medication, Youtube has limitless examples or even using apps on your smartphone (I like to use headspace). I only meditate 20 mins in the morning. But I have found that it is the minimum I need to make an impact on my day. I manage stress and maintain concentration at higher levels on days I meditate.
3 - Drink Tea (10 mins)
This is my most enjoyable part of my mornings. Now I don't drink coffee, thanks to a family trait (thanks Dad) I have a small tremor in my hands. When I drink coffee it makes it about 10x worse. Now I started with the classic english tea. After some research I have no expanded my range of tea. After ready the 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss I moved to Pu-erh Tea, not as simple as a tea bag but I have felt some advantages to the extra effort. At the moment I have made the move to Green Tea, this tradition tea has a large amount of caffeine which unlike coffee is released slower and has little no effect on my tremor. Also if I am feeling under the weather I will add a slight bit of ginger to help me fight of the germs.
4 - My Journal (5 mins)
Each morning I sit down to make an entry into my Five Minute Journal. This is the simplest way I found to be consistent in my writing. I find that this ensures that I am improving my well-being and happiness. It gives me a real sense of achievement, and because I have a written record it provides me with actual quantifiable results. It also give me a huge feeling of gratification which leaves me feeling incredibly positive.
You can pick up your own copy here.
https://www.amazon.com/Five-Minute-Journal-Happier-Minutes/dp/0991846206?ie=UTF8&tag=offsitoftimfe-20
5 - Avoid the News (on my commute)
I often ride my bike into the city for work or catch the train in. After I have completed my first 4 morning rituals I am feeling positive and driven. I work in insurance and a positive mindset is important to a successful day. So although I don't agree with being ignorant of what is going on in the world, I do avoid the newspapers, news websites and the radio stations. Most news is depressing. Don't think I ignore or don't keep up with current news. I will wait until the evenings, and if something is important I can always rely on my educated and informed friends to let me know what is going on.