Over my many years in business, I have always made it a priority to closely observe others for what I might learn. One of the more valuable topics I paid particular attention to was their morning habits.
To give you some quick context, they’ve worked at companies like Box, Kaiser, VMware, Optimizely, Cisco, Deutsche Bank or they’ve started their own companies.
They’re also mostly funny, caring, smart and thoughtful. So I would consider them to be well-balanced.
Here are my top morning habits:
Keep moving forward
A quote from Walt Disney: “Around here…we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things.” He was able to get through difficult times by always having something in the future to look forward to, even if it was just a small thing like a new comic book or a football game.
“This mentality includes staying in a forward-thinking state of mind. I try hard not to waste energy feeling badly about myself aid, because when I do I get stuck in a paradox where there is no room for happiness or any other emotion.”
Be OK with what you can’t do, because there is so much you CAN do.
Walt said he is very much aware of the things he can’t do, like ride a roller coaster, but instead of focusing on that he instead focuses on the things he can do, and the things he is passionate about. He said you can put some things that were impossible or out of reach before in the “can-do category” by making adjustments. To illustrate this point with an example he plays a clip of himself with the marching band, the story he opened with, which further illuminates his theme or his core message.
15 minutes of no screen time
Besides turning off an alarm that might be on your phone, resist the urge to check your email or social media. It sets you up for a day of being enslaved to technology, and your morning time should be reserved just for you. This might mean disabling notifications on your home screen so you’re not tempted by that Facebook update or mounting emails.
One simple question
In a commencement address he gave at Stanford back in 2005, Steve Jobs revealed the motivational tactic that he used to start each and every day.
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”
And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Goals and Review
You want to make sure you set your goals and outcomes for the day as part of your morning ritual. You can do this in your task management system, or in a journal entry, or however you like. There is the assumption that you have longer-term goals written out already (go ahead and write them if you don’t).
To do this, you want to reference:
- Your goals.
- Your schedule for the day.
- Your task management system.
It may also be worth creating a small outline for what your day is going to look like.
They’re crushing it on commutes
While everyone else is taking a nap on the train or twiddling their thumbs, they’re crushing it on their laptop and changing the world, one letter at a time. They also don’t make excuses. For example: “Nelson, how could I do this? I have to drive to work, I can’t create something while I’m driving!” Sure, that’s true, but you could be learning with audiobooks.
They create motivation by asking “Why?”
Ask yourself the hard questions like “Why am I doing this?” or “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” By the way, that last quote was from Steve Jobs.
Demonstrate positive attitude
Build and maintain a positive mental attitude. Do things to let it be seen and felt by others. It’s often easier to give into cynicism, but those who choose to be positive set themselves up for success and have better reputations.
Maintain patience
The proper timing of your words and acts will give you a big advantage over people who are impatient.
For example: Don’t click send on the email right away — breathe and reread it. The classic example would be getting irate and sending something with hostility.
Much of real happiness is a matter of being aware of what you’re doing while you’re doing it — and enraged people aren’t typically conscious of their actions.
Don’t procrastinate
Procrastination communicates to people that you’re hesitant to take action. This demonstrates the worst form of fear.
Reflect at end of every day
Most of the time, heading out of the office is the time for rehearsing everything that went wrong that day. I recommend also reflecting on what went well. That way you’re not denying that some things went poorly, but you’re getting a richer picture of what happened.
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.