I am always trying to improve my life, in big areas, small areas, and on the fringes. So how about the first 10 minutes of each day? The start of each day begins when the first alarm goes off.
Jumpstart your day by trying some of these tips from Nick Miraritis:
- Distance your phone from yourself and bed—put it in another room.
- Avoid pushing the snooze button by getting up to shut off the alarm.
- Wake up to a tune that sets the tone for your day.
- Hydrate immediately to refuel your body.
- Exclusively focus on the two most important tasks for that day OR get up, go the bathroom, then meditate. Do something to focus your day.
These tricks are simple but powerful. Make your day in the first 10 minutes.
Rule #10 from my book The Fantastic Life: Take the Decision out of the Moment
Morning routines are great in theory but difficult in practice. You may have the best intention to wake up early and meditate, but when the alarm goes off you find yourself hitting snooze over and over again. Prepare ahead, to take the decision out of the moment and guarantee your success.
Rethink the First 10 Minutes of Your Day
By Nick Miaritis
January 29, 2017
There are two types of people in the world. People that hate waking up in the morning and people who don’t. This article is for all you people out there that can’t stand getting out of bed — the snooze abusers, the cover lovers, the “I’ll just tell my boss there was a delay on the train” crowd. I completely understand what it’s like to battle the rising sun, but I am starting to think that how we spend those first 10 minutes of the day has a tremendous impact on how the rest of the day will unfold.
Let’s just think about how crazy the idea of snoozing is for a second. We all know that the day needs to start at a certain time, so we set an alarm to make sure it does. Then, upon hearing said alarm, we deny it the power to wake us and convince ourselves that rolling around a bit more (and maybe getting 10 minutes extra sleep) is somehow going to make us feel better about the fact that waking up is actually happening. Inevitably, we begrudgingly get out of bed, feel like we’ve achieved some sense of a stalemate with our alarm clock and are groggier than we would have been if we had just got up on the first alarm. Starting our day in this state of resistance and dread can definitely carry over into the rest of the day — impacting what we accomplish and how we treat our spouses, co-workers or that poor barista that accidentally forgets to put soy in your latte?
Rather than continue to dread the morning, try the following four tweaks to your routine for a week and see how they make you feel. I’m not promising that you are going to be jumping out of the bed, singing show tunes, but they can make waking up a little less painful. So, here’s what to do…
Step 1: Say Goodnight to Your Phone
Remove your cell phone from your bedroom (or at least put it far enough away from your bed that you have to get up to look at it). Your phone doesn’t need to sleep, but you do. Resist the temptation to have it near you at night and you will immediately reduce your anxiety & FOMO levels (that 99th Instagram post of your friend’s baby will still be there in the morning).
Step 2: Wake Up Music
Your phone is the best alarm clock ever and you are not using it to its full potential. Rather than waking up to some god-awful buzzer or sound effect every single day of your life, set your alarm to a song from your iTunes account. It’s ridiculously easy to do, click here to see how. I have a bunch of different songs that I rotate through, depending on the vibe I want to create for the start of my day. For example, if I have a big day ahead and need to get up and out, my go-to song is “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It’s five minutes and fifty-five seconds of pure awesome and I guarantee you will have a smile on your face by the time you get to the “Scaramouche” part. If you need some inspiration, head over to Spotify and check out their wake up music playlist. No matter what, just make sure to let the song play for at least a minute before turning it off.
Step 3: Drink a Glass of Water
After your wake-up song, immediately put your phone down and resist the urge to start checking email and social media. Instead, go to the kitchen and get a glass of warm water (add lemon if possible). After 8 hours, your body needs water more than it needs Facebook, Email or Pop Tarts.
Step 4: Do Your “Two-do” List
We all have never-ending to-do lists of things to get done every day. Rather than begin your day thinking about the ridiculous amount of stuff going on in your life, spend a few minutes focusing solely on your “two-do” list — the TWO most important things that you are going to make happen that day. Close your eyes and imagine them already done, observe how they will make you feel, how they may make other people in your life feel, etc. Your “two-do” list can consist of anything from cooking dinner for your family, walking 10K steps or crushing a big presentation — all that matters is that you decide what the two things are and let them rise above everything else going on that day.
These are just a few tips for transforming the first ten minutes and priming your mind and body to have a great day. Give them a try. If something doesn’t work for you, tweak it or try something else. Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave some comments below.