Your decisions early in the morning set the tone for the rest of the day. Our lives are not a compilation of decades or years, or even months or weeks, but days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Every action has an impact and productivity snowballs. 

Starting your day with a run and working on your side hustle will lead you to make better choices later in the day, as opposed to starting your day with an hour of social media. 

Studies show that you are most productive immediately after sleep. You have a window of three hours or so when you're most productive, so it's best to knock out your most important tasks during that time before you're bombarded with life. 

Your morning routine is something that can't be taken away from you, no matter what life throws in your direction. 

Establish a morning routine, and protect it - you'll thank me later. 

1. Start with Why

Waking up early and committing to a morning routine for success is hard. You will likely burn out if you don't know why you're doing it in the first place.

Simon Sinek says “working hard for something we hate is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.”

You need to be passionate about your end goal or it won't happen. Not knowing why you're waking up at the crack of dawn will surely lead to burn out after a few mornings. Conversely, knowing that you're waking up to achieve something makes the early morning routine suddenly much easier. 

What's motivating you to wake up early? You may want to work on your fitness, start a business while working a day job, work on your spirituality, read, etc. 

Defining your goals before creating your morning routine will not only keep you motivated to consistently wake up early (more on that in a bit) but it will also help you plan your mornings properly. 

Once you've identified your goals, write them down and leave notes for yourself on your phone, by your alarm, near your desk, etc. Saying your goals and affirmations twice daily is powerful. 

Napoleon Hill talks about affirmations in Think and Grow Rich, one of the best-selling business books of all time. Telling yourself your goals over and over again will drill them into your subconscious mind, and that's when big things begin to happen. 

Using your conscious mind to influence your subconscious is powerful.

2. Don't Make Big Changes

Remember when I said sticking to a morning routine is hard? Even though having your goals clearly defined makes things a bit easier, consistently waking up early is still going to be difficult. 

That's why you shouldn't start by making huge changes. Going from waking up at 10 AM to 5 AM all in one go surely won't last more than a few mornings. 

I've tried doing that before, and after making such a drastic change, I'm tired the next day, fall asleep early, wake up early, stay up late, sleep late, etc. and the cycle continues. 

Instead, start by making small changes. Set your alarm clock 15-30 minutes earlier each night so you're gradually working towards an early morning wake up, instead of making a drastic change. 

Big changes are hard, and our brains like to take the path of least resistance. That's why people fall into get-rich-quick schemes and like drinking alcohol (easy dopamine). 

James Clear writes about this in his awesome book Atomic Habits. Making your new habit that's supposed to be hard, easy, dramatically increases your chances of success.  

When I wanted to start running in the morning, it was difficult to go from sleeping in to waking up, getting dressed, and running in the cold. Running every day is hard enough, much less every morning. 

Instead of going from 0 to 100, I started small and worked my way up. Instead of making an early morning run my habit, I started by waking up and putting on my running clothes. That was the entire point of the habit.

Next, I'd put on my clothes and my running shoes. After a week or so of that, I'd get dressed, put on my shoes, and walk to the door, then go back inside. Eventually I made it out the door and went for walks in the mornings, until after a month or so, I was running every morning. 

The small changes didn't seem so big when I was doing them, and I was able to gradually become an early morning runner. Now I run 2-3 miles every morning, and I'm working on longer runs.

You can do something similar with your wake up time, and your morning habits. For example, instead of reading for 30 minutes every morning, start with just one page. 

3. Stay Consistent

You need to commit to consistency if you're going to establish a morning routine for success.

According to Healthline, it takes an average of 66 days for a new habit to become routine and natural. Some habits take less time, some take more time - up to 254 days. 

For example, it took me nearly an entire year to make running a normal habit that I actually enjoy. 

Lifting weights was appealing to me since I was 14, but running was the last thing on my mind. Outside of playing sports with friends and gym class, I never ran on my own. 

But when my gym closed in March of 2020, I had nothing else to do but pull ups, pushups, dips, and running. 

It was brutal at first and I only ran for half a mile at a time. But it became a daily habit, and after a year straight of running 5-6 days per week, I've actually grown to enjoy running. Now when I'm stressed out, I choose to go for a run. 

It calms my nerves, gives me energy, and a sense of accomplishment, especially after a 3 mile run (it's pretty good for me).

What's the bottom line here?

It took me nearly a whole year to turn running, something I viewed as a chore, into something that I truly enjoy. The same is true of your morning routine. 

Like everything else in life, you must commit to consistency, or it won't work. 

4. Balance

There are four main areas of self-improvement: Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Spiritual. A balanced morning routine encompasses all of the above. 

Try to balance them in your plan. For example:

• Wake up at 6 AM and read a book for 15 minutes (mental) 
• At 6:20 AM, meditate for 15 minutes (spiritual) 
• At 6:40 AM, go for a 15 minute jog (physical)
• At 7 AM, shower, change, and eat a healthy breakfast (physical). While eating, text someone you love to let them know you're thinking of them (emotional). 

Notice there is buffer time built-in to the plan above. When creating your plan for the morning, attack all four areas of self-improvement! 

5. Plan

Remember, making your new habit as easy as possible is crucial for success. Planning your day ahead of time will make it easier to eliminate distractions and execute your morning routine. 

In the small steps section of this post, I talked about slowly adding a new step into my morning routine, starting with just putting my clothes and shoes on, and eventually ending with three mile runs every morning.

The night before I made a plan to run in the morning, so I left my clothes and shoes out next to my bed the night before. In the mornings when I woke up, my clothes and shoes were right there. I was instantly reminded of my decision to wake up early to run, and everything I needed was laid out right in front of me.

Leaving my clothes out the night before removed a layer of friction between me waking up and going for a run. Rather than having to find my running clothes, they were right there. 

Here are a few things you can do in the morning to plan ahead:

1. Set your alarm across the room so you have to get out of bed to turn it off. Using your phone as your alarm is okay, but if it's in your bed, it's much easier to turn it off and go back to sleep. 

2. Leave your clothes laid out the night before so you can quickly and easily get dressed without having to put much thought into it. 

3. Leave your phone in another room and don't touch it for the first 30-60 minutes of your morning. Rather than getting sucked into social media or the plethora of messages you received overnight, you can use the distraction-free time to focus on what you want to do, not what other people want from you. 

4. Leave some buffer time in your morning routine. You'll probably want to do a few things with the first hour of your morning like read, eat breakfast, workout, meditate, etc. but transitioning between activities won't happen instantly. Leave 5-10 minutes in between each task to account for the time you'll spend getting a drink, using the bathroom, etc. 

5. Leave a shaker cup full of Earlybird on your nightstand so you can drink it first thing in the morning. It hydrates you and gives your brain and body what they need to function at peak performance. EarlyBird is like the cheat code to waking up early and getting things done, even if you're not a morning person.

The Cheat Code to Waking Up Early

EarlyBird was created for people like you who want to wake up early, get sh*t done, and be more successful, but hate waking up early. 

EarlyBird is designed to do one thing and one thing only: help you wake up early and get sh*t done by giving your body and brain everything they need to have a kick-ass day! 

After mixing with water in a shaker cup, EarlyBird makes use of a nootropic blend designed to hydrate you, make you feel good, and deliver fast-acting, long-lasting energy. It's definitely the best energy drink mix on the market. 

Here are some of the ingredients in EarlyBird:  

• Electrolytes: An electrolyte blend that delivers supercharged hydration when your body needs it most
• Ashwagandha: A special, patented form of Ashwagandha (KSM-66) shown to combat that annoying morning brain fog (you know what I mean).
• Theobromine: it's an alkaloid found in chocolate! It gives you that warm and fuzzy feel-good feeling without the sugar
• Spectra™ Mixture: a unique mix of antioxidant fruits & vegetables that lower oxidative stress (makes you feel good).
• L-Theanine: an Amino Acid found in tea leaves that promotes smooth energy and intense focus, all day long
• PurCaf & Infinergy: natural, patented caffeine from green coffee beans gives you a mental jumpstart, without the crash. This caffeine is of high quality, far better than the ingredients used in most energy drinks and even cheap coffee.

With zero sugar or calories and a bunch of ingredients from fruits and vegetables, EarlyBird is THE morning supplement. Simply mix with water in your shaker cup the night before, and leave it on your nightstand before bed.

Unlike Monster and Red Bull, EarlyBird is designed to give your body exactly what it needs most to feel great all day long.

EarlyBird is the best non-carbonated energy drink on the market. It's also an energy drink powder mix, so it's cheaper and more convenient than regular energy drinks. 

In the morning, wake up, shake, and drink. You'll feel better almost instantly! You can even use Early Bird during your night shift.