Master Your Morning Routine

Everyone has some sort of morning routine: the way we wake up, leave the bed, take our first steps, and start our day.

The routine can be highly engineered or a random smattering of steps, but it is routine because if it were documented day after day, it would be highly correlated.

Now the question is, does your routine positively contribute to your day, or even without knowing, is it setting you up to fail?

The Miracle Morning

Like myself and many others, Hal Elrod faced an existential crisis in 2008. Amid the financial meltdown, his world crumbled. He lost coaching clients and his house and was in the worst mental, physical, and spiritual shape of his life.

During this time, a friend sent him an audio clip of Jim Rohn saying,  “Your level of success will rarely exceed your level of personal development because success is something you attract by the person you become.”

At that moment, Hal asked himself two questions.  Two questions I encourage you to ask yourself.

The first:  What is my desired level of success on a scale of 1 to 10?  Hal, as I presume you, too, answered 10.  He then went on to consider a second question.

What is my current level of personal development, the daily rituals, routines, and practices I have embraced or structured that will allow me to be the person who can achieve the level of success I desire?

Hal’s answer on the same 1 to 10 scale: 2

Math has been easy for me, and I understand it can be challenging for others.  In my opinion, this isn’t a complex problem to evaluate.

If effort or action is a 2 and the desired result is a 10, I think it seems prudent to assess; that ain’t gonna work!

What Hal did next, I believe, is what set him up to sell over 3 million copies of his resulting work, translate it into 37 languages, and have it practiced in over 100 countries.  He did the work to find a solution.  He studied the world’s most successful people in the areas he wanted to be successful.

SAVERS

From Hal’s research and investigation, he devised six daily practices: meditation, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and journaling.

These six practices aren't revolutionary by themselves, but they unlock something magical in people when completed in concert.

Within 2 months of creating a new daily practice, Hal rebounded in his business and did what most others weren't doing in 2008: earning more money and growing his business.

Eventually, the acronym SAVERS was adopted for this daily practice: Scribing, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, and Reading.

My Daily Routine

Yesterday, during one of the IDL weekly Roundtable sessions, Tony, a member, shared that the greatest value he has received from this newsletter is when I share my practices.

One thing I have learned over the years is that if you don't direct the ship, it will most likely run aground. We don't stumble upon the life we want; it comes from our making, our engineering.

Here is another caveat to that philosophy: accept where you are.  Don't forsake the current challenge or difficulty as punishment; instead, you need the necessary training to get you where you want to go.

It took me years to create my daily routine, and it took changing circumstances and the freedom to practice it daily. At the same time, I fully understand that I am where I am because of the work that I have done.

My day starts at 5 a.m. From here, I drink 25-30 ounces of water (credit: Own the Day, Own Your Life—Aubrey Marcus; based on sourcing this link, I've done this since the summer of 2018). I also include 3 ounces of Isagenix Cleanse for Life, a natural herbal and botanical product designed to help the body detoxify and fight oxidative stress, and an E+ adaptogen shot.

From here, I continue my learning quest. I read from the YouVersion Bible app’s Daily Refresh and Proverbs. The app says I’ve been doing this for 343 weeks, roughly back to the summer of 2018!

I do most of this reading in our sauna, about 15-20 minutes.  This is a practice my friend Justin Roethlingshoefer shared with me last summer.

Another 15-minute block of reading is needed. I read from a daily reader, Catching Whimsey by Bob Goff, and then four more pages from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden.

Not done yet.  I then watch and journal based on Darren Hardy’s Darren Daily.

Now,​​ I get physical. I commute to my garage gym and work out using the FitBod app; here’s what I’ll be doing today.

Finishing all that up is my post-workout protein shake of whey protein, greens, more adaptogens, and colostrum powder.

This is just my start. Add daily chores to care for the steers I raise, and my morning routine takes 2.5 to 3 hours.

I get it.  It's a lot—my encouragement.  Start small.  If you’re not doing anything, drink 25 ounces of water right when you wake up.

One day a week, my schedule looks slightly different when I meet with my inner circle group for a Wednesday Consulting board meeting (my inner circle group meets… on Wednesday!),. I'm out the door at 6:15, and my workout comes later.

I’ve done everything on the SAVERS list except Visualization and Affirmations. Both are a little weird for me. I'm not saying they don't have value, and I wouldn’t get value from them; I just haven't worked them into my routine yet.

Here is the thing about my daily routine: even though most started 6+ years ago, it has varied.  I have added and taken it away.  I've made adjustments to the day and my schedule.  But I get it in.  I get it in because I accept this: to grow as a person, to be better today than I was yesterday and go about today to be better tomorrow, I HAVE TO DO THE WORK.

Nobody will give me the knowledge, experience, and wisdom I need to reach my aspirations.

I also believe this: I must do the work on my own, but I don’t have to do it alone.

Community

The hardest part of making and embracing changes is doing it alone.  Having the support and encouragement that the changes you seek will result from your actions.

I hope this community can provide the encouragement and support you need to become the person and, ultimately, the leader you and those around you deserve to be.

The Roundtable

Before I close this message and our time today, I invite you to do more within the Impact Driven Leader Community. 

It's an invitation for you to build connections with like-minded people and enhance relationships.

When discussing the value of the Roundtable with several alumni members this last week, they shared such things as, “It's a place where I can come, be heard, hear from others, share my challenges and know that I will gain perspective and encouragement to lead with more confidence and connection.”

The Impact Driven Leader Roundtable was started in 2021 to provide a place, space, and community for people to learn and grow together as leaders.  

I invite you to learn more about The Roundtable and build the relationships that will help you become the leader you and those around you deserve. 

This group meets weekly from February through November via Zoom. In the first year, we focus on the Awaken the Leader Within course, where we identify how to Awaken, Grow, and Lead.

Applications to join for 2025 are now open.

Did you catch this podcast? If not, listen to it here.