7 Morning Habits Of Highly Successful People

For the last five years, I have envied people who could, or had to, wake up early. That is because I was in a job with rotational shifts. Each shift lasted for three weeks. So, I lacked a circadian rhythm for five years.

FIVE WHOLE YEARS!

I’d hear friends cribbing about how they had to wake up early and head to work and it would kill me inside. Studies suggest that those who sleep early report lower levels of depression and stress. Waking up early in the morning improves attention and recall ability. This probably explains why I was irritable, stressed and kept forgetting things that happened on the same day. Which made me more irritable.

Highly successful people rely on morning routines to get going for the day ahead. Entrepreneurs, politicians, athletes all have a certain set of habits they follow in the morning to start their day in a productive and focused way.

These seven morning habits of highly successful people will help you set the tone for your day so you can achieve greater focus, clarity, and productivity.

1. Wake up early

There has to actually be a morning in your life for your morning habits to begin with. And while you don’t necessarily have to wake up at 5 a.m. (Robin Sharma would disagree, if he knows that I even exist), try waking by 6.30 a.m.

A verse from the Ayurvedic text Ashtanga Hridayam Sutrasthana says that ‘brahma-muhūrte uttiṣṭhet svāsthyam ārogyam icchet’ which translates to ‘One should wake up at Brahma Muhurta (approximately 1.5 hours before sunrise) to attain and maintain good health and well-being.’

The early morning light improves your immune system, metabolism, and focus. It prepares the body for sleep and supports your overall mental health.

2. Drink water

This might seem a no-brainer, but it is absolutely essential.

When you first wake up, your stomach is empty, and you are dehydrated. Drinking water in the morning helps your body recover from its nightly dehydration.

Drinking water helps clear morning brain-fog. It kick-starts your metabolism. It is also good for your skin. And who doesn’t want great skin? In fact, keep drinking water at regular intervals throughout the day. Hydration is cool!

3. Move your body

World record holder Wim Hof, also known as ‘The Iceman,’ says that our first action after waking up is to do 20 push-ups. This is to get your blood pumping and get your brain running.

Get out of your home. Get some sunlight. Walk, jog, run, jump rope, do what it takes to get your blood flowing.

Your brain produces endorphins or ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitters when you exercise. It is one cause behind runner’s high or that ecstatic feeling after finishing a good workout. This guarantees a good day for you.

4. Practice mindfulness

What’s the first thing we do when we wake up?

It’s reaching for our phones.

In this hyper-connected world, we feel left out if we do not check our messages, mails and Instagram feed first thing in the morning. We want to know what is going on in the outside world. This is a new form of addiction.

Instead, sit down straight, close your eyes, and just count your breath. Do this after your morning movement session. You will spend the rest of the day dealing with the outside world. Take some time to listen to yourself for 15 minutes. Quieten your monkey mind before the world can rile it up again.

5. Eat a healthy breakfast

You’ve got a good number of fad diets going around. Keto diet, carnivore diet, intermittent fasting (not exactly a diet), but my advice to you is this. Eat a high fibre, low fat, nutrient-rich breakfast. Studies have shown that ingested calories are apparently utilised more efficiently in the morning.

I eat a bowl full of oats, chia seeds and almonds mixed with yogurt or curd every day. I’ve been told that this is a ‘western’ breakfast, but I don’t care. It has a lot of fibre, can keep you satiated for a long time and is light on your pocket as well. Even if you do want to eat an ‘Indian’ breakfast, ditch your oil-fried pooris or chole bhature that will make you sluggish for the rest of the day and eat idlis and upma (yes, upma!) instead.

6. Write

This is where you check your messages, mails, and news. And after you’ve read them through, start writing.

And no, I’m not telling you to ‘write about how amazing it is to be alive’ or ‘practice gratitude’. Write about things going on in your head. Write on Twitter. Reply to your mails. Write your schedule for the day. Add another page in your incomplete novel. Write what you hate about this world.

This can be a cathartic experience. You can’t force yourself to be positive every morning. But you can develop the mental fortitude to understand and accept such thoughts and not act upon them.

7. Try and take a cold shower

You see how I’ve asked you to ‘try’ and not make it mandatory? The very thought of a cold shower in the morning can send a chill down your spine. But cold showers sure do feel nice. It’ll take time. You’ll hate yourself and you’ll hate the one advising you (me, in this case), but your body will thank you for it in the long run.

The shock of cold water triggers a rush of adrenaline, increasing your heart rate and oxygen intake. This makes you alert. Dealing with the discomfort of cold showers helps build resilience and willpower. I have also noticed better resistance to diseases after I started taking regular cold showers.

While these are the habits of successful people, the most important aspect of the habits is their implementation.

You need to cultivate a mindset and discipline yourself to continue with these habits, even if you don’t like them.

Also, don’t overdo them. Don’t beat yourself up if you missed one day of exercise. Or had an early morning meeting and could not practice mindfulness.

Try to evaluate yourself against the goals you’ve set. Make sure you are pushing yourself just enough to take you one step closer to the destination. And don’t forget to enjoy the journey.