I was a guest on a podcast recently and I was asked, 'What do you do that gives you life? What do you do that fills up your tank so that you can pour out the others around you?' I knew exactly what my answer was but after giving it and reflecting on it, I thought it may be valuable to others.
If you take a minute to reflect on your best ideas, habits, and routines you probably picked up the large majority of them from other people. You admired these people, were in a position to observe or learn from these people and they shared something that really resonated with you. As a result, you took the idea. Someone told me once that the best ideas are always stolen.
With that in mind, here's my intentional morning routine. It gives me life and fills up my tank because it is focused on contemplation, digestion, and exercising important areas of my life. Monday - Friday. Almost without exception, every Monday - Friday. Never miss, right? Maybe a quick glance at this will help you solidify an important habit, routine, or action in your life that you need to prioritize. Why would seeing this be important? Because...
LIVING IN THE INFORMATION AGE MAKES THIS CRITICAL! We live in a day and age of great consumption and connection but very little contemplation, digestion, or exercise. We consume 75 times more information each day than a generation ago. To put that in perspective, my father read the newspaper each day when I was growing up. I read the equivalent of 75 newspapers today. Our phones and the internet have allowed us continual connection with every friend and family member we've ever had, every colleague we've every worked with, and even people we've never actually met in person. I have professional friends who I've met through social media, interact with regularly, and have never actually seen them in person! We consume and connect all of the time. There are two problems with so much consumption and connection. First, we weren't designed to process the opinions of thousands of people. Have you ever seen a before and after picture of a U.S. President's first day in office and his last? It looks like he has aged in dog years. Part of the wear and tear of the presidency of dealing with the opinions of the masses. In some ways, this is all of us in the information age.
If you take a minute to reflect on your best ideas, habits, and routines you probably picked up the large majority of them from other people. You admired these people, were in a position to observe or learn from these people and they shared something that really resonated with you. As a result, you took the idea. Someone told me once that the best ideas are always stolen.
With that in mind, here's my intentional morning routine. It gives me life and fills up my tank because it is focused on contemplation, digestion, and exercising important areas of my life. Monday - Friday. Almost without exception, every Monday - Friday. Never miss, right? Maybe a quick glance at this will help you solidify an important habit, routine, or action in your life that you need to prioritize. Why would seeing this be important? Because...
LIVING IN THE INFORMATION AGE MAKES THIS CRITICAL! We live in a day and age of great consumption and connection but very little contemplation, digestion, or exercise. We consume 75 times more information each day than a generation ago. To put that in perspective, my father read the newspaper each day when I was growing up. I read the equivalent of 75 newspapers today. Our phones and the internet have allowed us continual connection with every friend and family member we've ever had, every colleague we've every worked with, and even people we've never actually met in person. I have professional friends who I've met through social media, interact with regularly, and have never actually seen them in person! We consume and connect all of the time. There are two problems with so much consumption and connection. First, we weren't designed to process the opinions of thousands of people. Have you ever seen a before and after picture of a U.S. President's first day in office and his last? It looks like he has aged in dog years. Part of the wear and tear of the presidency of dealing with the opinions of the masses. In some ways, this is all of us in the information age.
The second problem is we rarely contemplate. We rarely digest. We rarely exercise. In most instances contemplation, digestion, and exercise require us to disconnect and hit pause on consumption. Imagine if you ate more than you've ever eaten but never allowed your body to digest or never burned those calories you consumed. You'd be a mess!! That's kind of how we live mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in the information age. We are holistic beings which means health in one area of life influences every other area of our lives and vice versa. It is critical that we have habits that allow us to spend energy contemplating, digesting, and exercising in every area of our lives.
Note: the hours of the morning or evening, or how long you spend contemplating-digesting-exercising are not the most important part. What's important is identifying the best time of day for you, the actions that you believe bring the biggest return on your investment of time and energy, and how long you think you should spend doing them. I provide a lot of detail on my morning, not to impress, but to just give a possible framework that might work for someone else. My routine has also evolved over two decades and I think it will continue to evolve.
FIRST HOUR OF THE DAY
Get up. I have had great success and great struggle throughout my adult life with the alarm clock snooze button. About two years ago, I was in a deep time of struggle with the snooze so I moved my phone to the bathroom next to my bedroom. When the alarm went off, I had to put my feet on the floor to go turn it off. The 10 steps to the bathroom are just enough time for me to talk to myself about getting up rather than listen to myself about going back to bed.
COFFEE! Read, write, pray, think.
Work out and clean up. My commitment to the value of morning routines was actually birthed around my athletic career. I played multiple sports in high school but basketball was always my favorite so in order to keep working on my basketball skills I had to get up before school and do it. The afternoons and evenings were reserved for practices of whatever sport was in-season and homework. Getting up early to work on my skills continued throughout my college career. After college I focused my energy into strength training early in the mornings and 20 years later I'm still waking up...
Note: the hours of the morning or evening, or how long you spend contemplating-digesting-exercising are not the most important part. What's important is identifying the best time of day for you, the actions that you believe bring the biggest return on your investment of time and energy, and how long you think you should spend doing them. I provide a lot of detail on my morning, not to impress, but to just give a possible framework that might work for someone else. My routine has also evolved over two decades and I think it will continue to evolve.
FIRST HOUR OF THE DAY
Get up. I have had great success and great struggle throughout my adult life with the alarm clock snooze button. About two years ago, I was in a deep time of struggle with the snooze so I moved my phone to the bathroom next to my bedroom. When the alarm went off, I had to put my feet on the floor to go turn it off. The 10 steps to the bathroom are just enough time for me to talk to myself about getting up rather than listen to myself about going back to bed.
COFFEE! Read, write, pray, think.
- I read three items each morning: the Bible, a book that helps me think through the Bible, and a book on a topic that I find is foundational to life. Topics such as habit development, leadership, or difficult conversations would be good examples.
- I write down things that are coming to my mind as I'm reading. I wouldn't call this full-blown journaling because I don't really write coherently. It's more like mentally puking on paper. I do this for two reasons. 1) It's important to me to practice awareness of how I'm reacting to what I'm reading. 2) There's great research indicating that writing (not typing) is a great way to learn and process concepts.
- I pray and think. The Bible teaches we can communicate with God through prayer and it is one of the ways He communicates with us. I keep a notebook and set up a list of prayer items each month. At the start of a month, I start a new page. Gradually, as life unfolds that month more notes and items are added. It is not a grocery list so much as it is a way to keep my eyes up on what's happening in my life and discuss it with God. This causes me to think. I also have a section on each page that is just a list of things I'm grateful for. It's a great list. Whenever I review my notebook and look back at past months, my eyes always go to the grateful list. It's magnetic to look back and see all of the wonderful things in my life. This again forces me to think deeply.
Work out and clean up. My commitment to the value of morning routines was actually birthed around my athletic career. I played multiple sports in high school but basketball was always my favorite so in order to keep working on my basketball skills I had to get up before school and do it. The afternoons and evenings were reserved for practices of whatever sport was in-season and homework. Getting up early to work on my skills continued throughout my college career. After college I focused my energy into strength training early in the mornings and 20 years later I'm still waking up...
- Work out. I'm not going to recommend any type of workout. I am going to recommend that you sweat and strain for the purpose of your physical health at least once per day, 5-6 times per week. If you work out but don't sweat or strain, stop it. Start getting after it! If you don't work out, start. And make sure it involves sweat and strain. The endorphins released from that type of effort are life giving. Mood, immune system, sense of satisfaction, and peaceful rest are all increased from sweating and straining. Do. It.
- Clean up. After my workouts, I move around the house just cleaning up. Life is busy. Really, really busy and I often find myself exhausted at the end of the day. Too exhausted to put something away. However, putting things away in the morning sets a tone of self-direction for the day that I find life giving. Making my bed, hanging up a few items, and loading the dishwasher are ways that I just pause, focus, and do something intentional early in the day. It's amazing how the domino effect is a more productive day.
Keep on, keeping on, friends!
‘Bite Down and Don’t Let Go’ is a collection of writings on being intentional about life in a way that produces great persistence. Read about it more here.
Dr. Chris Hobbs is an educational leader with more than two decades of experience. He’s earned a few degrees and won some awards. He’s happily married to his high school sweetheart and they have three teen age children. Life is messy and complicated most of the time. You can follow him on Twitter for all sorts of inspirational thoughts and good laughs.
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