Five Morning Habits Highly Successful People Swear By
What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
Perhaps the most important element of a productive morning is your routine. How you start your day anchors you and ensures you stay focused on what is most important. Although there's not one morning routine that works well for everyone, the most effective rituals share similar key elements. Learning from the best, here's how ultra-successful people utilise the precious first hours of the day that will hopefully inspire your new morning ritual.
They Never Hit The Snooze Button
The one thing successful people with an established morning ritual don’t do is roll over, hit the snooze button and sleep in. Some of the world’s most influential people wake up well ahead of the general population, giving them time to accomplish more within the day. According to a Time profile, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, is known to wake up at 3.45 a.m. every morning to get a head start on emails for an hour before hitting the gym. On the other hand, General Motors CEO Mary Barra is known to be in the office by 6 a.m. according to a New York Times profile.
While you might not need to resort to such drastic changes in your sleep patterns, waking up earlier even if not at an ungodly hour still has proven benefits. Research has shown that not only are early risers more optimistic and conscientious, they also anticipate problems and minimise them more efficiently – all of which are crucial to success in the business world.
They Never Skip Breakfast
Start the day off with a healthy breakfast gives you the energy needed to concentrate more intensely and for longer periods as well as improves your short-term memory. People who skip breakfast tend to overeat at lunch, leading them to a total afternoon crash. For the past 54 years, Warren Buffet has never failed to have Mac Donald’s every morning, choosing either to have a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit sandwich or a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich. On a healthier note, Oprah Winfrey revealed she has her ‘usual’— an egg, toast, and maybe an eighth of an avocado as well as chai tea – in an interview with People.
They Set Daily Goals
Carving a little extra time in the morning toward setting your goals for the day gives you a boost of added calm and clarity to set effective, specific goals. Co-founder and former editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington, reportedly starts each day with yoga and meditation and setting her intentions and goals for the day.
This mindfulness and daily goal setting has also become increasingly popular among highly successful CEOs due to the huge dividends it pays in terms of productivity and overall well-being. Mindfulness fights off stress by reversing the fight-or-flight response, improves your ability to focus, boosts creativity, and increases your emotional intelligence.
They Disconnect
When you wake up and immediately dive straight into e-mails, texts or social media, your morning instantly succumbs to the wants and needs of other people. Instead, take those precious first moments of the day to do something relaxing, which sets a more focused, calm and positive tone for your day. CEO and chairman of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, starts his day with a motivational e-mail to his employees, after this, he disconnects and dedicates his time to exercise and family while Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon avoids morning meetings, preferring to spend quality time having breakfast with his family.
They Exercise
Richard Branson, Tim Cook, and Jack Dorsey all wake up before 6:00 a.m. to get their heart pumping. A spate of research seems to supports the extra effort they spent waking up at the ungodly hour to fit in a workout session. A study conducted at the Eastern Ontario Research Institute found that people who exercised twice a week for 10 weeks felt more competent socially, academically, and athletically. Yet another study conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol found that people who exercised daily had more energy and a more positive outlook.
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