3 Morning Routines to Power You Through the Day

I had never been a morning person until nearly 8 years ago when I began anchoring our opening bell program on Bloomberg TV.

Forced to wake up every weekday at 4:30 AM, I stumbled upon the power of being an early riser: You get far more done in the early hours when others are just rustling themselves out of bed. By 7 AM, I had already read 3 newspapers, done my hair and makeup, eaten breakfast, had 2 meetings and so on.

I don’t need to quite wake up so early anymore but I still value the early morning routine. And a lot of other successful people do too. Research shows that mornings is when your willpower is the strongest and fullest. By the end of the day, you’re exhausted and the willpower to do things is depleted.

So what do some of the most successful people do in the mornings to turbocharge their day? Here are some of my favorites:

1. Meditate: It used to be if you meditated you were some sort of hippie but meditation has now caught on as one of the most effective ways to power your brain and life to success. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey famously talked about how he meditates every morning for 30 minutes. Meditation is simply clearing your mind for a span of 10 minutes or more where you bring yourself into the present moment, focusing on your breath and body. Headspace is a popular app that helps beginners learn how to do it.

2. A cold shower. Leadership guru Tony Robbins famously plunges into a cold tub of water every morning to stimulate his muscles and circulation. Others do the same thing but in a shower–before stepping out, turn your knob to the coldest setting and let the icy cold water pelt you for 30 seconds to a minute. The sensation may seem unbearable at first but enveloping your body in icy cold water can instantly lift your spirits and energize your body.

3. Making lists. Very successful people make lists of what they need to do every morning. Some CEOs narrow down the list to the top 3 things they need to do. List making is a tried and true productivity tool that hasn’t changed much in the last few centuries. Benjamin Franklin, one of our founding fathers, has had an ambitious list that still applies today.

Try these morning routines above and see how much more productive and charged up you are. And if you need more tips on how to boost your productivity, watch the time-saving tricks of the CEOs below by Radiate.

 

 

This piece was originally published by INC.