Do you feel that you can never quite focus throughout your day?
Always feel like work piles on as you react to what everyone wants you to do?
It may just be because you are not using your mornings wisely.
At least that has been the case with me. Before I got serious about my morning routine, it was spent rushing around and racing out the door.
I’d finally get to work but my brain was so frazzled from a stressful morning that I was never able to focus.
I think everyone needs to develop a healthy morning routine that works for them.
Tim Sanders, in his new book “Today We Are Rich” inspired me in his chapter called “Feed Your Mind Good Stuff”. He talks about a healthy breakfast for our minds.
The opening moments of your day set the course for the rest. I’m convinced that a creative person will always struggle if they don’t take control of their mornings.
What NOT to do
Don’t start your day reacting. Start your day creating.
Don’t start your day worrying. Start your day worshiping.
I avoid Twitter. I refuse to open my email. I don’t turn on the news. I avoid hurry. The morning hours are so important to the success of the rest of the day.
Besides some fantastic coffee (essential, might I add), there are three things I like to do in the morning:
- Listening
- Creating
- Learning
Listening
Before I do anything, I want to spend time with Jesus. I call it listening because it’s not just a matter of consuming Scripture, it’s a matter of listening to His voice. As I read Scripture, I want to hear what God is saying to me.
As I pray, I want to hear the voice of God.
I wonder if my generation has lost the art of listening to God. We are always on the clock – always plugged in. But we can’t forsake the discipline of personal worship. Listening everyday helps me keep God at the center of my life.
What could this involve?
- Reading Scripture
- Memorizing Scripture
- Praying
- Worshiping
- Sitting in silence
- Listening to instrumental or worship music
Creating
Before I start reacting to the demands of the day, I want to create. For me, that is writing for this blog. I want to release change in to the world. I want to influence people’s lives.
Daily creating helps me do that.
What could this involve?
- Writing
- Songwriting
- Painting
- Drawing
- Your most important task for the day
Basically whatever it is you create, take some time to do that.
Is there something you’ve been wanting to do that you can’t find the time for? Schedule it in the early mornings.
Learning
I don’t think a day should go by where you don’t intentionally learn something. I think that’s how God designed life. There are endless depths to His glory and beauty and it’s just waiting to be discovered.
What could this involve?
- Read great books
- Read great blogs
- Take a home study course
- Study an ebook
It’s not as important when you wake up as much as it is how you wake up. Get focused on your main tasks and go into your day with a plan.
Question: What does your morning routine look like? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Truthfully lately it is a quick, impersonal prayer, followed by speed reading Scripture while chugging coffee. Great blog Dave. My evenings are solid but it is so easy to react in the morning instead of create. But the mornings that I don’t rush and do a lot of the things you spoke about, the day is much more productive and peaceful.
Agreed, man. It’s really tough when you have to start work so early. Evenings are important too. Maybe that’ll be a follow up post 🙂
I spend a good time reading others blogs in the morning. I have learned that I am most creative later in the day then in the morning so I reserve the mornings for networking and reading. Good post David.
Yea, sometimes the late evenings can be really productive for me. Especially if I have a day off the following day. So you do most of your writing in the evening?
I usually do most of my writing after 10 pm.
The night owl himself 🙂
Wow…that was some awesome insight!
thanks David…
My morning is pretty simple…my morning drive to work is where i do my worship…it pretty far so I have to! lol…
Do you do any reading or writing in the morning?
Mornings should certainly start off the way YOU want them to… not by all the tasks and responsibilities that seem to dominate our days.
I find that late nights work great for me. I record all my creative ideas throughout the day and then come back to them at night to flesh them out. Plus, that’s when I have the most ‘quiet’ time…
I like that, Rob. We gotta take control of our mornings and not let others dictate that for us. Do you typically stay up late AND wake up early? How does that work for you?
Thanks, David. These are all very good points. I’ve always struggled to do everything that I thought should be done every day. I also like to exercise in the morning. It is a struggle, but I’m seriously considering your point on creating first.
I usually exercise Monday, Wednesday, & Friday mornings as well. I suppose the things I mentioned in the post are more of a priority for me. I want to make sure I do that first. Sometimes you need to scale back too, you know? We try and cram too much into the morning at times.
Love this. Great suggestions.
I get up before everyone else in my family (as a night guy this kills me but is SO worth it) to enjoy a quiet house, coffee, scripture, journaling and playing music. Since I naturally seek out a routine to be comfortable, I avoid them at all costs. I don’t want to be too comfortable because it seems to breed inauthenticity and complacency, so the key for me has been switching things up between the activities I mentioned. Sometimes I read and eat. Sometimes I eat and worship. Sometimes I relax and read the Word on the couch. Sometimes I go down to the basement. Wherever the Spirit leads me I go…it just really helps me to flip the script as needed.
The strangest thing has been happening since I started this non-routine of a routine: I’ve become more creative than any other point in my life. Writing poetry, original music, journaling – all this stuff just flows out of me by the Holy Spirit, so much so I can barely keep up! That said I definitely need to develop more discipline to actually finish these thoughts. I don’t know why the Lord is giving me all this (the music especially) but I need to be able to share it, and I can’t share a fragment. Please pray that the Lord might help me to complete things that may glorify Him and be a blessing to others!
Thanks again Dave for this. Praying that God may enrich your journey, making you more productive for the sake of the Kingdom.
JJ, great to meet you here. I love that – a “non-routine” of a routine. Very insightful. Do you typically have a weekly plan of what your going to do each day or just whatever you feel like that morning?
Re weekly plan: I don’t have one, but it would be sweet to try. I’d probably come at it like starting a budget – record what I already do for a few weeks, see what works and then toss what doesn’t in order to develop patterns that best serve to help me meet my goals.
Okay, I’m lying…that’s way too logical for a scatterbrain like me. Might give it a shot though, you never know 🙂
I will say there’s more of a music concentration on weeks I lead worship. That helps. I journal more when I’m less committed to a big-time schedule, as I tend to be more pensive when I can step back from all the busy-ness. Wait, maybe there is a method to the madness…? Awesome!
Good Thoughts David.
Lately I have been trying to have more of a routine in the morning. I find myself getting lost in emails and facebook way too often.
The mornings when I take time to read and listen my day feels much more productive.
Sometimes it seems like technology is a curse.
Totally, man. If we don’t take control of social media instead of it controlling us, it’s insane.
What a great reminder to be read on Sunday night before I plan my week. My most creative and outrageous ideas come to me when I run in the morning. Thanks Dave.
Do you remember your ideas after the run? 🙂
Great post! I have been trying to craft a gold morning routine ever since I read Michael Hyatt’s blog titled “Slay Your Dragons Before Breakfast”. Definitely worth a read!
Agreed, Dustin. I loved that post, though I feel when I read it I wasn’t ready to apply it. It felt so beyond where I was at the time. Exciting to grow and mature, isn’t it?
indeed!
What do you do when your not a morning person? I stay up late almost everynight. We have 3 kids and it seems the only time I can spend time with my hubby is after the kids go to bed. He is a masters student now also. So nights are where it’s at. Do you think you can be as creative or effective at night as in the morning?