By Anthony Holloway

Daybreaker Community Member. Career Coach. Chief Editor of @TechDirtyWithMe. AltMBA Alumni. Math Geek. Foodie.

Recently a friend of mine told me that he reads every day for ~2 hours a day. The first of those hours occurs at 6:30 AM.

Not only does he read, he writes about what he reads. In a small notebook, he jots down reflective notes about what he’s learned and any takeaways.

Oh and I did I mention….he’s been doing this every day for the past 8 years.

You do the math.

The first thing I thought was, “I’m so behind”.

It was at that moment I realized…. Discipline Scales.

I was inspired and truly fired up after hearing this.

So I decided to dedicate my mornings to exercise & reading.

I’ve started this habit in the past, but always seemed to fall off the wagon. However, the past 2 weeks I’ve shown up consistently.

Own the morning and own the day

What’s the first thing most of us do in the morning?

We wipe the crust out of our eyes. See who’s contacted us, and why. We open our respective social media apps and begin searching for that dopamine hit. A notification here, 10+ likes there.

We’re all guilty. Including me.

That is until I watched this video. At around 0:50 Jim Kwik makes a great point that profoundly stuck with me:

“When you wake up in the morning and immediately check social media, you’re training yourself to be reactive . You sell your sovereignty to the world if you start by checking your phone first thing in the morning.”

After hearing this, my mindset totally shifted.

I didn’t want to live in a reactive state. I decided to reclaim my time!

Our sovereignty is much more powerful than the message that just slid into our DMs.

After realizing that I was 8 years behind my friend in terms of books read, and finally seeing that I was giving my power away by checking my phone first thing in the AM, I decided to make a change.

In all its simplicity, here’s my new Morning Routine:

// 7:30 AM Wake up + drink water | watch this video
// 7:50 AM Jump rope for 15 minutes | with this app
// 8:20 AM Shower + more water
// 9:00 AM Read for 30 mins + make coffee | what I’m currently reading

After the first week, my morning routine began to feel really good. I actually started looking forward to it.

My morning routine got me feeling like…

After 2 weeks of consistently showing up, it hit me.

My purpose behind rising early is so that I prioritize practicing self care for the first hour of my morning.

If the first hour of your day you’re not taking care of yourself mentally and physically, when will you do it? At 6/7 PM when you’re already exhausted from a full day’s work? Not likely.

Which is why mornings are our advantage.

How do you currently own your morning?

Are you taking care of yourself first, or are you prioritizing Instagram likes, email, and other people’s agenda for your day?

We all have a choice. Choose wisely.

#morningmischief

More about the author: 👉 Anthony Holloway is an epic community member from the Bay Area. He’s a career coach who helps people find their paths in the tech world. If Anthony sounds like someone you think you should chat with, connect with him here: LinkedIn & Twitter .

This article originally appeared on Medium.com
Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash