Have you ever wondered what highly successful people do on Monday mornings? Success is not created by luck, but by working hard toward reaching a specific goal. Monday morning routines set the mood for the rest of the day and the rest of the week. Here’s a list of Monday morning habits that highly successful people develop.
1. They Wake Up Early – Set Your Alarm For 5am
They wake up early to make sure that they have plenty of time to complete all of their tasks. Waking up early also ensures that they are not late for any of their scheduled events and they have plenty of time to take care of their personal chores prior to jumping into their work load.
In an interview with Oprah, Michelle Obama shared that she wakes up early to take care of herself before her day starts. “Well, I just started thinking, if I had to get up and go to work, I’d get up and go to work. If I had to get up to take care of my kids, I’d get up and do that. But when it comes to yourself, then suddenly, ‘Oh, I can’t get up at 4:30.’ So I had to change that.”
We are only allotted so much time in each day; sleeping the day away diminishes the chances of success.
2. They Meditate – Start With Just 5 Minutes
Monday morning meditation or prayer are great tools to envision success. It’s important to quiet the mind and let the positive energy in as soon as you wake up. If you start with meditating for 5 minutes and over time increase it to half an hour per session.
Such practices can also answer unanswered questions and lead the way to success.
Oprah meditates two times per day for 20 minutes, and she states, “I walked away feeling fuller than when I’d come in. Full of hope, a sense of contentment, and deep joy. Knowing for sure that even in the daily craziness that bombards us from every direction, there is — still — the constancy of stillness. Only from that space can you create your best work and your best life.” (HuffingtonPost)
Concentrating on silence and your heart beat is one way to do a meditation. Another way is to do a guided meditation. There are plenty of free guided meditation videos on YouTube that you can pull up. They range from positive energy meditation, to prosperity meditation, to weight loss meditation. Read 10 Steps to Meditate Anywhere to learn more about meditation.
3. They Get Motivated – Personal Development Is Key
Highly successful people get motivated first thing on Monday morning. They read personal development books, watch inspirational videos, listen to motivational speakers. Even 15 minutes of inspirational content on Monday morning can set up your day and your week for success. Check out Tony Robbins’ free motivational speech about a Power Hour.
Tony suggests the Power Hour to highly successful people such as Fortune 500 CEOs, legends in entertainment, and even athletes, including Chuck Liddell. (TonyRobbins)
Some of the books you may want to check out:
- Infinite Self by Stuart Wilde
- The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle
- Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins
- Manifesting Change by Mike Dooley
- The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
- You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero
- The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
4. They Fuel Their Body – Food Is Energy
It’s imperative that your body is fueled with nutritious foods first thing in the morning. Healthy food provides energy and gets the mind and body ready for the day. According to Business Insider, Richard Branson eats a fruit salad and muesli (a mix of rolled oats, fruits, nuts, seeds, and milk) in the morning.
Some ideas for a healthy breakfast:
- 1 egg, 2 servings of egg whites, orange juice and a flax seed bread toast
- Protein smoothie/shake
- Fruit and greek yogurt parfait
- Peanut butter and banana sandwich
- Quinoa and fruit bowl
- Apple slices dipped in peanut butter
Here’re even more ideas for a healthy and tasty breakfast.
5. They Get Active – No You Don’t Need A Gym Membership
Highly Successful people know that getting the body active is imperative on Monday mornings and throughout the week. Exercise helps the body wake up and oxygenate; by doing so, all of the cells become active and ready for the day.
Exercise is known not only to positively affect the physical body, but it also to keep the mind sharp. Barack Obama shared with WebMD, “The rest of my time will be more productive if you give me my workout time.”
If you don’t have a gym membership or don’t own any workout equipment, no problem. All you need is your body and some space to do bodyweight exercises. With the right type of exercises, all you need is just 20 minutes for a good workout in the morning.
Performing high intensity exercises such as burpees, squat jumps, lunge jumps, and lateral jumps target multiple body areas at the same time.
Here’s an example of a 20 minute body weight exercise:
20 Minute AMRAP (as many round as possible) – Set your timer for 20 minutes and take about 30 second break between each exercise.
- 10 Burpees
- 10 Pushups
- 10 Jumps Squats
- 10 Chair Dips
- 10 Lateral Jumps
- 10 Wide push ups
6. They Connect With Their Team Face To Face
A lot of business decisions take place over email or other types of technology. Highly successful people connect with their teams face to face.
Steve Jobs used to have Monday morning meetings and believed that “in this digital age, when we think we can do things by email and Skype and online chats, it’s really important to bump into people face to face, to hash things out, to look them in the eye, to yell at them and scream at them, and then to hug them and to know emotionally what they’re thinking.”
7. They Only Tend To Urgent E-mails
Most email accounts are bursting with emails on Monday mornings. Highly successful people have a way to tend just to urgent emails in the morning.
Going through a long list of random emails can waste a lot of time first thing in the morning. Tumblr’s David Karp shares, “I used to suck at e-mail. I’d let e-mails pile up, get overwhelmed, and miss important messages; or forget to reply. So I set up filters on my e-mail, and that’s been working pretty well. Now, my inbox gets e-mails only from people in my company and from my girlfriend.” (Inc.com)
You can set up filters in your email account just like David Karp did. Alternatively, you can get an email app for your smart phone. Apps like Boxer, Dispatch, and Hop can help you to quickly go through your email box to separate urgent and non-urgent emails.
