Introduction
This article describes how to use a morning ritual as a tool to take control of your life, the same way the greats of history have done for themselves.
The Mission for the Post From Rizer Media is that with the implementation of this information, you will be able to transform your life in an immediate and sustainable way, to have the bandwidth and discipline to tackle the problems and challenges that call to your highest desire, or to live your truest passion.
We want to help you become a more present, awake, and compassionate partner, friend, or parent to the world we live in.
This article will not only go into the science and logic behind the morning ritual, but the benefits as well, along with actionable steps to implement an empowering morning ritual from Jim Kwik, as well as Robin Sharma.
The concepts for this article have been inspired by the teachings of Jim Kwik, and Robin Sharma’s, ‘5 AM Club’.
Jim Kwik is a world expert in speed-reading, memory improvement, and optimal brain performance. He is the CEO and Founder of Kwik Learning, a leader in accelerated learning with online students of every age and vocation in over 150 countries.
Robin Sharma is one of the world’s premier speakers on Leadership and Personal Mastery. For nearly 20 years, many of the most well-known organizations on the planet, ranging from Nike, GE, Microsoft, FedEx, PwC, HP, Oracle, NASA, Yale University and YPO have chosen Robin Sharma to participate for their most important leadership events.
Sharma has been ranked as one of the Top 5 Leadership Experts in the World in an independent survey of over 22,000 businesspeople and appears on platforms with other luminaries such as Richard Branson, Bill Clinton, Jack Welch and Shaquille O’Neal.
You’ll Learn:
1. Why freedom from distraction helps you to achieve better results;
2. Why slowing down your brain through Transient Hypofrontality is so important; and
3. How to build the routine of an elite performer.
1. Achieving Better Results Without Distraction
All of us have limited mental capacity or cognitive bandwidth. And throughout the day, our attention is given to more and more things: work, the news, interaction with others and social media.
Our bandwidth gets used up by all of these so, by lunchtime, we can’t really concentrate on anything at all.
By constantly shifting our focus from one thing to another, we give nothing enough attention.
If you get up early, you will have a golden opportunity to enjoy a time when you can actually enter deep focus without any distractions.
A time to embrace solitude with a clear and focused mind. To prioritize what’s important to your ideal life, and to start each day with a powerful, invigorating, and successful period of time.
Self Discipline Trumps Talent
Firstly, the greatest people are defined not by their natural talent, but by the extent to which they capitalize. Self-discipline and perseverance always trump talent and giftedness. So rather than thinking you don’t have what it takes, capitalize on the gifts you’ve got to make a difference.
Freedom from Distraction is Key
Too many people today waste hours on addictive but hollow technology and social media.
If you want to win, you need to focus, simplify, and concentrate.
That means becoming a purist, concentrating on a few amazing work projects rather than many good ones. And in day-to-day life, it means stripping out everything that distracts you from a relentless focus on what’s most important.
So turn off your notifications and cancel pointless meetings. Gain a distraction-free hour each morning to focus on what’s important by joining the 5am club.
The Truly Productive Understand Day-Stacking
The truly great understand the power of day-stacking. That means, small things done daily are way more important than big things done once in a while.
Consider enhancing one ability or skill by just one percent every day. It’s a small change, but over a year it amounts to a 365 percent improvement!
Personal Mastery
Finally, the final focus of history makers: practicing personal mastery.
According to psychologist Anders Ericsson, a person must invest at least 2.75 hours of daily practice in a skill for ten years for the first signs of an elite-level of mastery to appear.
So if you want to master yourself, you should spend your first hour each morning working deeply on you, your mind-set and also your approach to health, spirituality and love. These are known as the “Four Internal Pillars”.
2. Transient Hypofrontality – The Science of Flow
Science supports the importance of an early morning ritual.
Early risers tend to have cognitive and health advantages, as they fully enjoy and utilize their days.
Their lives are more in line with natural rhythms, and they offer their brains much needed solitude and focus time, which can reduce stress chemicals such as cortisol, alleviate anxiety, and enhance happiness.
This focus is further enhanced by the concept of transient hypofrontality, which means, in a nutshell, that at 5 a.m. (Or very early), you are well placed to achieve a state of flow in your thinking.
To explain Transient Hypofrontality, when you are practicing a peaceful and empowering 5 a.m. start, the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which handles rational thought, temporarily shuts down.
So your tendency to analyze, stress and worry about things is trained to be controlled. At the same time, the peace of daybreak stimulates the production of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin.
The result? You naturally enter a state of flow: of being fully energized, focused and in the zone. Making extreme amounts of progress on the projects that are meaningful to you.
Flow is the elite mind-set that all top performers, from violinists to athletes to scientists, inhabit in their finest moments.
You’ll find that if you practice rising at 5 a.m., you’ll train yourself to enter a more focused and more productive state of consciousness for the entire day.
Immediate Benefits to Notice
1. More Productivity
2. More Time
3. New Habits
4. Get into better shape
5. Systematically Grow towards your best self
6. Enjoy a period of silence
7. Time for a healthy breakfast
8. Time to learn
9. Mental sharpness by the time you are ready for your day
10. Mental Direction
11. Goal Clarification
12. Richness of Life
13. Enter Flow much earlier in the day
14. Better Quality of Sleep
15. Increased Sociability
16. Time to Clean
How to Become an Early Riser; The Night Before.
Open your curtains before going to bed
In the morning, you’ll be helped to wake up by the very first rays of the sun. This will also sync your circadian rhythm.
Set a curfew for electronics
According to some studies, electronic devices make it more difficult for you to get to sleep because their blue light restrains the production of melatonin, the hormone that controls sleep cycles. So it’s not a bad idea to withdraw from your phone, tablet, and TV at least an hour before bed if you want to improve the quality of your sleep.
Go to sleep earlier
If you decide to get up 2 hours earlier, go to bed at least 2 hours earlier than you’re used to. Only then will you get enough sleep. Having a hard time falling asleep? You can read in bed or listen to an audiobook for a bit — both of these activities can ease you into sleep.
Put your alarm across the room
If it’s right next to your bed, you’ll shut it off or hit snooze and fall asleep again. But if it’s out of your reach, it won’t be easy to continue sleeping. By the time you reach the alarm, you’ll be on your feet.
Get out of the bedroom right after getting up
Start your morning ritual as soon as possible — go to the bathroom, brush your teeth. By the time you’ve done that, you’ll be awake enough to face the day.
Make plans
Set something to do early in the morning that’s really important. Visualize yourself completing this task and feeling pride. This reason will motivate you to get up.
Visualize
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld uses a calendar system to force himself to write his jokes. He has a big wall calendar and for every day that he writes new material, he puts a big red “X” on it. He aims to create an unbroken chain of these “X” marks for as long as he can. This is a great way to build a new lifestyle because it gives you a visual record of your success.
Reward yourself
Find something that’s really pleasurable for you and allow yourself to do it as part of your morning routine. We recommend having a cup of tasty herbal tea or coffee, reading a good book. Your reward could be a delicious treat for breakfast, watching the sunrise, or meditating — anything you can take pleasure in.
3. Jim Kwik’s 10 Morning Habits to Jump-Start Your Brain
To get you started, here are ten productive habits developed by Jim Kwik who employs them in his daily life.
1. Remember Your Dreams
Your dreams can have valuable information on your emotions and experiences being communicated and received by the subconscious mind.
By training our brains to focus on what we dreamt and trying to remember it, we can get our unconscious mind working and develop incredible insight into our own experiences, problems, and challenges. Dream Journal
2. Make the bed
Making the bed signals to your body that sleep is over. It provides a sense of accomplishment to get you motivated to continue. This will begin your day on a win. How you do anything, is how you do everything.
3. Hydrate
As we sleep, we become dehydrated. Water is essential for a proper functioning of our body and brain, so replenishing the supply as soon as possible is a good way to get our minds working. Drink a lot of water when you wake up to awaken the natural processes of your body. Water Bottle With Meter
4. Brush your teeth (using your non dominant hand)
If you are right-handed, you should brush your teeth with your left; do it the other way around if you are left-handed. This is something that connects the left and right sides of the brain and can nurture neuronal connections.
5. Breathing
Just as you need water, you need air. Breathing helps you calm down and fills your veins with oxygen.
Your brain needs oxygen to function at its most optimal state.
6. Drink tea
Special tea blends can provide you with nutrients and vitamins that your brain needs for working. It helps you hydrate further and also gives you some of the elements that will improve your performance. These vitamins can be, Lions Mane, Gotu Kola, Ginko Biloba
7. Journaling
Journaling is an important activity that allows you to connect with different aspects of yourself. You may focus on what you are grateful for, plan your acts of kindness for the day, or reflect on the day before. Doing this engages your rational side and also can provide a good space for writing things that improve your well-being.
8. Short, intense workout
Exercise is essential to get us ready for the day. What is good for our heart, is good for our head. This gets the blood flowing and activates serotonin, dopamine, and reduces cortisol. Small Workout Set (Band, Adjustable Weight, Yoga Mat, Jump Rope, Pullup Bar)
9. Brain Power smoothie
You might not have much of an appetite, but you do need nourishment. A smoothie is a great option. Using brain power foods, like blueberries, and foods that are rich in fatty acids can help you be ready for the day and improve your performance. Avocado, Power Greens, Moringa, Maca, Blue Berries, Chia and Flax
10. Reading
Reading feeds your mind and helps you better understand the world around you. But during the day we often lack the time and focus to really dig into a book. Using some of your morning time to read autobiographies of those who inspire you will connect you to the limitless possibilities of what you can achieve.
Conclusion
With a few activities, you can nourish your mind and jumpstart your day, implementing the same routines followed by the world’s most legendary performers.
By dedicating an hour of your morning (Preferably at 5am) to the mind, body, and soul, you can begin to have much more productive and enlightening days.
Improving your performance and well-being first thing in the morning can take you from out of any slump into the heights of your full potential – And you will begin to feel the effects immediately.
References
- BrightSide. (2019). Why I Started Waking Up at 5:30 AM and How It Changed My Life. Retrieved from https://brightside.me/wonder-curiosities/why-i-started-waking-up-at-530-am-and-how-it-changed-my-life-544460/?fbclid=IwAR1jj0DrtiDI6_GgD-gsZDVpHm_6bEnLu7jKQ-IclKnM2MMJ6edDBJ6Xpws
- Kwik, J. [Mindvalley]. 10 Morning Habits Geniuses Use to Jumpstart their Brains. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sGyNx44Xw4
- Kwik, J. (2019). About. Retrieved from https://jimkwik.com/about/
- Sharma, R. (2018). The 5 am Club. Retrieved from https://conscioused.org/books/the-5-am-club-robin-sharma-review-summary
