There are limitless benefits to starting and sticking to a solid morning routine. My favorite benefit is that once the routine is a habit, it can be executed in such a robotic way as to not exert much effort on your part. To start this new year off right I’ve devised a new morning routine that I will be following strictly for the next 30 days.

1. Rise at 8am.

When choosing a good time to rise, it is important to consider your own unique situation. Basically, you want to wake up early enough to fit in your morning routine before your normally schedule day begins.

For me, at least for January, 8am is ideal. I’m on winter break until the 22nd, and even then I will have night classes. I like to stay up late reading, or doing things with friends, so for me this is practical.

Practical for you might mean waking up at 5:00am to get things done before your kids wake up. This is good reason why you should tweak your rising time, and your routine in general in order to be the best fit for you.

2. Drink 1 cup of lemon water.

“The lemon is a wonderful stimulant to the liver and is a dissolvent of uric acid and other poisons, liquefies the bile, and is very good in cases of malaria. Sufferers of chronic rheumatism and gout will benefit by taking lemon juice, also those who have a tendency to bleed, uterine hemorrhages, etc.; rickets and tuberculosis. In pregnancy, it will help to build bone in the child. We find that the lemon contains certain elements which will go to build up a healthy system and keep that system healthy and well. As a food, we find, owing to its potassium content, it will nourish the brain and nerve cells. Its calcium builds up the bony structure and makes healthy teeth.” (via Idaho Observer) ^[1]

Those all sound like good benefits to me. I personally like the fact that it gives your metabolism a wake up call and aids in digestion.

3. The morning walk.

The benefits of a 30 minute walk, 5 times a week are basically priceless, but only if you value your health. I do. Some of the benefits include:

• Managing your weight.
• Controlling your blood pressure.
• Decreasing risk of heart attack.
• Boosting “good” cholesterol.
• Lowering your risk of stroke.
• Prevent depression, colon cancer, constipation, osteoporosis, and impotence
• Lengthen lifespan
• Lower stress levels and much more (via AARP ^[2])

My morning exercise will also include a combination of several calisthenic ^[3] exercises that use my own bodyweight to promote strength and flexibility. They’re quick and don’t require any special equipment other than the pull up bar I have in my room.

Neither the morning walk, nor the calisthenics are meant to be used instead of more vigorous exercise, but they provide a really good baseline if there is no time for anything else.

4. Shower

The morning exercise is followed up by a morning shower. Even if I have no plans to leave the house that day, I always feel so refreshed and awake after I shower, that it just has to be a staple in my morning routine.

5. Breakfast.

Getting food into your system early in the morning will give you a head start on being healthy and feeling energized and focused throughout the day. I’m committing myself to having a large fruit smoothie for breakfast all month long. The base of this smoothie will be water, bananas and mango, and the occasional other fruits that I want to add in for variety.

6. Read for 30 minutes.

Reading and learning happen to be the center of all of my life goals. Even if my days are hectic, and I can’t find leisure time to read, I will always have those 30 minutes in my morning routine to chip away at some potentially life changing books. From my own experience, I know that whenever I do have leisure time, I read for hours at a time, but I know this isn’t possible with most of our schedules.

I think the benefits of reading are quite clear. You get to expand your mind, while absorbing decades of other peoples experience in hours. Apart from the usual personal development books that I read, I have decided to greatly expand my reading to encompass the great thinkers of the world, history, poetry, and classics of literature. The goal is to read 1 book a week until the ball drops for 2009.

7. Meditate.

I am committing to ending my morning routine with 5 minutes of meditation. Perhaps five minutes doesn’t sound like much, but Neil tells me that it’s not about how long you meditate, but more so about the routine of meditating daily.

Some of the benefits of meditation might come as a surprise to you. Let’s take a look:

• Lowers oxygen consumption and decreases respiratory rate.
• Increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
• Leads to deeper levels of relaxation.
• Builds self confidence
• Increases the immune system
• Reduces stress and many other benefits (via Health and Yoga ^[4])

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Sticking to your morning routine for at least 30 days is vital. You’ll eventually be so good at it, that you’ll be able to zone out (if you so wish), and just get things done that benefit you without exerting much effort. If you could use each day to inch towards your life goals, which goals would you pick and how would you go about it?

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Photo by Clairity ^[5]

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