We tend to get starry eyed when we look up at successful people in day to day situations. It is almost impossible to reconcile the rich, famous, and genuinely happy folks against where they had to have come from. These folks must have gotten by on luck, right? They were in the right place, at the right time, in order to get success. This isn’t true and the fact is that every successful person started off where you do: with their morning. How you start your day is typically how you set your day up for each one that follows. So it’s important to get started without making mistakes. Here are 10 mistakes that successful people NEVER make in the morning.
They NEVER ride the snooze button.
Is there any more ill conceived button in the world than the ‘snooze button’. Perhaps the inventor of the snooze button was well meaning but we can’t understand how making it easy to skip your alarm was a good thing, especially if you are a working an important job like a personal injury attorney or a medical malpractice lawyer. Successful people never let the snooze button take control of their life, and you shouldn’t either. We are going to assume that you set your alarm for a reason and circumventing it does nothing to help your cause. By snoozing your alarm you shorten the amount of time you have allocated to your morning preparation thus making everything else you do suffer as a result. Imagine starting your day in an absolute panic, trying to catch up, versus getting up on time and waltzing your way throughout your tasks.
10 Mistakes Successful People NEVER Make in the Morning
Successful people NEVER start their day ‘cold’.
Your body is a machine and every night you put it to rest. In the morning you can’t immediately leap out of bed and expect your joints, muscles, and brain to be performing at tip top shape. Whether you are working a mentally focused job as an asbestos cancer attorney or you are in charge of executive recruiting firms, you need to start your day off right. So don’t jump out of bed and immediately go to town trying to get things done. Instead you should do what most successful people do: warm yourself up in the morning. This can take the form of a morning stretching routine or it can involve a slow read through the newspaper over a nice breakfast. Ideally you will want to work your mind and your body in order to have both feeling in tip top shape before you head on to your next task.
Successful people NEVER start their day ‘cold’
They never bring work into the bedroom.
When you convert your bedroom into a workstation the odds are good that you’ll end up muddling both of them, especially in your mornings. So in order to maximize your mornings while minimizing your work struggles you need to keep laptops and other work related devices outside of your room. If you establish your bedroom as a place to rest you will find that you can always get to sleep and experience a full nights rest without problem. If you have your work computer on your nightstand then you’ll be constantly fighting the urge to grab it and double check your emails or other work related tasks. Set yourself up for success in your persona life and your working life by keeping the two separate from one another in your own home.
They never bring work into the bedroom
They don’t wake up in a hurry.
We lightly touched on this topic in our entry about the snooze button but there is a lot more to say about how you pace your morning. Successful people know how important it is to pace their morning out in order to accomplish all of their tasks without feeling like they are in a hurry. While many people don’t enjoy mornings, the morning is when you want to be at your best. So learn to wake up earlier so that you have more time to do what you need to get done. Starting your day early leads to a ton of anxiety and nervous energy, ultimately offsetting the majority of your morning and making it not feel very productive. Is the extra half hour of sleep worth feeling like you just ran a marathon in the morning? On some days you might believe that the extra sleep is worth it but on most you’ll be glad you made the time to get things done right You will find yourself in a better mood as well as becoming a better worker.
They don’t wake up in a hurry
Successful people don’t regularly eat poor breakfasts.
Your body needs to be fueled in order to accomplish all of the things you have lined up for the day. Like fuel for your car, you want to make sure that you are energizing with the proper ingredients. Many folks don’t wake up early enough to prepare a strong breakfast so they get into the habit of chugging coffee and eating processed, sugar laden cereals and pastries. While this stuff may taste good and ‘fill you up’ it really isn’t doing your body any favors. You are going to end up gaining weight, experiencing health problems, and crashing throughout the day as the sugar in your system seeps out. Instead you want to learn the magic word: carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the moneymakers when it comes to keeping your body fueled and ready to go. Look for food that is high in carbs, fiber, and protein and avoid all of that junk food. Oatmeal with fruit is a great breakfast, for a simple example, and it tastes delicious too. Just because you are eating healthier doesn’t mean that you are supposed to avoid getting stuff that tastes good, too. We also highly suggest avoiding fast food altogether as you really aren’t getting any sort of quality out of a drive through bag.
Successful people don’t regularly eat poor breakfasts
Successful people never leave home unprepared.
When you leave your house in the morning in order to head to work or take care of tasks then you should march out of the front door with purpose. Having a to do list is a great way to mentally prepare yourself for the next day while keeping all of your ducks in order. Get into the habit of creating a to do list and leaving it in your purse or your wallet when you leave the house. Having a to do list will calm down any potential anxiety about remembering what to do during the day and it will keep you focused on important tasks. While to do lists get a bad rep as some sort of OCD manifestation, they really are just another part of making your day easier for yourself. Write down a few key tasks and then go from there, expanding as you go.
Successful people never leave home unprepared
Successful people never forget what they are working for.
When a successful person gets out of bed in the morning they are leaving their bedroom with purpose in their stride. Motivation and success are strongly linked together and those of us who reach the highest success do so because we remember what we are working for on a day to day basis. Know what your goals are, practice ways to keep them at the front of your mind, and then chase them with the energy that you have during your waking hours.
Successful people never forget what they are working for
Successful people don’t go to jobs that they hate.
When you wake up in the morning are you instantly dreading the day ahead of you? Do you loathe your job so much that you just want to quit every single hour that you spend clocked in and at work? You’ll never get ahead while carrying such negative energy with you throughout the day. Successful people find ways to escape jobs that bring them down and find ones that push them toward their bigger goals. Create a plan to segue into a job that makes you happy and you’ll end up in a better place as a result.
Successful people don’t go to jobs that they hate
Successful people don’t watch TV in the morning.
Create a space for television in your life but leave it as an ‘after work’ reward. Television should be looked at like candy or an adult beverage: you should use it like it is a reward. Don’t let television be what starts your day off because you’ll sink into an almost immediate rut. Focusing on TV when you wake up sets you back mentally and it blurs what should otherwise be a concise morning spent finishing tasks and getting your body active.
Successful people dont watch TV in the morning
They never give up.
Most importantly of all successful people never let a bad morning make them give up on their dreams and goals. Your morning is the bedrock of your day and you should always use it as an opportunity to do better, push harder, and get farther in your life. Never give up and reach for the success that you work for.
They never give up
