Look at the tallest buildings in your city. Look at those skyscrapers. What do you think is the most important part of those buildings? It’s obviously their foundation. Though the foundation isn’t visible, it’s the most important part of any building.
Like foundation, your morning is the most important part of your day and life. Though like a building foundation, your morning is kind of invisible to the world; it determines what you can achieve.
Get your mornings right and you’ll get your days right and your life right. Unfortunately, most people start their days wrongly.
In this article, I’ll be sharing with you how the rich start their day and how the poor start theirs.
- The rich get emotionally prepared for the day; the poor start anyhow
Life is tough. Each day comes with its own battles. The battles in our day aren’t physical, they are emotional. Our ability to stay focused, do the hard things and resist the temptation of our fear and anxiety are the real instruments we need to conquer the day.
Having these instruments isn’t automatic. Like every battle, we have to prepare for the day or we’ll fail.
The rich know this and create morning rituals that can help give them a strong and positive emotion in the morning so that they will be able to face their fear and get things done all through the day. These rituals could be listening to an inspirational speech, music or reading a few pages from an inspirational book. Some get their strength through exercise while some get theirs through meditation.
You can experiment and do what works for you, but you must understand how important your mornings are. Your morning is the foundation of your day.
The Bible says, “If the foundation is faulty, what can the righteous do?”. If you start your day wrongly, how can you ever achieve great things in the day?
- The Rich set goals for each day; the poor do whatever comes their way
I have a very simple to-do list for each day. Because I have an idea of what I need to do from Monday to Saturday, it’s hard to waste time.
Goals have a way of pushing us to do what we ought to do and that’s why successful people set goals. If you want to start your day right, start with a simple goal. Don’t make it complex. Simply ask yourself; “What are the 3 most important things I need to do today?” and set those three as a goal.
While you can do any other thing, because you’ve set goals to start from what’s important, you’re likely to get more done than most people.
- The Rich face their business in the morning; the poor patronize other people’s businesses
Many poor people wake up to social media. Some wake up to the news sites. Some wake up to entertainment blogs. Some even wake up to movies and gossip. The problem with this is that you’re starting your day patronizing other people’s businesses.
Not just that this stuff makes other people a lot of money, but they are not giving you the right emotion you need for a great day.
The news is always negative, social media is always about other people’s packaged lives, and the movies are rarely motivating enough to make them worth your morning. Instead of starting your days on other people’s business, discipline yourself to face your business.
- The rich do the toughest thing first; the poor do anything
We all procrastinate. In fact, in the modern world, we must procrastinate to stay alive because there are a million things that call for our attention each day. The problem, however, comes when you procrastinate about the real thing.
Unfortunately, the easiest things to procrastinate on are the things that are most important. The reason for this is those important things are usually very difficult.
It’s difficult to make those sales calls, it’s difficult to start a business, and it’s boring to read a good book, etc. because all these are very difficult, our default response to them is; later, next month, or next year.
The rich know better. Because the rich know that the only thing that matters in life is productivity, they discipline themselves to do the toughest things first thing every morning. By doing the toughest thing first thing in the morning, you don’t only have the required strength to get them done, but you’ll achieve far more than most people who simply focus on little things.
Start your day every morning by identifying 2-3 most important things for your success for the day and focus your morning on those few things. This way, you’ll achieve more in a few months than most people will ever achieve in 5 years.
- The rich do what they ought to do, not what they feel like doing
I once read a statement that goes like this; a good writer writes when he feels like writing, and a great writer writes regardless of his feelings. Anyone can do difficult things if they have great feelings.
Unfortunately, we are not always in control of how we feel. In fact, most of the time, it’s our actions that determine our emotions, not the other way round. Instead of waiting until you have the right emotion before you do what you ought to do, start what you have to do and the right emotions will follow.
In summary, the morning is the most important period of your day. If you start your day right, you’ll achieve more things than most people because most people simply start their days in the wrong way.
Thank you