“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better start running.”
– African proverb
Let’s talk about the hype behind the legendary “Morning Routine”. A lot of successful content creators out there talk about how they start their days. This often involves stretching, workouts, meditation, breathing exercises, or elaborate combinations of wellness activities. The idea is that these rituals prepare the individual for the most productive day possible.
Ashton Hall, internet personality, is famous for his 4:00 routine. This routine literally occupies the first 5-hours of his day from around 3:50 AM to 9:15 AM. Check it out in this video.
While Ashton’s physique is impressive, is it realistic to believe that spending the first 5 hours of his day in wellness routines accounts for his financial and health success? Furthermore, is it realistic to conclude that all people would be me happier and more successful if they put themselves through an elaborate 5-hour routine every morning before work?
Rian Doris says no. Instead he recommends prioritizing productivity early in the day and then giving attention to physical and psychological recovery later on when the most important tasks of the day are accomplished. In fact, Rian suggests diving into our highest priority tasks within 90-seconds of opening our eyes each morning. Why? There are many reasons.
- Flow-proneness: Rian says that flow-proneness highest within the first 90-seconds of awakening as the brain is highly suggestable. Within about 15-minutes of starting a task in this state, you will wake up fully while already engaged in your work and completely in flow-state.
- Lower cognitive load: from the day’s open loops. The more you have done with your mind in a day, the more tasks and processes you have started in your mind. Over the course of the day, this load can start to tire you out and even distract you.
- Mental freshness: When you first wake up, you are groggy but your brain is rested and fresh. As the grogginess dissipates, you find yourself already engaged in a task with your brightest mental energy available.
- Fewer distractions: You’re less likely to receive a call, text, email, or social media post at 5:00 AM than you are at 9:00 AM.
Think of this as the inverted morning routine. Work first, recover later.
Want More?
It would seem that the African proverb quoted at the beginning of this article is more suited to the idea of hitting the ground running with a specific task or list of tasks than starting your day with an elaborate recovery routine. But one crucial ingredient required to kick-start productivity in the morning, is knowing exactly what to work on. Don’t waste your 90-seconds of suggestibility trying to figure out what to do. This is a recipe for disaster. Plan it the night before. Write it down. Wake up, and execute immediately!
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