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Posts Tagged ‘power hour’
Your Daily Morning Routine For Productivity Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Being a business owner means that you are on your own. In fact I recently stated that business is freedom. If business is freedom the dilemma then becomes, how to use that freedom wisely. One particular rhythm that I have set up for myself is a tool for morning productivity that I call a “power hour”.
Whether you are a stay at home mom or a Fortune 500 executive, busy people need to get their day started off on the right foot. The only time to do that is in the morning.
My morning “power hour” consists of focus on three key areas; spiritual, physical and mental. I don’t necessarily spend an equal amount of time in each discipline but I do spend focused time in each.
Here are some common questions that I get about doing a “power hour”?
What if my children get up at 5am?
The easiest way to answer this is to get up at 3 or 4am. For this to work you are going to have to get up before your kids. It’s that simple. As a father of four beautiful little girls, I feel your pain. One question to consider is, do your kids need to get up at 5am? Mine don’t. I could get into this topic more but I will save that for another post.
How long does it need to be?
I call it a “power hour” because you need at least an hour to spend adequate time in the proper disciplines. However, if you can’t do an hour then do it for as long as you can. You can even rotate between spiritual, mental and physical and do them on different days if you are pressed for time.
What does the mental part consist of?
This is a time to work on educating yourself. Read an informative book. Work on your business. Organize some facet of your life. Create something new.
How often should I do a “power hour”?
I would aim to do it every day so that it is a habit and just part of what you do. I notice a significant difference in my attitude and demeanor when I do a “power hour” vs. when I don’t.
What if I am not a morning person?
I wasn’t either. In fact I wrote a love story about waking up in the morning. You can train your body to a new schedule.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is if you don’t have a morning productivity routine then it’s time to start one. No one has ever started doing a “power hour” and told me that they thought it was a waste of their time and they were sorry they did it. Usually I hear the opposite of that and in some cases I have had people tell me uplifting stories of how implementing this simple discipline changed their life. Do me a favor and try it on for the next 2 months and let me know what your results have been from doing it. I promise you won’t be disappointed.