(Photo above by Edward Eyer / Pexels)
Many swear that the 4 a.m. wake-up promises a successful life. While this may work for some, is it something that actually works for you?
There’s no perfect morning routine but there might be something that works for you. To help you start yours, here are four things you can try.
A great morning starts the night before.
Going to bed early can sometimes feel impossible, and getting a good night’s rest is a whole other story. But sleeping well and winning in the morning go hand-in-hand.
On this struggle, the Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda advises:
Manage your time wisely, and try to do your gongyo early and get to bed early. That will prepare you for a fresh start the next morning. Developing the wisdom and self-control to put this into practice will benefit your health.
Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and reciting gongyo before bed helps us do just that. With chanting, you can tap into the wisdom to know when to turn off your phone to go to bed. Or, develop the self-control to not binge-watch your favorite show into the wee morning hours.
Try to set a consistent time to wake up and switch it up if needed.
The New York Times journalist Benjamin Spall interviewed over 300 successful people about their morning routines. In reflection, he wrote:
While the majority of the people I’ve interviewed tend to get up early—the average wake-up time for everyone I’ve talked to is 6:27 a.m.—successful people like to experiment to find the sweet spot that works for them.
So, try experimenting with a time that works for you. Everyone’s lives are different so there’s no magic time.
Make time to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and recite gongyo.
Here are a few reasons from Ikeda about why making time to chant can dramatically change how our day will go and our lives.
Our lives are created from what we do, how we live, every day. For that reason, we should strive to live each day so as to continually improve ourselves. The driving force for this is our morning and evening practice.
Daisaku Ikeda, Discussions on Youth, p. 221
Some more words of wisdom from Ikeda:
Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo charges our batteries. If we take care to charge our batteries regularly, then we’ll always be full of energy and vitality. If we fail to keep our batteries charged, we won’t have energy when we need it most and as a result may be defeated by our environment.
Daisaku Ikeda, Discussions on Youth, p. 221
If you’re like us, a little trip to the coffee or tea pot first doesn’t hurt, either.
Every morning is a new opportunity to win.
So, if you had a bad morning today, don’t be too hard on yourself. You can try again tomorrow! If you’d like to hear from someone who made it happen, click below to listen.
P.S. If any of this worked for you post about it and share your tips on social. Hearing another person’s winning morning routine can make someone else feel like they can do it too.