4 books that will show you how to create the best morning ritual

4 books that will show you how to create the best morning ritus4 books that will show you how to create the best morning ritualEating the same oatmeal every morning that Bill Gates does is not going to make you a billionaire. And even if the Dalai Lama started every day with a double bourbon and unfiltered Marlboros, that doesnt mean its going to be your personal path to eternal wisdom.We do know morning is a special time. Research shows your mood when you wake up affects how you feel the entire day - and how productive you are. And we know rituals are powerful. Used properly, they have been shown to increase happiness, reduce procrastination, and boost confidence as well as performance.So whats the best morning ritual for you? Ill be honest I have no idea.I mean, really, how the heck would I? (We dont hang out much. You havent invited me over in weeks.) There are some things that work well for fruchtwein people. Ive written about general morning routines for happiness, productivity , and wisdom.But the problem here is that we all have different goals, different moods, and different idiosyncrasies that can drastically affect how impactful any system will be. So this here suit needs to be tailored. Rather than just giving you off-the-rack answers, what follows is going to be more like a DIY kit.So where do we start? Big picture. What is the point of a morning ritual?1, What the Most Successful People Do Before BreakfastLaura Vanderkam interviewed a lot of successful people asking the question what should you really be doing during your morning ritual? The answer is going to sound a little crazy at first You should be doing stuff that does not need to happen today. Or any particular day.Can you put off todays workout and still be in shape? Sure. If you dont see your family today will your relationships suddenly burn to the ground? Nope. Do your big plans for the future have to made by 5 PM? Of course not.None of these things are time-sensitive but theyre all vita l to living the best life you can. But because they dont have to be done now, often they get done never.Laura says the best morning rituals are about nurturing nurturing one of three fundamental areas of lifeNurturing your career Making long-term plans. Building skills. Looking beyond todays chores.Nurturing your relationships Making plans for your family. Hugging your family.Nurturing your self Exercise. Meditation. Improving yourself by reading amazing posts on that blog with the unpronounceable URL.What do I like about this book? (So kind of you to ask.) Not only does Laura give clear focus to what a morning ritual should do, she also provides 5 steps for implementation. She explains how to get it up and running, and how to make aya it evolves as you do.Check it out here.Alright, we have the 10,000-foot view. But we need somewhere to start. What is this beast really going to look like and what will it entail? To meet this challenge were going to use the same time-tested technique that got me admitted to an Ivy League university Copying answers off the smartest kid in class.Seriously, were going to look at the specific routines of some very successful people 2. My Morning RoutineSpall and Xander talked to everyone from military generals to Olympic athletes to the head of Pixar. They provide not only the routines of each but also a clear breakdown of the consistent trends they found in their 64 interviews.As the authors say What we discovered as we got deeper into the process of interviewing people about their morning routines is that almost none of the worlds best and brightest leave their mornings to chance.What do I really like about this book? Reading the perfect platonic form versions of a morning ritual is nice but life is rarely that simple. Things get complicated. Plans go wrong. What do you do then?So the authors made sure to ask their subjects some very realistic questions like, How does your routine vary when you travel? How does your partner help, hinder or affect it? And if you dont ask yourself some of the same hard, near-cynical questions about the realities of your morning routine then I hope you like Disney vacations - because youre living in Fantasyland.Check it out here.Okay, we have a big picture view and solid examples to work from. But maybe youre a go big or go home kinda person. Thats my style too. Looking at the successful people of today is fine and dandy but lets also take a gander at what the greatest of all time did in the morning3. Daily RitualsMozart. Freud. Picasso. Tesla. And a lot of other people so famous that I only have to mention their last name for you to know who I mean. How did they start the day?This book is a nice complement to My Morning Routine. Its less rigid and specific, doesnt get mired in modern problems like schmelzglas overload and spends more time discussing those idiosyncratic factors that helped the greats be at their best - even if those things made no sense to anyone else.Ben Fr anklins morning ritual involved taking what he called an air bath. Thats what you and I call sitting around naked. Not for everybody, granted, but we all do silly things that inexplicably just work for us. And this book tells you thats not only okay, but it might even lead to greatness.What do I like about this book? Actually, I dont like this book - I love it. Its inspiring. I may not opt to smoke 20 cigars a day like Freud, but its good to know the titans werent all perfect, smoothly functioning machines. Historys geniuses were weird. And, frankly, I find that soothing.Check it out here.Alright, we know what a morning ritual is and have examples from modern successes and historys geniuses. Thats enough to fashion a great, tailored method for starting the day, right?But then you get to work and everything goes to hell. That morning routine wasnt the beginning of a master plan, it was a transient exception to the chaos that is your day.So how do we transition from a morning ritual into a meaningful, productive workday?4. Deep WorkRituals shouldnt stop once the morning is over. Georgetown professor Cal Newport spells out six that will help you get focused on doing the things that really move the needle.What do I like about this book? It brings us full circle. Cal not only covers what it takes to maximize focus during the day, but he also includes one more vital routine the shutdown ritual. Its the flip side of the morning ritual, making sure youre able to power down and relax at night.Check it out here.Okay, you have your DIY morning ritual kit. Lets round it all up and learn about one more book that you might consider the prequel to everything weve discussed so far Sum upHere are 4 books that will show you how to create the best morning ritualWhat The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast Covers what a morning routine is, what its focus should be and how to design the fundamentals.My Morning Routine Lotsa lotsa smart rituals from super successful people. Tweak as necessary, add salt to taste.Daily Rituals The routines from the creative titans of history. Read it and be inspired just dont be inspired to smoke 20 cigars a day.Deep Work How to not totally blow it when you make the transition from morning ritual to the maelstrom that is daily life.A morning ritual is a powerful tool. But its just that - a tool. If you dont know what youre building, what youre nurturing, where youre headed um, whats the point?What is your definition of a successful life? And what does it really take to achieve it out there in the big schwimmbad world? Which leads us to our bonus bookHey, whaddya know, the guy who wrote it - thats me. I looked at the research to dispel a lot of the myths weve been told about a successful life. And weve been told a lot of myths.To be happy, to get where we wanna go, we need to know what really produces success - in our work and our personal lives. Without those answers, a morning ritual is an empty ritual. It needs to be in service of something to be useful. And we need to know whats truly effective.Check it out here.When you know what you want and what will actually get you there, you can start the day with a routine that clears your mind and nurtures your goals. And then the path ahead comes into focus.The volume gets turned down on the distractions life throws at you. You stop reacting and start determining. You go from defense to offense.You seize the day. You dont let the day seize you.Join over 320,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here.This column first appeared on Barking Up The Wrong Tree.