Energise your mornings

Like most people, the period of my days with the least amount of energy usually coincided with the blaring of my alarm clock. Cursing the mechanical device that had the indignity to pull me from my warm and comfortable relationship with the mattress, waking up was never a pleasant experience for me.

Once I had finally mustered the self-discipline to awaken I would have a very slow acceleration back into my usual energies. In total it usually took me thirty minutes to an hour before I could consider myself at normal capacity.

If you mornings are a painful negotiation between the alarm clock and your pillow, or if the snooze button has become an addiction, I can offer you some of my advice on how you can take this experience and use it to launch your highly energetic day.

In energizing my mornings there has been three essential keys to creating a lasting momentum for the entire day. Exercise creates energy. Although many people complain about not having enough energy to exercise, the opposite is actually true.

You don't have enough energy because you don't exercise. Exercise creates a whole host of brain chemicals that stimulate your body. I have learned through my own experiences that when I am feeling least energetic, exercise gives me a quick boost of energy. The natural extension of this idea was to add exercise in the morning.

Currently I do a half hour jog immediately after waking up. I prefer aerobic activity in the morning because it requires less planning or thinking then doing a strength training routine.

In addition, you can jog just about anywhere which means you don't have to be near a gym. I may replace jogging with sit-ups or pushups when the winter months hit. Living in Manitoba means jogging in darkness with minus forty degree temperatures is a little more difficult.

I still do an hour of exercise outside this morning exercise. Although using the morning to take some time to exercise can be a good way to get things moving, I've found that I'm too foggy to really maximize my workout.

The first ten minutes of my jog usually have me still waking up and I am usually about twenty percent slower when jogging in the morning then at my peak speed for the same distance.

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz in their book, "The Power of Full Engagement", point out that if time is an issue replacing a half hour of sleep with a half hour of exercise is generally a good trade as far as energy is concerned.

I shifted back my sleep schedule a half hour to account for this additional exercise in the morning and I don't usually go to sleep any earlier as a result.

Even if you are low on time, inserting a small amount of exercise into your morning can actually save time and energy over the course of your day.

Source: www.scotthyoung.com