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I once heard from our Asst. Schools Division Superintendent that a man’s early morning routine can make or break him. He also said that to ensure you have a good day ahead, you need to start right. How? Meditate. That’s the first thing you will have to do do. Pray if you are into it, read the Bible, read good inspirational books, listen to music, write in your journal - all those things you can do where you reflect about life, your being and your actions – do them early in the morning.

And of course, you just have to get up really early!

How is my morning routine? I wake up at indefinite times of the day because I tend to sleep at indefinite times of the night, depending upon my mood. Upon waking up, I would not leave the bed yet but I would be spending not less than an hour browsing stuff on my tablet. I would check social media sites, read an ebook or a manga or watch an episode of a kdrama I am currently following. Once satisfied, I would leave the bed, take care of the call of nature to euphemistically call it, make instant coffe, sit on my desk, pray, and read the Daily Scripture readings or…surf online again. After that, I would start rushing to get unfinished lesson plans and visual aids done. Sometimes I would come to school really early or sometimes I would rush in late. My daily time log would attest to how erratic my routine is… in short, I really don’t keep a morning routine at all! I just do whatever comes naturally to me and I would end up harassed and rushed.

Do you do the same? Is this good for us?

Getting into a good morning routine can help us be more productive throughout the day. The consistency can also be comforting (Martin, 2015)

Martin (2015) discusses 8 of the world’s most successful people in his article in the Business Insider UK and he states that 4 out of eight had really early wake up calls, the earliest of which is Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. But then, Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t sleep very much while Amazon’s Jeff Bezos requires 8 hours of sleeps and avoids early morning meetings!

I tried to look into the morning habits of the saints. In her blog, Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouve discussed the daily routines of St. Thomas of Aquinas. What amazed her about St. Thomas is his tremendous productivity.
He died when he was only 49, and allowing him time to grow up, he crammed into 30 years what most of us couldn't do in 100 (Trouve, 2013).

Thomas Aquinas did not waste a minute.

Trouve (2013) presents the following schedule which she referenced from Bartholomew of Capua's life of St. Thomas, quoted on p. 244 of Saint Thomas Aquinas, vol. 1, The Person and His Work by Jean-Pierre Torrell, OP).

1. He celebrated Mass early in the morning.

2. He stayed in chapel to attend a second Mass celebrated by another priest.

3. Then he went to teach.

4. After that, he began to write and would dictate to his secretaries, sometimes to three or even four at the same time. (Though it sounds incredible to us, it is well verified historically that Thomas had the ability to dictate on several topics at once. His mind was amazing.)

5. Only then did he go to eat.

6. Then he went back to his room where he "attended to divine things until rest time. After rest, he began again to write, and it was thus that he ordered his whole life to God."

The creative geniueses of this world even had weirder morning rituals. Since I could never put it this way, let me quote this line instead:

Benjamin Franklin spent his mornings naked. Patricia Highsmith ate only bacon and eggs. Marcel Proust breakfasted on opium and croissants. The path to greatness is paved with a thousand tiny rituals (and a fair bit of substance abuse) – but six key rules emerge ( (Burkeman, 2013).

Here are the six rules that Burkeman (2013) found from the book, Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration and Get to Work by Mason Currey : (1) Be a morning person, (2) Don’t give up the day job, (3) Take lots of walks, (4) Stick to a schedule, (5) Practice strategic substance abuse (lol), and (6) Learn to work anywhere.

I would like to quote this one from an article which cited Michael Gelb, the author of ‘How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci” :

“ the genius of Leonardo resides not just in what he created by in what he can inspire us to create. Beyond all his stellar achievements, Leonardo da Vinci serves as a global archetype of human potential, giving us intimations of what we ourselves may be capable of doing." (Kim, 2015)

Da Vinci’s three habits were: (1) writing a journal, (2) reciting self-affirmations, and (3) athleticism. And of the three, I only consistently do the first one.

So, how would you like your day to go? Will you let your morning habit make or break you? It’s your choice.

References

Burkeman, O. (2013, October 5). Rise and shine: the daily routines of history's most creative minds. Retrieved from The Guardian Website: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/05/daily-rituals-creative-minds-mason-currey

Kim, T. (2015, May 31). 3 Habits that Made Leonardo da Vinci, The Greatest Genius of all Time. Retrieved from Transforming Adjustments Website: http://www.transformingadjustments.com/success/2015/5/31/how-to-think-like-leonardo-da-vinci

Martin, W. (2015, October 8). How 8 of the world's most successful people start their day. Retrieved from Business Insider,Inc. Website: http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-the-worlds-most-successful-people-start-their-day-2015-10/#us-president-barack-obama-hits-the-gym-every-morning-1

Trouve, M. (2013, December 12). Daily Routines of the Saints: Thomas Aquinas. Retrieved from Thomas for Today blogsite: http://thomasfortoday.blogspot.com/2013/12/daily-routines-of-saints-thomas-aquinas.html