Mornings
What’s the first thing you do every morning? Use the bathroom? Check your phone? Brew a pot of coffee? Those are all fine - nobody will judge if you like to scroll through your Insta feed while you let your eyes, limbs, brain gradually spin up in he morning - but I’d ask you to consider what tone you’ve been setting for yourself each day.
There’s a quote I like to remember, “begin each day as if it were on purpose.” If you recognized that line from Hitch, then first of all, good on you. If not, go watch it, Kevin James is hilarious (Will Smith is slick as ever too). Anyway, the point is, BE INTENTIONAL with your mornings. For that matter, be intentional with all your time. We have a finite amount to spend, so dole it out to the people, things, activities that really matter - and here’s the key - to YOU. You don’t have to let some self help guru tell you what’s most important to you, or what’s the best way to start your day. What you DO have to do is be intentional - have a reason why you’re doing whatever it is you’re doing. Know where you want to be at the end of each day/month/year. The time goes quick, and not having a plan is a plan too, just not a very effective one.
Shit happens in life that you won’t see coming, and being able to adapt is key to hitting your goals - no doubt - but without a map to start your journey, how will you know when you’ve taken a detour? I like using Waze to navigate when I drive, because it shows me there’s a few ways to get where I want to go, so I know I can always change course if I need to. I still know where I want to go though, and always keep North pointed up.
I like to workout first thing - not because I’m a morning person (I’m not), but because the unexpected hasn’t had a chance to redirect my day yet, and I’ve learned that I need a physical release on the regular (get your mind out of the gutter, folks) to keep myself energized, focused, and driven. Working out is my personal preventive maintenance plan. Yours may be reading, drumming, prayer, cooking, or just playing with your kids. Whatever it is, make sure you make space in your busy schedule to do the thing you need. It’s not selfish to put self care before other care. They need you, which means you need you: to be on your game, to set a good example, to be patient, to be grateful and loving and kind.
My mornings are all over the place. I have two kids under age 3, and as you likely already know, little ones don’t much care about adult routines. They haven’t yet absorbed the concept of the 8-5, personal space, or volume control. That can make for some rough nights. There are times I’m anxious about the boatload of work I need to crank out that day, and I skip the gym to get a jump on the workday. Other days, I don’t get to the gym out of sheer tiredness - from the weeks prior of broken sleep schedules. Then there’s travel. Whether for business or pleasure, something about hopping a plan to anyplace that isn’t home creates a wave - a wave that has a way of rippling through my daily plans and - though I hate to admit it - often my morning workouts are the boat that’s capsized as a consequence.
The point is, figure out what you need to do to stay sharp, prioritize that thing in your daily plans, PUSH to make it happen daily, but accept that sometimes the best laid plans get scrapped, and that’s okay. Know where you want to go and what you need to get there, and keep pushing - you’ll get there. You got this, dad.
-DWL
