In general, I have been very disciplined in my personal and business life. But recently, I found myself “sliding”. I found myself not doing it morning routine I really wanted to! My preferred wake up time is 5:00 am – I have been an early riser for several years. However, lately I have been waking up late, around 7:00 or 6:00 in the morning

When I woke up so late, I didn't do the things I wanted to do. I would skip my morning devotions, I would skip my morning walk, I would skip my time at the gym, and I would skip other things.

I knew I had to be more disciplined if I would do what is important to me and have the morning routine that I really wanted. I had to change.

Connected: 4 ways to create a powerful morning routine

Two small changes

So, I made two small changes to my routine and have seen a huge difference in the last few weeks.

The first change was going to bed earlier.

Instead of staying up late with my wife and being around 2:00 a.m. or so, I had to go to bed earlier. I explained to my wife that in order to get things done in my morning routine, which is so important to me, I needed to go to bed earlier. She totally understood.

I was sitting on the sofa and then I was sleeping, and then my wife and I would get up and go to bed at the same time. But now, I go to bed around 11pm. My wife is now going to bed earlier, too!

The second change was to set my alarm 15 minutes earlier, at 4:45 am

Now that I was sleeping earlier, around 11pm, I was more rested. Taking about six hours of sleep, maybe five, is perfect for my body. In fact, my eyes open automatically around 4:30 in the morning.

What is important to you

What are the simple changes you need to make to live your best life? To know what changes you need to make, you need to know what goals you want to achieve.

My morning routine is important to me.

This includes:

• Bible reading and prayer

• Eating fruit, drinking water, Bustelo coffee

• 30 minutes on foot, 15 minutes to the gym

• My morning show at 7:00am live

If I do these things, the rest of the day goes well. When I miss these things, I feel like I'm in recovery mode.

Connected: 8 small changes to make your life 10 times more enjoyable

The power of habits

You've probably heard this many times, but forming good habits it is important. You can also develop new habits very quickly. Now I'm starting to enjoy going to bed “early” and I'm in the habit of waking up early.

James Clearthe book of Atomic habits says this about habit formation:

1. Make it clear: Set clear signs for your desired habits.

2. Make it attractive: Combine the habits you have to do with the habits you want to do.

3. Make it easy: Decrease friction for good habits and increase it for bad habits.

4. Make it satisfying: Create instant rewards for completing your habits.

5. Use the two minute rule: Break your habits down to tasks that take two minutes or less to start.

6. Use custom stacking: Associate a new habit with an existing one.

7. Focus on systems over goals: Focus on processes that lead to results.

8. Use habit tracking: Measure your progress to maintain motivation.

9. Never miss twice: If you slip, get back on track immediately.

10. Shape your environment: Surround yourself with signs that encourage good habits.

COMMUNICATION

It is very important to communicate with your spouse, close family members and friends about your priorities and habits.

When they know what's important to you, a good friend or caring family will respect what you're trying to do. Now that they know what habits are important to you and why, they won't force you to do things that conflict with your lifestyle.

When it fails

You will fail on the journey to create better habits for your life. You are only human. As you start, you may fail often. But as the habit becomes stronger and more routine, you will find yourself more consistent with it.

In fact, you will find that you will start to LIKE the habit you are doing and it will become second nature to you.

Connected: 9 ways to actually adopt the best habits you know will help you succeed

So let's recap

I wanted to be better at doing certain things that were important to me for my daily morning routine. “Reverse engineering” why those things weren't being done helped me figure out what the problem was.

Being able to prioritize and connect with my wife was the key to now living a much more balanced life.

Let us implement this for you

Do you always find yourself pleasing other people?

Do you put yourself last and feel busy and unfulfilled?

Do you feel that your day goes by so quickly and you are tired and a little bored?

Everyone else seems to get the most out of you and you have nothing left?

You don't have to be in that abyss. Do what I did. Prioritize what is important to you. Know what you really want. It's okay to put yourself first so you can come across as him the best version of yourself for others.