ABSOLUTE ASCENDANCY

Commencing operation . . .

Overview

How do you start your day?

Do you wake up to the blaring sound of your alarm, run around frantically as you rush to grab everything you need to get on your way?

Or do you rise with the morning sun and proceed in an orderly fashion as you go through your morning routine?

Somewhere in between, perhaps?

Well, no matter where you are on the scale, this article aims to instil a morning ritual of sorts into your lifestyle so that you can start each day on the right foot.

How you begin your day can largely determine how the entire course of that day will run.

My Morning Routine

My morning routine can be broken down into five steps.

1. Make My Bed
2. Meditate
3. Exercise
4. Shower
5. Breakfast

1. Make My Bed

The first thing I do when I wake up is tidy my bed.

• No one is going to see it anyway.
• Is it that important?
• I don’t have time to waste.

Sound familiar?

It doesn’t take long to smooth the covers and sheets to make your bed comfortable for the night. You don’t need to spend ages making your bed completely perfect unless that sort of thing is appealing, in which case, all the more power to you. Below are five benefits to making your bed each morning.

1.1 Positive Momentum

1.2 Prevent Embarrassment

1.3 Pillow Maintenance

1.4 Reduce Stress

1.5 Finish Strong

1.1 Positive Momentum

It’s all about generating that forward momentum. Start your day right by making your bed, and it sets the tone for everything else that lies ahead. You will be more productive throughout your day by starting on the right foot. Naval Admiral William McRaven, the commander of U.S Special Operations, in a 2014 commencement speech at University of Texas at Austin said:

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another.”

“By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.”

1.2 Prevent Embarrassment

While in most cases, no one else will see your bedroom; on the rare instance, an unexpected visitor may show up at your doorstep. Or on an impromptu moment, you invite someone back to your home. In either scenario, they might end up taking a glance (or more!) at your bedroom, and it is in this precise situation that the floodgates of regret burst forth to unleash wave upon tidal wave of embarrassment!

If only you had diligently prepared your bed each morning!

An untidy bed does not leave the best of impressions, to say the least. The bed is the centrepiece of the bedroom, so even if the rest of the room isn’t up to scratch, a tidy bed will make the rest of the room seem neater because the bed is what draws the eye.

Once you get into the habit of cleaning your bed, you will likely also tidy the rest of your bedroom as well. Heck, with enough momentum, you could end up organising the entire house!

1.3 Pillow Maintenance

If you don’t regularly fluff your pillows, they will soon begin to sag and lose shape. Over time this loss of structure perpetuates if left unchecked until the damage is irreparable. The same holds for your bed linen. By tending to these things each day, your pillows and bed covers will keep a fresh appearance and maintain their overall shape for longer.

1.4 Reduce Stress

Your room affects your mood. Given that you spend roughly a third of your life in your bedroom, it makes sense that you should make the bed presentable and tidy, right? A cluttered environment invokes stress, and the converse is also true. A calm, soothing effect can take place when you are present in a clean and tidy room. A well-made bed takes the stress away, and even a decently made bed will put in work on your behalf.

1.5 Finish Strong

Not only does making your bed each morning allow you to start positively, but it also provides a strong finish to the day. Returning to bed, after the day is done in a comfortable, well-made bed is as good of an ending to each day as you can prepare for. You are likely to sleep better in a well-made bed than one that is messy as well. Think about the last time you slept in a hotel. I wager you had a peaceful and restful sleep.

In the worst-case scenario, even if you do end up having the worst day ever, at least you can then lie down in a nicely made bed, ready for the next day.

2. Meditate

I spend thirty minutes each day meditating – below is why.

2.1 Pace Yourself 

2.2 Mental Declutter

2.3 Enhance Focus

2.4 Hone Instinct

2.5 Exercise Preparation

2.1 Pace Yourself

The morning is a great time to settle into a meditative state for a period. During rest, your mind is disconnected from the chaos of the world. When you awaken, it is a prime opportunity to meditate before the affairs of the external world drag you into their agendas.

Your mind works like any other machine. The more stimulated it becomes, the more thoughts it will produce. In an over-active state often induced through the madness of the daily grind, it becomes increasingly difficult to meditate. The morning, however, is free of such entropy, and your mind is in a relatively calm state, which is more conducive to entering a meditative state.  

Establishing a morning meditative routine also forces you to pace yourself, no matter how busy your day ahead may seem. By taking time out to bring greater awareness and tranquillity within, you will be better prepared to handle even the toughest of challenges.

2.2 Mental Declutter

Meditation can help clear your mind by bringing vigilance to the various junk thoughts that enter. Think about your email for a second. If you didn’t have a spam filter set, your inbox would be flooded with junk mail. The same holds for your mind. Meditating activates your mental spam filter, so to speak, which can filter through negative thoughts that may permeate your brain, reducing your overall stress levels.

The silence is freeing to the soul.

2.3 Enhance Focus

Meditation has the power to improve focus by allowing the brain to better control alpha brain waves, which can lead to improved audio, visual, and tactile stimulation. The subconscious mind may also work behind the scenes to prioritise and organise the day, such that when you exit the meditation, you are prepared to handle what lies ahead.

2.4 Hone Instinct

Morning is prime time to hone your instincts. Everything is in balance during the morning hours, and to have a sharp intuition, you must be in harmony with nature. When you are synchronised with the natural way of things, your intuition will be able to guide you past trepidation and toward safety and abundance. Meditation brings you into balance with nature and fosters the right environment to cultivate and hone your instincts.

2.5 Energy Booster

Did you know that meditation can increase your overall energy levels? Meditation releases endorphins, which not only help regulate your emotional wellness but also serve as energy boosters. The most effective exercise is conducted when both body and mind are in alignment. Meditation helps harmonise the body and mind together in preparation for training. Which leads perfectly to the next phase of my morning routine.

3. Exercise

Depending on what day it is, I will either do some light stretches or run through my full Home Workout. It’s important to exercise each day, and I like to tick this box off in the morning. If I am due to train at the dojo in the evening, then I get a double workout! Below are five benefits to morning exercise.

3.1 Higher Metabolism

3.2 Established Consistency

3.3 Victory Attained

3.4 More Energy

3.5 Sleep Better

3.1 Higher Metabolism

Exercise speeds up your metabolic rate, but did you know that morning exercise can maintain an elevated metabolic rate throughout most of the day? This means that you will be burning through fat for a more extended period, in comparison to exercising later in the day. If you train on an empty stomach as I do, then when you do eat breakfast, the vast majority of the food will be used to immediately replenish your energy levels, rather than being stored as fat.

3.2 Established Consistency

Life can undoubtedly throw curve balls at us. You intended to exercise in the evening, but then some last-minute shenanigans interfered with your plans. By opting to work out in the morning, there are no distractions to ruin things. Morning exercise is more consistent than working out at any other time of the day, but it is, of course, more important to exercise than not to, so as long as you have a time which works for you, then all is well.

3.3 Victory Attained

Once you’ve finished your morning routine, you’ve won the day! At least, it can certainly feel that way. You should be ready to handle anything that comes your way after completing your morning exercise.  

3.4 More Energy

While it can sometimes feel challenging to start your morning exercise, I can guarantee by the time you’ve finished; you will be feeling pumped and full of energy. Not only will you physically be energised, but your mind will be rearing to go as well! Studies claim that morning exercise is more effective than a cup of coffee when it comes to raising your overall energy levels. If nothing else, it explains why I coast through my days without touching any stimulants.

3.5 Sleep Better

Exercise promotes restful sleep. Especially if done in the morning as during the evening, your body could be too active post-exercise to slow down when bedtime arrives. A night of deep, restful sleep is more natural to attain when you stick to a morning exercise routine.

4. Shower

A quick, cool shower is next up on the list. In the evening, I like to unwind and take a long, hot shower, but in the morning with the whole day ahead of me, a quick refresh with ice-cold water does the trick. Five cold shower benefits are listed below.

4.1 Boosted Recovery

4.2 Improved Circulation

4.3 Increased Immunity

4.4 Raised Alertness

4.5 Build Resilience

4.1 Boosted Recovery

As soon as you finish your morning workout, jump in the shower, and run the water ice cold. Your muscles will thank you. Cold showers can reduce muscle soreness and inflammation, leading to an increased rate of recovery, post-workout.

4.2 Improved Circulation

Dousing yourself in freezing water will get your heart pumping! The elevated heart rate creates improved blood flow throughout the body, flushing out trapped toxins with greater ease. Cold showers also increase your respiratory circulation as well! You will enjoy enhanced breathing committing to regular cold showers.

4.3 Increased Immunity

Cold showers can raise the levels of white blood cells in the body, improving overall immunity. Becoming accustomed to the freezing cold, can also increase resistance against oxidative stress and keep you healthy.

4.4 Raised Alertness

Tired is one word you will not feel when your body is flooded with ice-cold water. The adrenaline rush produced from a cold shower will awaken you quite unlike anything else. Being alert enables you to perform at your peak in whatever it is that you set yourself upon.

4.5 Build Resilience 

A personal motto of mine is as follows.

“I ensure I have a close relationship with discomfort” – Overlord Drakow

Why? 

Because it builds emotional resilience, among other things. Most people do not enjoy the prospect of an ice-cold shower. But training your mind and body to handle the brutally freezing temperatures of a cold shower, helps develop hardness in both body and mind, that transitions into all aspects of your life.

5. Breakfast

Only after completing the previous pre-requisites on my morning routine checklist, do I earn my right to break my fast. For my efforts, I am rewarded with a large bowl of porridge with a chopped banana and some blueberries added into the mix. As you have likely guessed by now, five benefits to delaying your breakfast until after your workout.

5.1 Modulate Insulin

5.2 Boost Hormones

5.3 Build Muscle

5.4 Burn Fat

5.5 Promote Adaptability

5.1 Modulate Insulin

Eating after exercise produces less insulin in the body as there is a greater urgency to replenish energy levels, and therefore less need to convert energy into fat to store and use later.

5.2 Boost Hormones

Both growth hormones and testosterone levels can be elevated by delaying your breakfast. The longer you fast, the more these hormones maintain their higher levels in your body and provide various benefits such as . . .

5.3 Build Muscle

The hormones mentioned above aid in not only building strong muscles but also repairing damaged ones and ensuring your muscles are in tip-top, healthy condition.

5.4 Burn Fat

Delaying breakfast causes your metabolic rate to increase, such that when you do end up breaking your fast, the food you eat will mostly be converted into energy for immediate use, rather than stored as fat in the body for later.

5.5 Promote Adaptability

Once you can exercise before eating, you will be more able to adapt to different performance-based situations that you may encounter. I compete in martial arts tournaments, and sometimes you don’t get the luxury of eating before you are called to the arena. I have fought on a near-empty stomach on more than one occasion.

Not by choice but by circumstance. 

One of the main reasons why I offset my breakfast until after training is to condition my body to fight on empty because who knows what can happen in competitions or even out on the street. I would rather have the flexibility of being able to switch gears at any time regardless of the amount of energy immediately available in my body to use.

Conclusion

If you don’t already have a morning routine in place, I suggest you get one. The benefits, as you can see, are vast and significant. Morning practice will help lower stress levels, increase your ability to focus, build resilience, give you more energy among a myriad of other benefits. Start your morning right, and it will generate positive forward momentum to propel you through the entire day.

Mission complete – Overlord Drakow signing out.