The miracle morning routine myth

I’ve read a lot of articles recently about the miracle morning routines of successful people including prime ministers, CEOs, bloggers and even Gandhi himself. It normally goes something like this:

It’s 4am and the alarm goes off, signalling the start of another wholesome and productive day. It’s nice and quiet, the perfect time to get things done before everyone else decides it’s time to drag themselves out of bed.

No need for coffee or breakfast before heading out to the beach to catch some waves. It gets the heart pumping and the blood flowing through the veins. There’s no better way to chase off the last remnants of sleep.

Not only is surfing good exercise but the sound of the waves also calms the mind. Afterwards is a good time to sit on the sand and let the wind dry your body while you meditate. Whether it’s the middle of summer or winter this is an important step to clearing your thoughts and letting in the positive vibes.

Next, it’s time to write in your journal. This makes it easy to track your success, update your plans to take over the world, and rearrange your list of who you need to beat to become the best.

By breakfast time you’ve ascended to a higher plane of existence and are able to enjoy a smug glance down at the tired masses, who are just getting out of bed and reaching, zombie-like, for the coffeepot.

Now, I don’t know about you, but for me, this is as far from reality as you can get.

My morning usually begins when I’m being woken up by the kids yelling because they’re fighting over the remote and what morning cartoon they should watch.

If it’s not the kids waking me up, it’s the garbage truck outside and the dreaded realisation that I forgot to put out the bins, followed by a frantic dash to drag them to the curb.

After getting out of bed, I head to the kitchen, and the morning only gets worse when I catch the dog doing his business on the rug…again.

In between trying to stop the kids from fighting, cleaning up the dog’s mess and trying to get ready, I inevitably burn my breakfast and spill coffee on my clean clothes.

After a quick change of clothes I run out the door only to find my wife’s car blocking mine.

By the time I leave all I can do is hope that I don’t get stuck in traffic.

I wonder how many people really live up to the miracle morning routines they boast about on social media. For the average small business person, parent or employee, believing you have to follow one is not only unrealistic, but you’re setting yourself up for disappointment if you can’t follow it. Not everyone has the time or desire to set such unrealistic standards, and for those of us who live in the real world we’ll just have to make do with the time we have.