6个“晨间仪式”让清晨时光更高效

世界是我们的，世界是你们的，世界最终是那些早起的鸟儿的。

至少莱比锡大学2009年的一项研究是这么认为的。该大学的研究人员发现，“早起的人要比晚睡的人做事更加积极主动。”

不过做一个高效的早起者，并不仅仅意味着你要起得比所有人都早，而是要把自己放在一个积极的心态上，在所有人之前做完那些重要的事情。

所以如果你很早就被闹钟叫醒，然后津津有味地看了两个小时电视，最后才踩着点无精打采地去上班，那也是没有任何意义的。

要以正确的方式开启新的一天，就得养成一些好习惯。

你或许觉得下面的六个“晨间仪式”实施起来很不容易，但只要坚持下去，最终一定会收获成功的果实。

提前一晚做计划

这一条乍看起来并不属于“晨间仪式”，但是要想让你的清晨变得高效，这一条是异常重要的。所以为了让第二天早上变得高产，你前一天晚上就要做好计划。

如果你前一天晚上把什么都准备好了，第二天一起床就可以立即行动了。所以你头一天晚上就要准备好第二天的早餐，至于明天要干什么，也要列一张小小的日程表。

这一条虽然听起来非常简单，但当你夜里下班回家，累成狗的你很可能一头扎在沙发上，喝点小酒就洗洗睡了，把一切思考工作都留给了明天去做。

再痛苦也要早起

就算你是夜猫子，现在也得改改这个毛病了。

根据时间管理专家、《大多数成功人士在早餐前做什么》一书的作者劳拉·范德卡姆针对20名企业高管进行的一项调查，90%的受访高管表示，他们在工作日每天六点之前就会起床。比如百事公司CEO卢英德每天凌晨四点就起床了，不到七点就到办公室。迪士尼CEO鲍伯·伊格尔每天早上四点半起床阅读。Twitter首席执行官杰克·多西每天早上五点半起床跑步。

对于我们这些晚睡综合症患者来说，这些听起来简直太痛苦了，不过如果你早点上床睡觉，那么随着时间的推移，你慢慢也就不会感到早起的痛苦了。总之，高产的早晨总是从早起开始的。

用晨练开启一天

我们之中总有些“超人”天不亮就会去锻炼（当然也不排除有些人是嘴炮党）。当然对于大多数人来说，每天一大早就把自己弄得汗流浃背、浑身酸痛，怎么都觉得得不偿失。

然而早上正是锻炼的理想时间。用晨练开始新一天，才是避免拖延症的最好方法。

你可以这样想：如果世界上最忙碌的少数人都能挤出时间锻炼，那么你也能。比如范德卡姆指出，施乐公司CEO乌苏拉·伯恩丝每周都会挤出两次时间，在早上六点进行私人健身训练，每次一个小时。

另据《商业内幕》报道，美国总统奥巴马每天早上都会做力量和心肺功能训练，Twitter首席执行官杰克·多西每天会重复三次7分钟的“小训练”。

范德卡姆表示：“他们都是很忙的人，如果他们都要抽时间去锻炼，就说锻炼真的非常重要。”

着手重要的项目

不被打扰的宁静清晨，正是集中精力解决重要工作项目的理想时段。另外，如果你每天一开始就做这些重要的项目，也能确保它们比其他令人分心的事物（比如孩子、员工、老板等等）更能得到你的关注。

范德卡姆举了个例子：有一个商业策略师，她每天都要参加各种会议，被各种事务打断，因此她经常觉得这一天什么都没干。后天她把每天早上当成做项目的时间，而且每天选择一个最重要的项目集中精力去做。当然她的同事不会在早上六点半打扰她，因此她终于有时间集中精力做重要的事了。

干副业

如果你整天都在开会，经常是又累又饿的状态，自然没时间干一些你喜欢的“副业”，有限的精力都用来想中午吃什么了。这就是为什么很多成功人士会在早上留出一小时的时间，做他们喜欢的项目，然后再开始一天的工作。

芝加哥大学的一位历史老师对范德卡姆表示，她每天早上6点到9点都会专心创作一部讲西非宗教政治的书。一般来说，她会先阅读几篇期刊文章，然后创作上几页，之后才去教室讲课。

正是因为每天早上都挤出时间创作，并养成了习惯，她才能将写作事业坚持到底。

有她这种习惯的人不在少数。据《电讯报》报道，贝多芬、约翰·弥尔顿、库尔特·冯内古特、玛雅·安吉洛和雨果等文学艺术大师也都喜欢在早上搞创作。

享受宁静

生活有时候很疯狂，在繁忙的日程中，经常难以给自己留下片刻的宁静。如果你每天早上都过得忙忙碌碌，则更加难以想象自己何时才有喘口气的时候。

但是练习“静观”却并非是浪费时间。你可以每天早上抽出几分钟静思一下，利用这点难得的宁静时光去祈祷、冥想、畅想未来的成功，或者回想一下自己感恩什么——总之是想各种能给你带来正能量的东西。这种短暂的放空，能给你接下来的一天打下良好的心态。（财富中文网）

本文原载于BusinessInsider.com。

译者：贾政景

The early birds will inherit the earth.

At least that’s what a 2009 University of Leipzig study found. The researchers concluded that “morning people were more proactive than evening types.”

But being an effective early riser isn’t just about waking up before everyone else. It’s about putting yourself in a positive mindset and getting important things done before everyone else.

So there’s no point in setting your alarm clock at a crazy-early time if you’re just going to zone out in front of the television for a bit before slouching off to work.

To start your day right, you’ve got to get into some good habits.

Following are six morning rituals that may seem hard to adopt but will ultimately reap major rewards, if you stick with them.

Make a plan the night before

This isn’t a morning ritual per se, but it’s a habit that’s definitely conducive to a productive morning routine. So make sure to set yourself up for a successful morning by creating a game plan the night before.

It’s always helpful to have everything you need for the day laid out and ready to go when you wake up. Make sure you’re stocked on whatever you need for breakfast. Write out a little schedule on what you need to accomplish the next day.

This all sounds pretty simple, but when you’re getting home at night, it’s very tempting to just crash on the sofa with a glass of wine and leave all the thinking for tomorrow.

Wake up painfully early

Sorry, night owls. It’s time to adapt.

In a poll of 20 executives cited by Laura Vanderkam, a time-management expert and the author of “What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast,” 90% said they wake up before 6 a.m. on weekdays. PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, for example, wakes at 4 and is in the office no later than 7. Disney CEO Bob Iger gets up at 4:30 to read. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is up at 5:30 to go jogging.

Yes, this might sound awful, but if you get to sleep earlier, that’ll numb the pain of such early wake-ups over time. The bottom line: Productive mornings start with early wake-up calls.

Start the day right with exercise

Yeah, there are super humans among us who crave that pre-sunrise workout (that, or they’re just really good liars). Still, for everyone else, waking up at the crack of dawn to sweat and get sore probably doesn’t sound ideal.

But the morning is probably the ideal time to exercise. By starting your day with exercise, you’ll prevent yourself from putting it off.

Think about it this way: If some of the busiest people in the world can find time to workout, so can you. For example, Vanderkam notes that Xerox CEO Ursula Burns schedules an hourlong personal-training session at 6 a.m. twice a week.

US President Barack Obama starts out each day with strength and cardio training while Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey does three repetitions of a seven-minute workout, Anisa Purbasari reported for Business Insider.

“These are incredibly busy people,” says Vanderkam. “If they make time to exercise, it must be important.”

Tackle your high-priority projects

The quiet hours of the morning can be the ideal time to focus on an important work project without being interrupted. What’s more, spending time on it at the beginning of the day ensures that it gets your attention before others — kids, employees, bosses — use it up.

Vanderkam uses the example of a business strategist who dealt with so many ad hoc meetings and interruptions throughout the day that she felt she couldn’t get anything done. She started thinking of the early mornings as project time, and chose a top-priority project each day to focus on. Sure enough, not a single colleague dropped in on her at 6:30 a.m. She could finally concentrate.

Work on your side hustle

Your side project is easy to skip when you’ve been in meetings all day, are tired and hungry, and have to figure out what’s for dinner. That’s why many successful people put in an hour or so on their personal projects before they officially start their days.

A history teacher at the University of Chicago told Vanderkam that she spent the hours between 6 and 9 working on a book about the religious politics of West Africa. She was able to read journal articles and write several pages before dealing with her teaching responsibilities.

By carving out the time in the morning to write, and making it a habit, she could follow through.

She’s not in bad company. According to the Telegraph, Ludwig Beethoven, John Milton, Kurt Vonnegut, Maya Angelou, and Victor Hugo all tackled their creative projects in the morning.

Enjoy the silence

Life can get crazy. It’s often hard to find any moments to spare in your busy schedule. If you’re always rushing around in the morning, it’s difficult to imagine being able to spare any time to have a quiet moment.

But practicing mindfulness isn’t a waste of time. Try to reserve a few minutes for silent contemplation at the start of every day. You can use those peaceful moments to pray, meditate, envision your future success, or reflect on what you’re grateful for — whatever works for you. That short pause can put you in a great mindset for the rest of the day.

This article originally appeared on BusinessInsider.com