Waking up early has long been a tenet of leadership guru Robin Sharma. In his recent book, The 5AM Club, he outlines tactics for making mornings active, focused and super productive – “own your morning, elevate your life” is a much repeated phrase in the book. Over the past five months I have been, with moderate-to-good consistency, waking up at 5AM. While my health, focus and professional achievements have all been positively impacted by this practice, where I am noticing the biggest difference in my parenting. It helps that I’m realistic and adaptable because achieving a hyper-productive routine every morning is unrealistic for pretty much all parents. Here are three ways the 5AM club is making me a better parent.
Enhanced presence
Starting the day with 10 minutes of meditation gets me grounded and focused, especially when I complete the activity outside near the garden. Meditation improves my ability to solve problems, eliminates distraction and enhances my brain’s resilience. When I’ve trained my brain for laser-beam-focus it’s easier to determine the most important thing to do next – sometimes I read or complete a course, sometimes I finish presentations or emails. By the time my kids wake up and stomp downstairs ready to read books, build worlds and co-create pancakes, I have probably completed one or two critical things for my day in a very short amount of time. My focus and presence can be 100% directed to them. And pancakes!
Boundless energy
My kids often wake up with very, very high levels of energy. It’s important to be able to match it, lest it overwhelm me and send the family into a “let’s calm down” spiral first thing in the morning. In addition to getting grounded with mindfulness meditation, spending a few minutes exercising (some days it’s literally stretching on the floor) prepares me for whatever level of activity that my children have in store for us. Sleep has been one of the most challenging (and elusive) things for our family, so being the parent who enthusiastically takes on the early shifts makes the morning more manageable for all of us.
There are exercise-hacks for parents with all ages of kids, which will help you blend physical activity into your morning routine so that you are more prepared to meet any rambunctious little ones where they’re at when they rise.
Organization achieved
It’s hard to parent when you’re distracted by things on a to-do list. When I wake up with my kids (or get woken up by them) I find it challenging to give them 100% of my attention right away because I’m drawn to my planner, laptop and/or phone. Productivity expert Cal Newport has all sorts of tips for getting organized in the morning, such as scheduling days by the minute, locking away devices until 8am, or engaging in the monk morning mode. While none of these are totally feasible for me (I usually send a few emails before 6:30AM), I have developed the habit of getting a few important things started, and often finished, before my kids wake up. Taking time before anyone is awake to map out my day – even if all I do is review my planner and think about (or begin solving) the two biggest problems to solve – helps me let go of work when my kids rise with readiness to wrestle.
Now that this article is complete I am focused, organized and energetically prepared for parenting, which is the most important thing that I do every morning.