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7 morning rituals that are hard to adopt but will pay off forever

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Running in the morning

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."

However, 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.

In order to to start your day right, you've got to get into some good habits.

Here are seven morning rituals that may seem hard to adopt, but will ultimately reap major rewards, if you stick with them:

Jenna Goudreau contributed to a previous version of this article.

SEE ALSO: I tried waking up at 4 a.m. every day like Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi, but I ended up creating a perfect morning routine for myself

DON'T MISS: I followed Benjamin Franklin's daily schedule for a week, and the most rewarding part was also the most difficult

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 a.m. and is in the office no later than 7 a.m. Meanwhile, Disney CEO Bob Iger gets up at 4:30 to read, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is up at 5:30 to jog.

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 those super humans among us who crave that pre-sunrise workout (or are they 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.

However, 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 hour-long 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, as Anisa Purbasari reported for Business Insider.

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



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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