一日之计在于晨。早晨你不会经常被打扰，其他时间就难说了，而且你刚从睡梦中醒来，神清气爽。这样，你的个人计划比锻炼或者思考策略，能有机会成为现实了。
如果你有远大目标，可早晨的日程太繁忙，为了实现这些目标，你在早晨都该做些什么呢？
因为我经常写些时间管理的东西，几年下来，我看过好几百份不同的日程表。我研究人们早晨的习惯发现，最有效利用这段时间的方法可以分为五个步骤。按照这五个步骤，你就能逐渐建立起属于你的有规律的早晨。
1. 记录你的时间
想要更好的利用时间，需要知道你现在是如何使用时间的。如果你曾经减过肥，你就知道营养师会让你记录饮食，这样才不会不知不觉吃多了。时间也是一样，尽可能频繁的记录你对时间的使用，不管是使用电子表格，word文档，还是纸和笔。
为了记录你早晨的时间，你需要记录整个星期的活动。为什么？因为通常解决早晨的问题，要从一天其他的时间着手。比如，你早晨起床时感觉很疲劳，因为昨晚又熬夜了。但如果你看看你每天晚上在干嘛，你会发现你总是在做一些无关紧要的事。电视节目可以录制下来早点看嘛，或者早晨六点半在跑步机上边跑步边看。
就早晨本身来说，有条理也不代表做得足够好。好好琢磨一下你的判断标准，比如你相信“想要工作干得好，要比老板来得早”，因为父辈就是这么干的，但你老板可能并不领情，因为他早来一小时，也没能清静。如果你觉得有些事非做不可，那就去做吧，但记住，一生中非做不可的事情没有几件。
2. 描绘蓝图
当你知道了你如何使用时间，问问你自己，怎样算是一个美好的早晨。对我来说，由晨跑开始，然后和家人共进早餐，当家人都出门了，开始专注在我的长期计划上，比如写书。下面几个方法能丰富你的早晨。
个人成长
宗教信仰：神圣的文字教会我们人性与历史，即使你不信奉相应的宗教。如果你信，祈祷或者冥想能让你更深刻地理解你的信仰。
努力锻炼：半程马拉松，铁人三项赛，骑长途单车，为这些事情做准备能把你的身体带上新的层次。
接触艺术：没必要和你的子女大早出门搞长途拉练。早晨是人们一天中最有耐心的时候，你们可以与艺术共享一段好时光。
职业发展
制定策略：这是个生活被“网”住的时代，人们总是抱怨没有时间思考。利用早晨，想想你的职业生涯或所在单位将来应该是个什么样子。
阅读专业期刊：从其他人的研究和战略思维中获益，在你专业领域中获得新的洞察力。
参加在线课程：如果你想换工作或者改变职业方向，自学课程会让你的技能更突出。
3. 后方支持
你的目标如何融入到你的生活？你没必要为了这事改变已经排好的时间规划，或者早点去上班，因为更紧急的事情会挤走过于太耗时的事情。列一份早晨的时间表，几点起床，几点上床睡觉，才能保证睡眠充足。至于早晨本身，怎样能使你的习惯更容易？需要把画板放到床边吗？能用个更振奋的闹铃吗，或者换个不那么容易关掉的闹钟？
我们太容易相信自己的借口，尤其借口还不错的时候。总之，制定好计划，准备好需要的东西，但不管你做什么，不要认为不可能。
4. 养成习惯
这是最重要的一步。把渴望变成习惯需要意志力。以下五个步骤能让你的早晨更规律。
开始要慢： 早点睡觉，提前十五分钟起床，这么做几天，直到感觉可以接受新的安排为止。
注意能量：养成一个习惯需要付出努力，当你还在适应时，要正确对待自己。饮食合理、充分，让周围希望你成功的人都支持你。
一次一个：如果你同时希望开始跑步，祈祷，为报刊写作，只挑一个，把这个习惯养成之后，再去尝试另一个。
绘制进度：养成一个习惯需要好几周的时间，所以至少在前30天记录下完成的情况。当你感觉错过了一次就像漏了东西一样，比如像忘了刷牙，你养成习惯又进了一步。
贿赂自己：习惯养成以后，本身就是一种动力，但在此之前，你可以答应自己看场演唱会，这样外在的刺激能帮助你继续向前。而且，记得早晨的习惯不能成了自我惩罚，要选择喜欢的东西，让早餐前的习惯要有机会成为一天中最棒的部分。
5. 必要时调整
生活总会变的。我们需要不时作出调整，去掉不再有用的习惯，用新的取而代之，这让我们感觉每一天都是新的。
早晨非常有魔力——新的一天开始，我们获得新的机会把事情都做好。从小的胜利出发，后面的成功接踵而至。早饭前的时间是宝贵的，不要因为没睡醒把时间浪费了。你可以利用这些时间做很多事情。每当我想说没时间，我就提醒自己，如果真想早起，我肯定做得到。只要我们真想利用早晨，它们溜不走的。
你想怎样利用早晨呢？这个问题很重要，好好想想。你一旦决定了，小习惯能成就大事业，你能掌控你的早晨，就能掌控你的人生，所有成功的人都知道这个道理。
Mornings are a great time for getting things done. You’re less likely to be interrupted than you are later in the day. Your supply of willpower is fresh after a good night’s sleep. That makes it possible to turn personal priorities like exercise or strategic thinking into reality.
But if you’ve got big goals--and a chaotic a.m. schedule--how can you make over your mornings to make these goals happen?
Because I write about time management frequently, I’ve gotten to see hundreds of calendars and schedules over the years. From studying people’s morning habits, I’ve learned that getting the most out of this time is a five-part process. Follow these steps, though, and you’re on your way to building morning habits that stick.
1. Track Your Time
Part of spending your time better is knowing how you’re spending it now. If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you know that nutritionists tell you to keep a food journal because it keeps you from eating mindlessly. It’s the same with time. Write down what you’re doing as often as you can. Use my spreadsheet, a Word document, or a pad and pen.
While measuring your mornings, try tracking your whole week. The reason? The solution to morning dilemmas often lies at other times of the day. You may be too tired because you’re staying up late. But if you look at how you’re spending your nights, you’ll notice that you’re not doing anything urgent. The Daily Show can be recorded and watched earlier--possibly while you’re on the treadmill at 6:30 a.m.
As for the mornings themselves, you can be organized but still not be spending them well. Question your assumptions. You may believe that “a man who wants to keep his job gets into the office before his boss” because that’s what your father did, but your boss may be disappointed that he doesn’t get the place to himself for an hour first! If you decide that something is a top priority, do it, but understand that we have to do few things in life.
2. Picture the Perfect Morning
After you know how you’re spending your time, ask yourself what a great morning would look like. For me, it would start with a run, followed by a hearty family breakfast. After getting people out the door, I’d focus on long-term projects like my books. Here are some other ideas for morning enrichment:
For personal growth:
Read through a religious text: Sacred texts can teach us about human nature and history, even if they’re not from a religion you subscribe to. If they are, pray or meditate and get to know your beliefs in a deeper way.
Train for something big: Aiming to complete a half-marathon, a triathlon, or a long bike ride will keep you inspired as you take your fitness to the next level.
Do art projects with your kids:. Mornings don’t have to be a death march out the door. Enjoy your time with your little ones at a time of day when you all have more patience.
For professional growth:
Strategize: In an age of constant connectivity, people complain of having no time to think. Use your mornings to picture what you want your career and organization to look like in the future.
Read articles in professional journals: Benefit from other people’s research and strategic thinking, and gain new insights into your field.
Take an online class: If a job or career change is in your future, a self-paced class can keep your skills sharp.
3. Think Through the Logistics
How could this vision mesh with the life you have? Don’t assume you have to add it on top of the hours you already spend getting ready or that you’ll have to get to work earlier. If you fill the morning hours with important activities you’ll crowd out things that are more time intensive than they need to be. Map out a morning schedule. What time would you have to get up and what time do you need to go to bed to get enough sleep? As for the mornings themselves, what would make your ritual easier? Do you need to set your easel next to your bed?
Can you find a more cheerful alarm clock or one you can’t turn off so easily?
It’s easy to believe our own excuses, particularly if they’re good ones. Come up with a plan and assemble what you need, but whatever you do, don’t label this vision as impossible
4. Build the Habit
This is the most important step. Turning a desire into a ritual requires willpower. Use these fives steps to optimize your routine:
Start slowly: Go to bed and wake up fifteen minutes earlier for a few days until this new schedule seems doable.
Monitor your energy: Building a new habit takes effort, so take care of yourself while you’re trying. Eat right, eat enough, and surround yourself with supportive people who want to see you succeed.
Choose one new habit at a time to introduce: If you want to run, pray, and write in a journal, choose one of these and make it a habit before adding another.
Chart your progress: Habits take weeks to establish, so keep track of how you’re doing for at least thirty days. Once skipping a session feels like you forgot something--like forgetting to brush your teeth--you can take your ritual up a notch.
Feel free to use bribery: Eventually habits produce their own motivation, but until then, external motivations like promising yourself concert tickets can keep you moving forward. And keep in mind that your morning rituals shouldn’t be of the self-flagellation variety. Choose things you enjoy:
your before-breakfast ritual has the potential to become your favorite part of the day.
5. Tune Up as Necessary
Life changes. Sometimes we have to regroup, but the goal is to replace any rituals that no longer work with new ones that make you feel like every day is full of possibility.
That is ultimately the amazing thing about mornings--they always feel like a new chance to do things right. A win scored then creates a cascade of success.
The hopeful hours before most people eat breakfast are too precious to be blown on semiconscious activities. You can do a lot with those hours. Whenever I’m tempted to say I don’t have time for something, I remind myself that if I wanted to get up early, I could. These hours are available to all of us if we hoose to use them.
So how would you like to use your mornings? This important question requires careful thinking. But once you decide, small rituals can accomplish great things. When you make over your mornings, you can make over your life. That is what the most successful people know.
