I’ve been interested in figuring out a way to squeeze more out of each day without completely disrupting my normal daily flow. Since my evenings are usually a lot more varied and unpredictable than my mornings, I think the best way to do this would be to wake up an additional half hour or hour earlier than usual (not difficult since I usually don’t wake up until 8:30 or so at the moment) and spend that time on a deliberate routine of some sort.

After trying out a few different ideas this last week, I think I’m going to continue to experiment with a few things that can all happen in the morning:

1. take my vitamiins
2. eat breakfast
3. stretch/sun salutations/morning yoga
4. listen to one of my French tapes
5. do a NYT crossword
6. read out loud

I think it would take longer than an hour to do all of these things, so I’m going to try different combinations to see if any of them stick. The French tapes I just got today are pretty good… they’re all conversation based and so can be easily listened to while stretching. I have an old AM/PM yoga DVD that seems to work well on the iMac (I lost my yoga mat in the move though). And the reading aloud comes from a book I saw a week ago called “Train Your Brain” that stated that the brain is most active when reading out loud. Maybe I could make this fun by reading the morning news out loud and recording it on Odeo or something weird like that. Or by reading whatever book I’m reading at the moment.

This morning ritual’s most challenging detail is whether or not I can actually do it. But since we’re half way through “Deliberate Self-Improvement Month” it seems like I can try to at least make it the rest of this month. These things are always easier once they have actually begun.