“If you win the morning, you win the day.” - Unknown
How do you start your day off? Aristotle said, “Well begun is half done.” What he is alluding to is that the key to having a successful day is to begin it the right way. Most of the prolific martial artists of the past started their days off right by having a daily practice or morning ritual. Torao “Tiger” Mori, the Kendo and Iaido great, started each day off with 1000 suburi or “overhead cuts” and was so serious about his morning practice that his family knew never to disturb him before he was done. Furuya Sensei said that his Iaido teacher, Takeshi Mitsuzuka did shohatto or the first kata in Muso Shinden Ryu Iaido 100 times each morning and claimed that he would be happy if he could do at least one “perfectly.” According to Gaku Homma Sensei, O’Sensei woke up at 6:00 AM every morning and prayed for 25 minutes after bathing, rain or shine. Morning rituals are not just for martial artists. Some of the most successful business people and self-development gurus also start their day off with a routine. The author of the 4-hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss’ morning routine is to make his bed, meditate for 21 minutes, hang from a bar to decompress his spine, drink Pu-erh tea and journal. Tony Robbins’ morning routine is 1 minute of breathing exercises of 3 sets of 30 breathes, he focuses his mind on three things to be grateful for, prays for 3 minutes and ends with 3 minutes of focusing on things he wants to thrive in his life. Each of us are busy and every day an unfathomable amount of things and people need our attention and it is easy to succumb to the distractions of daily life. Having a daily practice or morning ritual enables us to start the day off right because we focus solely on ourselves which helps us to remind ourselves who we are and what we want in life. Warriors know that if we win the morning, the chances are that we will win the day as well.
Today’s goal: If you don’t have one, start a morning ritual to start your day off right