Mornings should be your private most creative time. You have full control over how you start your day. If you are like me you can’t say that about the rest of your day.

The instant you check your phone or turn your TV on you are going to be influenced on how to spend the rest of your day. 

I was talking to a friend the other and they were busy buying a new house and selling their old house. He mentioned that he didn’t have time for anything this past summer. I asked a simple question what are doing at 5:30 every morning? He looked a little puzzled by the question then mumbled out the word sleeping.

The reality is that we all have the same amount of time. The way you get the “extra” time to do something is by walking up early.

Waking up at 5:00 am didn’t happen to me overnight. It took a while to get into the habit of waking up early. I’ve talked about my morning ritual here before and it was heavily influenced by Hal Elrod’s miracle morning. My morning ritual hasn’t changed much except now before I leave the house I try to make my bed. I love leaving the room with a made bed. It’s simple thing but it’s feels great every night to slide into a neatly made bed.  Also I start the day off on a productive note – check: bed is maid.

Here’s a few reasons why getting up early is important:

• It might be the only time you are alone during the day.
• You are in full control of this time.
• You can experience how very different the world is in the morning – it’s slow and peaceful.

Here’s a few things you can do early  in the morning:

• Drink a cup water.
• Exercise.
• Read.
• Do a weekly review.
• Drink a cup of coffee or better yet tea.
• Make breakfast.
• Think.
• Say your affirmations.

Here’s a few ways to get to bed early:

• Get to bed at a set time. I’m not saying get to bed early because there is a difference. I notice that if I’m not sleeping by my bedtime it’s hard to wake up in the morning.
• Turn it off. TV’s and cell phones and other electronic devices will keep you brain going and will make it harder to go to sleep.
• Dim the lights in the room.
• Have a ritual before bed. Brush your teeth, change into pajamas, kiss someone good night and then go to sleep. Make it consistent. Your body and mind will then get into a habit of knowing this is the time to fall asleep.

You can do it! I know you can.
Do you get up early or are you struggling with getting up early? Let’s talk more about this on Twitter.

One of the first steps to being productive is to capture your thoughts. A smartphone makes an awesome capture device. But sometimes you are on your phone and you can’t you use it to capture your thoughts. A small notebook is a good solutions but I’ve found that I don’t’ always carry it around with me.

Here’s another option the David Allen NoteTaker Wallet. I always carry my wallet and this wallet has a unique feature, a pad and a pen.

With this wallet you are never without a pen or a piece of paper. 

Twitter is an amazing resource. I love and use twitter everyday. I do get a little overwhelmed byall the information beingposted. And there are certain people who I really want to stay currentwith. An easy way to do this is to make a list.

Focus your twitter feed with twitter lists.

Scrolling and scrolling through hundreds of twitter posts to just find that one feed update can be challenging. This is what I did orsometimeseven I would just give up.

Then one day I found Twitter Lists. What a beautiful thing this list idea was. Now you can organize your feed.

On the iPhone: 

1. Open the app

1. Click on “Me”.

1. Click the settingsbutton(the little gear icon)

1. Click “View Lists”

1. Click the “+” button to add a new list.

1. Type the name of your list and add members to it.

On the iPad: 

1. Open the app

1. Click on “Me”.

1. Scroll down and click on “Lists”.

1. Click the “+” button to add a new list.

1. Type the name of your list and add members to it.

Here’s some ideas on how to use this feature: 

• Make a Productivity list and add me to it! I’ve had a number ofpeopledo this.
• Think of one your hobbies and make a list for that. Do you like photography make a list and add people to it that post about photo’s.
• Do you travel? Make a travel list with people that like to travel. Or narrow in on a place you want to visit.
• Do you follow sports? Add a list withpeoplethatcomment on sports.

This is a great way to save time and narrow in on what twitter can really do for you. Give it a try and tell me about iton Twitter.