Your Morning Ritual is simply what you do every morning when you first wake up.  For most of us this is rushing out of bed, and trying to get to work on time.

I’ve read in my many personal development sources about the importance of a morning ritual.  This is a ritual that you come up with to start your day off.  Most sources claim that a morning ritual boosts up your productivity tremendously throughout the day.

While you are free to include anything you want in your morning ritual, some common elements are:

• Physical activity, some kind of exercise like walking, yoga or even going to the gym
• A healthy breakfast (many health guru’s claim that this motivates you to eat healthy the rest of the day)
• A shower or other grooming, cleanliness activities

I decided to give the morning ritual a serious try, and wanted to keep everyone updated on my progress.  I will be trying it for 5 days and posting everyday about my results.  Today was day 1, and here is my morning ritual:

• Drink 0.5 Liter of Water (might add protein powder) - Many claim that this leaves your skin and body feeling healthy after the dehydration that happens during sleep.
• Physical Activity for 30 Minutes.  This could be a walk, a run, or some weight lifting.
• Shower
• Eat a Healthy Breakfast
• Review my Goals & Visualizations & Plan Goals for the Day

In my experiment I will be checking if this really does increase my productivity, and if it’s worth the effort.

Since today was day 1, I did notice the following:

• I woke up feeling a bit lazy, however after the physical activity portion of my morning ritual I was feeling great and ready to tack another day
• I did get a lot more work done than usual
• My head has been a bit clearer, and I have been feeling a bit more energetic

To stay up to date on my morning ritual progress, and findings make sure to subscribe to my rss feed.

Also if you are interested in trying the morning ritual yourself for 5 days and reporting your results, please leave a comment below stating your interest.  I will contact you at the email address you use when submitting the comment.

Here are some new personal development articles from all over the web…

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Wally Bock presents What good can I make of this? posted at Momentor.

Dr. Norm Williams presents Manage your fears and live your dreams posted at Dr. Norm.

Sheila Danzig presents Distance Learning Offers Teens a Second Start posted at Degree Talk Blog.

Health - Fitness

Jerome Ryan presents Personal Trainers Have Fitness Struggles Too, Part 1 posted at Dating Tips, Fitness Tips, Daily Blog of the TheFitnessPersonals.com.

Zoe Anderson presents The Turned Off Beginner posted at thinkpilates.com, saying, “How to get past the slow period in pilates and why the slow period is essential.”

Jerome Ryan presents How to Start an Exercise Program posted at Dating Tips, Fitness Tips, Daily Blog of the TheFitnessPersonals.com.

Money - Income

Eric Holmlund presents Getting a Vision for Your Business posted at Eric’s Tips, saying, “Great blog!”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents 6 Financial Cliches That Will Make You Rich posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “Thank you!”

Security - Comfort Zone - Challenge

Chris Edgar presents It’s Never Too Early For A “Midlife Crisis” posted at Purpose Power Coaching, saying, “The “midlife crisis”—a time in some middle-aged people’s lives when they rethink their priorities and make changes accordingly—is a subject of mixed feelings in our culture. Some applaud people who have the courage to reevaluate their direction in life, while others see it as “too late” to change one’s course midlife. Personally, I don’t think it’s ever too late to start considering what we’re here to do in this life. What I wonder is why we call these times in our lives “crises” at all. As I suggest in this article, it’s best to constantly keep our purpose and direction in mind, no matter how old or young we are.”

Alex Smith presents The Top Five Self-Defense Techniques that Women Should Know About posted at TBO-TECH.

Marcus Smith presents You Speak to the Public Each Day posted at MarcusASmith.com, saying, “You think public speaking only occurs on stage? Think again.

Read this article to find out how you are ALREADY using your public speaking skills every day.”

Lola presents How to clear limiting beliefs: get curious (2/3) posted at Real World Spiritual and Personal Development.

Social Skills

Shawn Ellis presents In the Spotlight: Keith Ferrazzi on Relationships and Business Success - Part One posted at TSG Speakers Bureau Blog, saying, “This week’s edition of our “In the Spotlight” interview series has part one of a session with Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone, talking about the importance of relationships in achieving success.”

Carole Gold presents It’s All About Energy posted at McKay Today, saying, “What’s the secret to successful, long-lasting relationship?”

Peter Murphy presents How To Confidently Assert Yourself At Work posted at Communication Skills Power.

Success - Failure

Jerome Ryan presents Why Giving Yourself Space Is So Important posted at Dating Tips, Fitness Tips, Daily Blog of the TheFitnessPersonals.com.

Bob and Melinda Blanchard presents Ch-ch-ch-ch changes posted at Live What You Love, saying, “You don’t have to be stuck in your life because you fear change; evaluate where you are now, where you want to go, and start moving forward.”

RivoH presents The Art Of Timing posted at How To Succeed In Life My Way, saying, “My blog is about developing your personality and contains tips to achieve success”

Fred Black presents Why Do Smart People Sometimes Find Success So Difficult? posted at Fred Black: Internet Business Blog..

Dale presents How To Keep Your Momentum Going To Accomplish Anything You Desire posted at Personal Development & Success Strategies for Life.

Mitesh presents 40% Concept 60% Execution posted at Invent Creativity.

Mike Solara presents One change per day posted at Mike Solara.

Mike Solara presents Enthusiasm posted at Mike Solara.

Mike Solara presents Toxic People posted at Mike Solara.

Dr. Joe Capista presents Tools for Constructing the Road to Success posted at The Success Triangle, saying, “Many times when you are pursuing your dreams, you lose sight of the complete picture. Instead many people settle just for a small piece. Whether you are running a conventional business or a nontraditional one, all businesses require one thing and that is people of vision.”

Daylle Deanna Schwartz presents It’s All SUCCESS! posted at Lessons from a Recovering DoorMat, saying, “When you redefine what success means to you to appreciate all the little successes you may not usually acknowledge, the Law of Attraction brings you more successes.”

Lexi Sundell presents Noticing Opportunity posted at Energies of Creation, saying, “Life brings opportunity in unexpected ways.”

Emmanuel Oluwatosin presents Are your prepared for Success? posted at Emmanuel Oluwatosin: Inspiring Excellence, Realising Ambitions.

Donald Latumahina presents Finding Happiness: 10 Things to Avoid to Find Happiness in Life posted at Life Optimizer.

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After hearing Jay-z’s interview from Brooklyn to the Boardroom, I had to take some notes and share them with everyone.

• Jay-z himself didn’t think he would be a great rapper, he was on “his hustle” trying to make some quick money when he came up with his first album.
• Every single record company turned down Jay-z at first.  He had to start from the ground up.  He used to sell cd’s out of the back of a truck since no record label would sign him up.  He founded rocafella in order to launch his first record.
• Jay-z noticed crowds copying his clothing styles, they wore brands and colors he wore when he performed.  So Jay-z approached a brand name clothing company trying to make a deal pointing out his fans as the market.  The company wouldn’t go for it so Jay-z started his own clothing company just like he did with the record label.  He called it Roca-Wear.
  • They basically got 2 sawing machines, and started making clothing
  • Their offices had rats at nights, so they always had to be out by 5pm
  • Roca-Wear went from making $0 - $90 million in one year
• Jay-z and his group are all about creating multiple streams of income since music and hip-hop as a business model can be very shaky at times
• Jay-z is on the board of directors of the New York Nets
• Jay-z also signed contract with Reebok to produce his lines of sneakers
• Jay-z also is got his 40/40 sports bar in Manhattan
• Jay-z is even got his own vodka
• Jay-z basically created a lifestyle

This lead to the question of why it is that many rap and hip-hop artists including Jay-z, Dr Dre, Eminem, Lil Wayne, & 50 Cent become very successful and rich, coming from rags to riches.  On the streets they learn how to do business (sometimes from selling drugs), how to handle relationships, overhead, costs, deal with customers, complaints, and competition.

“Truths Trumps Intelligence” - A quote said by Jay-z, not sure if it’s his or if he was quoting someone else.  He indicated that if he doesn’t understand something, he admits it and asks for help, instead of trying to be smart, and do it himself the wrong way.

Jay-z indicate that a big key to his success in the music business is that he didn’t know how it worked in the first place.  He said that everyone else in that business thought they knew it all and were all trying the same tactics, and techniques.  Jay-z on the other had followed his intuition, he would see a large crowd of people somewhere he would show up and start rapping.  “When you have a manul infront of you, you are restricted, you are in a cast” - Jay-z said he didn’t have that which is why he was successful.

“I don’t think it’s based on making music” - Jay-z talking about how everything he does is part of him, he’ll never pretend or try to be something he’s not, he’ll never advertise something he doesn’t like, he’s very authentic, and real in many ways.