The alarm rings, the head rises, the shower steams, the cof­fee is brewed, the email inbox chimes, the news is watched, the car door slams, and the game of chase begins.

Wak­ing up run­ning is the norm for many in these crazed times. This daily rou­tine can leave many a leader feel­ing over­whelmed and tired. It can cause us to live our days crav­ing an escape.

We go about our sched­ule with mechan­i­cal pre­ci­sion, with­out really being present for days, weeks, or even months. We’re just wait­ing for the day we can board a plane to the trop­ics. Then, once the wheels are up and the Mai Tai is in hand, relax­ation will finally set in.

It does not need to be this way.

I have a rou­tine that I strive to sus­tain just about every week­day. I call it my morn­ing vaca­tion. It is my time alone in the early hours, before the rest of my fam­ily is awake. It usu­ally lasts any­where from 30 to 60 min­utes and includes some time spent read­ing the Bible, pray­ing, reflect­ing, stretch­ing, or med­i­tat­ing. Many morn­ings, I do my reflec­tion in the hot tub as the sun is rising.

When I fol­low through with my morn­ing vaca­tion, I find that it impacts how I go through the rest of my day. I am more present, calm, and aware. It equips me for the chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties the next 24 hours will hold.

A day that begins well has a higher prob­a­bil­ity of fin­ish­ing well.

I think it is a mis­take to wake up in chase mode. Morn­ing vaca­tions can rad­i­cally impact how you lead, serve, and love those in your office and your home. I know many lead­ers who have sim­i­lar rou­tines, and they swear by them.

Take a vaca­tion. You deserve it.

Related posts:

1. Trip or Vacation?
2. The Mon­day Morn­ing Huddle

Tags: Disciplines, Presence, Reflection, Routine, Vacation

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 10:18 am and is filed under Self-Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.