Use the 1-3-5 Method to Design a Killer Morning Routine
You don’t lack discipline, you just don’t have a system.
You don’t lack discipline, you just don’t have a system. High performance people have a system that helps them get shit done consistently.
In his book, Out of the Crisis, W. Edwards Deming said 94% of most problems occur at the system level, not the individual level.
The 1-3-5 Method is a productivity system created by Betty Liu, a high flyer at the New York Stock Exchange.
It looks like this:
1 Big Task
3 Medium Tasks
5 Small Tasks
And this is how we can apply the same system to design a morning routine that fits your lifestyle and set you up to attack the rest of the day.
Based on your goals, identify your Most Important Task (MIT) and start working on it as soon as you wake up. These are typically high energy, high reward activities.
Our energy and focus is highest in the morning meaning there is a greater chance of completing the goal if it’s prioritised as the first task of the day.
A few examples of MIT’s are:
45 minute workout
Write 1 page of your book
Code for an hour
Learn a new skill
(Insert specific personal goal) focus time for (X mins)
Once the MIT is complete, you’ve started to generate momentum, one of the most underrated forces of habit change. It's like a snowball effect: once you get going, it's easier to keep going!
Have you noticed that going on a trip completely disrupts your momentum?
Let’s say you were going to the gym 4 days per week for the past 3 months. You’ve found your rhythm and each gym session rolls into the next. Then you take a trip for a week and when you return your gym routine falls off the wagon. It might take a couple of weeks to get back into the swing of things and then when you go back it’s the toughest gym session in months. You disrupted your momentum. You ate differently, slept differently, missed 4 sessions and now you need to expend more energy to go to the gym and workout.
What about a football team that wins 10 games in a row and then they lose a game and immediately after that loss they lose again. This happens time and time again. ‘It’s easy when you’re winning’. A team carries the momentum forward into the next game. After a loss the momentum has been disrupted and it takes more energy to start turning the momentum cog again.
By completing a high energy, high reward task at the beginning of the day you can carry that momentum into tackling smaller tasks while using less energy doing so.
So, after the MIT is complete it's time to start on your mid level tasks. They are easier to accomplish than the MIT and take around 15-30 minutes to complete.
Examples of Mid Level tasks are:
Write Morning Pages
Breathing Techniques
Stretching
Practice Mindfulness
Read the news for (insert specificity)
Finally to round off the morning routine, finish with 5 easy tasks. They will require no mental energy to complete and can almost be done on autopilot.
Examples of 5 easy tasks are:
Taking supplements
Eating breakfast
Making the bed
Drink a glass of water
Put the laundry on
Check emails
Skincare routine
Tidy up
Here is an example morning routine using the 1-3-5 Method:
6am
Wake Up
6.10am
Workout
7am
Practice Mindfulness
7.15am
Write Morning Pages
7.30am
Read 1 chapter of a book
7.45am to 8am
Drink a glass of water
Take daily supplements
Make a protein shake
Put laundry on
Check emails
Why I love the 1-3-5 Method for Morning Routines
We all have those little tasks that don’t take long but soon enough we forget them, miss one day then two and then we don’t do them for a while.
If you have medication or supplements that you want to take each morning but sometimes forget, it’s because it’s not part of your routine yet. When trying to create new habits there is resistance to change. If you take your supplements at the same time every day you will do a much better job of doing this consistently (momentum!).
The 1-3-5 Method is also adaptable. The Most Important Task is unique to you and your goals. Want to lose weight then a workout is probably your MIT. Want to build a side hustle then writing a newsletter article is your MIT (ahem…). In my example practicing mindfulness is a medium size task. If your morning routine objective is to combat your anxiety or to calm the mind, then practicing mindfulness becomes your MIT and you do it as soon as you wake up.
But most importantly, the 1-3-5 Method generates momentum. A 2 hour morning routine flies by as you roll one task into the next. You know what you need to do when you wake up and you go and do it.
However if you lack discipline, find it tough to wake up in the morning and have very little get up and go right now then the 1-3-5 Method is going to be difficult to implement. The likelihood that you can go from no morning routine to a super strict 9 task routine is pretty low. But that’s ok…
Remember, creating a morning routine takes time and practice. It's okay to start with just one task and build up over time. The most important thing is to keep going and create that momentum!