The morning ritual… By Walter Van Liesdonk

Hey everybody Bender Cain here once again. I was recently talking with my good friend Walter Van Liesdonk over at Tip-Top Studios. And Walter was stressing the importance of the morning ritual. So I asked Walter to put pen to paper so he can share his thoughts on the importance to every entrepreneur of having a morning ritual.

The morning ritual…..

It can be pretty stressful having your own company. Especially when you work with different partners and people like having, for example, a webcam studio to run. The moment Walter Vee wakes up till the moment he has the chance to be overwhelmed by daily work and incoming requests and all the challenges a webcam studio could give… How to start a day without drowning the first hours when you’re at work……

That is an interesting topic.  I think every entrepreneur has his own way of dealing with work and stress. Yes, those are two different things….. Work can be fun, challenging, exciting and stressful. How to keep this all in balance and make earnings while doing it is the art of a successful business. I’m not an expert but I found my way. 

Before the morning ritual comes there is one important thing before. The evening I go to bed I always evaluate my day. Am I satisfied? What things were good? Could I do things differently the next time? Thinking about this closes my day peacefully and puts things in the right place. Even when I had many ‘improvement situations’ or F-UPS. It gives me a comfortable opportunity to add things to my to-do list for the next day or week. And put things in the right place in my mind. Sometimes I even fall asleep while thinking of the day… Missions successful!

In the morning I always try to wake up before my alarm (my little kid called Lucy). I can only manage to wake up before I have my 8 hours of sleep, so I count the hours before I go to bed. A good sleep means good recovery and regeneration of hormones, immune system and so on. 

The first hour I try not to touch my mobile, laptop or television. I want to manage my mood during the first hour of my day. Not bloggers on youtube, social media posts or any other message on my phone that could influence me. Don’t get me wrong, everyone has the best intentions I believe. But I manage my own time and my feelings at the beginning of the day. With this done properly, I can answer people, ‘like’ posts, reply to email and work more efficiently. Because if you want to be productive it works best when your body and mind is in condition to do this. 

Did you know It is proven when you play video games or watch tv the hours before sleep, your subconscious is active while your prior time already told you hours ago to slowly stop with activities and get ready to bed? I can confirm cause I was a game addict and recognize sleeping problems ;). The addiction to gaming is the constant low dopamine hormone shot unnaturally. Think of small achievements in the game and/or passing to the next on Candy-Crush. Or even more interesting thing is the term ‘Facebook depression’. 

Waking up with my glass of water I take my amino acids and vitamins and sit down 15 minutes before I head to the shower to get really awake. After these first 30 minutes of the day, my brain is active with idea’s and I write them down in my notebook with idea’s (yes a paper notebook 🙂 ) or I try to remember them till I start work. The first 10 minutes at work I start with coffee and make my to-do list. Most of this list is already set up during the weekly meetings and small things can be dynamically added or moved to another day. 

The theory behind this is simple, when I’m happy my brain releases dopamine and when I love something serotonin. When your excited testosterone and epinephrine (adrenaline) when afraid or angry. These are just 4 of the many hormones your body has. Knowing this theory I can choose when someone, something else can control what I feel.  

Making my mind at ease by rethinking the day before I go to sleep. And waking up without any external interference then the things I choose makes my morning ritual awesome to start the day. 

That’s my balance I always try to go for… I wish it was always possible, but it’s very

comfortable when I’m able to do it! 

 Written By Walter Van Liesdonk Co-founder of TipTop Studios