Begin Your Day like Marcus Aurelius!

Starting your day positively creates momentum for the rest of the day. Our brains function the best in the morning. Marcus Aurelius, the head of the most powerful empire on earth, had the same number of hours in the day as any of us. Being a king, a philosopher, a writer and a husband, how did he get it all done?

Wake Up Early and Get to Work

“Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being?” Tell yourself you have to work – as a human being and get out of your bed. Everything in nature is working – doing what it was born to do to keep the world turning. You are not born to huddle under the blanket and stay warm.

Take Time to Journal

First thing in the morning, Marcus Aurelius takes his time to journal. He jots down notes about what he was likely to face in the day ahead. He talked about forgiveness, peace and emotion management. This helps to train and discipline our character.

Prepare for the Day Ahead

Same as dealing with works, we should anticipate the worst when dealing with people. There are people and things that will annoy us every day, but it is within out control to avoid it – all depends on our perception. Practice being calm.

Important Tasks Comes First

“Concentrate every minute like a Roman—like a man—on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can—if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centred, irritable.” — Marcus Aurelius. Tackle the most important task first, concentrate and complete it.

Everyone will Die

If you leave life right now, what would you do? Think of this whenever you must decide. As Marcus tucked his children into bed and said goodnight to them, he would think to himself don’t rush this, this might be the last time you do this. This makes sense because he had thirteen children with his wife, by the time he passed away, he was left with only five.

Our days are numbered, plan them wisely. If we wish to spend our days like Marcus, then we should maximize our time and direct our attention to the things that matter most!

Reference:

1.     How To Plan Your Day Like Marcus Aurelius, https://dailystoic.com/

2.     This Is What a Good Day Looks Like–According to Marcus Aurelius, https://ryanholiday.net/