How To Do A Kick Ass Power Hour

So when I wrote about the greatest lie the world tells people and the importance of thought, I brought up the importance of doing a Power Hour to clear some space for you to sit and think.  In doing so, I got a great question from an old college acquaintance about how to do a power hour.  I appreciated the question and thought that surely, over the four years of doing this blog, I must have an article on the subject.   Well, it turns out I do not.

It turns out I have flirted with the subject in posts you can read here and here but I have never really broken down how to do a kick ass power hour.

For those of you who don’t know what a “power hour” is, a power hour is about taking time every morning before you do anything else and work on your mind, body and spirit.  Here are a couple of basic rules about doing a power hour.  First, my goal is to do a power hour every day.  Second, you don’t have to do each discipline (mind, body and spirit) every day.

Body

The body part of your power hour should consist of exercise.  Waking your body up and getting it moving first thing is a great way to get your creativity firing and to fire up your endorphins.  But this time doesn’t have to focus solely on exercise.   You can also use this time to do meal planning, meal preparation and also things like ordering supplements.  The goal is to work towards making your body better in some way.

Mind

The possibilities for the mental section of your power hour are endless. You can read a book.  Work on strategic planning for your business.  Brainstorm new ideas for your business.  Write thank you notes to clients.  Map out your schedule for the next week, etc.  This is a time to get yourself educated and also to tap into your creativity.

Spirit

Regardless of your spiritual orientation, this is a time to connect to your source.  My source happens to be God.  Yours may look a lot different from that.  The spiritual portion of your power hour can be used for prayer, meditation, bible study, gratitude exercises, etc.

As for the nuts and bolts of the power hour process.  I like to plan what activities that I am going to do for the week in advance.  You will find that a planned power hour is more likely to happen than an unplanned one.  You don’t have to do all of the disciplines each day.  Don’t be afraid to suck at this as well.  Even people who have been doing power hours for a long time have slumps.  For instance, I have been doing Rick Warren’s read through the Bible in a year exercise for my spiritual portion of my power hour…it’s only taken me about three years to complete.  Rick won’t be hitting me up as a case study any time soon.

Studies show that successful people start their day with a morning routine.  As you can see, there are a lot of different ways to do this.  If you haven’t done this or aren’t a “morning person“, start small and work your way up.  If you miss a day, don’t sweat it and come back strong the next day.  I know from my own experience that the days I do a power hour are way more powerful than the days I miss.  Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

If you have any further questions about doing a power hour, leave your question in the comment section and I will for sure get back to you.