Some of the best advice I received when I was a recruiting neophyte was the idea of guarding my golden hours. The early morning hours, both before work and during, set the tone for the rest of your day. If you guard this time and create your own success ritual, you’ll have a much better chance of becoming a high performer.

If you want to build a tall skyscraper, you don’t start the foundation at street level. You have to dig deep and pour the foundation well below the surface if you want to build something big. In fact, the taller the building, the deeper the foundation must be. This holds true for people as well.

So, if you want to have influence, perform at a high level, build a strong company, become a top producer, you too must have a strong personal foundation. A powerful morning success ritual is an easy way to ensure that you lay the proper foundation to your day-and your life. Here's my morning ritual:

Here are some additional ideas for your morning ritual:

Now comes the most important part: designing your own personal morning ritual!