Morning routine. 5 Smart habits to start your day with
“Make each day your masterpiece”. –John Wooden
How do you feel when you have a perfect day? One of those days that you feel that everything is going right effortlessly. What if you could design your day to be a perfect day? Did you know that with your morning routine you can put your entire day into the right or wrong direction?
A positive attitude in the morning correlates to improved well-being throughout the day.
What’s the key for having an incredible day?
It’s the morning routine. Crafting your morning routine shouldn’t take you too much time, one hour as a maximum.
This is what Steve Corona from stevecorona.com says on why is it important to start your day good is:
“The start of the day sets the tone for the rest of your day. It’s the time that you allocate towards yourself, every day, no matter what. It keeps you sane. If you study successful people, one thing that you’ll notice really quickly is that they share a bunch of similar habits— and the daily ritual is one of them.”
You need a morning ritual, not just morning routine. Your morning ritual should be something you feel good about, something you enjoy.
– A morning ritual lets you start the day proactive, “I did something good for me today”, rather than reactive “What do I have to deal with today”. It’s simple, but very empowering if you know that you have practiced a little self-care.
– Your daily morning ritual will help you start your day with positive emotions by doing something as healthy as to think about the things you’re grateful for, things that make you happy and bring you joy. It lets you feel you are in charge, rather than being subject to whatever comes your way.
“Just living is not enough…one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” Hans Christian Andersen
– Morning rituals let you combine your most powerful habits together. Maybe it’s a little exercise, a short meditation practice, a little gratitude journaling and a healthy breakfast. Whatever you want to make a habit, turning it into a morning ritual can have a huge impact on your energy levels, your productivity, your health, on your life as a whole.
What is a morning routine and how to create one of your own?
By beginning your day with a few things you are doing every single day you create a morning routine.
1. Make time for whatever energizes you
Most successful people carve out time in their morning to commit to things that make them feel relaxed, energized and motivated. That can mean working out, reading, meditating. You may listen to positive affirmations, stretch and practice some yoga.
“I get up about 45 minutes before the rest of my family, putter around and listen to podcasts while I wake up. When it’s time to get the kids up for school, I’ve been up long enough that I’m in a better mood so it’s only their crabbiness in play, not mine.”
Your morning routine may look like this:
- Wake up between 5-6AM
- Drink a glass of water, first thing
- Write 1 Journal Entry about and 250-1000 Words and 10 Ideas
- Say your Daily Affirmations
- Visualize your day
- Run one mile
- Take a cold shower
- Plan your day ahead
2. Experiment with your wake-up time
Rise early and let in the daylight and fresh air. Experimenting with your wake-up time gives you the space you need to enjoy your mornings.
What if you are not a morning person?
“I go to sleep thinking of some interesting task I have to do the next day, and then wake up anticipating said task, which motivates me from bed to bus stop to desk.”
Daniel Ratner gives these few pieces of advice on Themuse:
– Stop hitting the snooze button. Re hydrate instead. With a cup of (warm) water first thing in the morning. According to The Huffington Post, hitting snooze only confuses your body more and can negatively affect you for two to four hours after you wake up.
“Switched to one of those wake-up lights that slowly gets brighter—that works pretty well.“
– If you always wake up stressed: Practice Mindfulness.
It may seem too time-consuming or expensive to follow mindfulness classes or to buy a mindfulness app. But it also can be as simple as “4-7-8” breathing method by dr. Weil. This method comes originally from the Indian yoga practice called Pranayama. It is a rapid way to distress, relax, and become mindful when you wake up.
This is how you do this mindfulness exercise if you want to add it to your morning routine:
Take a big exhale like you’re blowing out a birthday candle
Inhale through your nose for four seconds
Hold your breath for seven seconds
Exhale for eight seconds
Repeat three times!
You may also do this while at work to keep you calm and focused all day.
– If you always wake up ready to take on the world: Repeat a Mantra.
We all want to achieve something. The morning is the time to be ambitious and focus on the thing you want to achieve. To do this repeat an affirmation about something you want as it has happened already and imagine what this would look like.
– If you never have a plan for the day: Visualize Your Perfect Day. Athletes who use mental visualization are more successful. Visualizing key events in your day going perfectly makes you more likely to succeed at it.
– If you wake up and feel like Meh: Practice Appreciation. Practice appreciation and you’ll be happier. It is as simple as that. One study by the University of Manchester found out that practicing gratitude improves the quality of sleep and daytime performance. So, your well-being too. Just use a few minutes of your morning ritual to put down on paper three to five things you are grateful for. This will also help you to be grounded.
– If you need an energy boost and you are addicted to your cup of coffee: do some exercise instead. A short high-intensity exercise in the morning is not only healthy but energizing. So, instead of going to get your morning cup of coffee just try doing some exercises for a minute or two. Choose what suits you best. It might be a few quick push-ups or sit-ups. Or do some jumping jacks, or just a quick walk around the block. All will do, as long as it gets your blood streaming through your body.
Just try one, or a few of these simple practices and make these a habit. You will soon feel the difference, even if you are not an early bird.
As you go on with your day:
3. Resist the urge to check your phone
4. Cook yourself a fulfilling breakfast
5. Set some feasible goals for the day, but limit them to three.
Challenge yourself to try this for 30 days.
This small routine will make a big difference in your life.
Carving your daily morning ritual is not that hard as to stick to it. These few tips should help you to succeed.
Get enough sleep
Your morning routine means nothing without a good night’s sleep behind it. Most people require between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. If you’re constantly trying to get by on less than seven hours of sleep, it will catch up with you, likely sooner rather than later.
Adapt your routine to different situations
It is possible to have a travel-ready routine that is always there when you need it.
Don’t beat yourself up
Don’t consider one, two or even three missed days of your morning routine a failure, so long as you get back to it as soon as you can. Sometimes you will miss your routine, and that’s O.K.
But maybe you have your own daily morning routine already. What is your morning routine?
