It can be overwhelming to craft the ideal morning routine for yourself. However, this need not be the case. The following are some suggestions that will assist you in planning an ideal morning for yourself, one that is catered to your specific requirements and preferences. We know that mornings can be challenging, but the struggle can be even more intense for people who do not like getting up early. But, on the other hand, we have to ensure that we are out the door on time and finish everything before going to work or school. Your morning routine may present you with challenges on occasion. You may need to figure out what to do with yourself, how to start the day, or where you should start looking for answers. You don’t need to worry about a thing with us! We have some suggestions for the ideal morning routine that you can implement to help you feel more at ease and in control of the new day ahead. Do you wake up every morning feeling like a zombie and then feel like the day is already a waste of time? Do you ever wish there was one thing you could do to make your mornings a little more productive? To put it simply, we are here to assist you. The following are some suggestions for blog post topics relating to developing the ideal morning routine. The way you start your day can determine how successful it will be. It is the time of the day when you set the tone for how productive and successful the rest of your day will be. It all begins with these three essential steps: getting up appropriately, eating breakfast, and engaging in physical activity. Read this blog post for advice on developing a morning routine tailored to your needs and preferences. When you leave the bed in the morning, what is the first thing you do? Different people may give you different answers to this question. Some people, for instance, like to throw open their drapes and let natural light into the room, while others opt instead to switch on an overhead light or a table lamp. You may begin your day with a beverage, such as coffee, tea, water, or juice. What about cleaning your teeth with a toothbrush? Do you shower as soon as you get up or wait until after breakfast? People have an almost infinite number of options available to them when it comes to crafting the ideal beginning of their day. What does your typical morning look like? Do you get out of bed and immediately check your phone, or do you give yourself time to stretch, drink water, meditate, or read before you start your day? The solution is probably more complex than it seems at first glance. It could depend on how you feel about getting up early in the morning. But there is one certain thing: there is no one best way to get the day started! Because each person has unique tastes and preferences, you must figure out what is most effective for YOU. Every decision, whether getting out of bed an hour earlier than usual or staying in bed until noon, is important in this regard. And if we make the right decisions, we can contribute to the creation of our ideal mornings, which will ultimately result in a better day overall! Everyone has their unique perspective on how they would like things to be done for them to enter their day at work, school, or elsewhere feeling rested and revitalised. Please continue reading for our rundown of activities that should be completed first thing in the morning. Therefore, let’s get this discussion started with some ideas!
What’s your intention?
The morning routines of different people are all different. You can find many articles on morning routines floating around on social media, and the majority of them argue that “every morning you should drink lemon water!” or “every morning you should work out.” Some people may find these to be wonderful ideas, but before you go out and buy lemons and dumbbells, you should determine your goal first: What are some aspects of your day that you wish were different? Greater levels of productivity? More favourable health? Happiness? Determine what your objectives are, and then proceed from that point.
Think about what you want your morning routine to accomplish for you. The following are some topics that we will talk about:
- It would help if you got up at the same time every day. It will be much simpler for you to get out of bed in the morning if you do this to help your body get into a rhythm.
- Have a selection of simple breakfast options prepared so you can decide what to eat in the morning.
- Establish a to-do list with ascending priority. It removes the need to make inconsequential choices, such as determining whether you should brush your teeth before or after getting dressed or when you should take the dog outside.
- Keep your departure time consistent every day. It provides a time frame for the morning routine that you follow.
What’s on your NOT To-Do List?
The next thing you need to do is list things you do not need to do, which may sound a little backwards at first. We all have our typical To-Do lists for the day, but it is essential to cross off the items on the list of things you should not be doing. After all, it is much simpler to refrain from doing things than initiate brand-new routines. I want you to solve this riddle for me: what activities do you engage in daily that prevent you from achieving the objectives or aims you set for yourself? Whether you want to stop checking your email first thing in the morning, refrain from eating right away, refrain from using social media, or refrain from mindless busywork, ensure that this list of things you should not be doing aligns with your intentions from the first step.
Science Says: Willpower Is Highest In The Morning, So Start Strong
Everyone begins their day at some point, regardless of whether they are more of a morning person or a night owl. And yet, we all appear to begin it differently. Some of us immediately go online to check social media, while others immediately start working on their emails. Still, others get their morning meal, get some exercise, or prepare lunches for their children. Therefore, there are an infinite number of possible outcomes for the morning. You’ve probably heard the advice that your first task of the day should be something meaningful, a job that could require a lot of concentration, willpower, and determination to complete. The reason for this is that our capacity for self-control is limited. The strength model is based on the premise that this is the case. Instead, self-control is drawn from a shared resource that, over time, becomes increasingly depleted. One way to think of self-control is like a muscle: after working hard, it becomes tired. After conducting a comprehensive analysis of 83 previous studies on the topic of the self-control, researchers from the University of Nottingham and the National Institute of Education in Singapore came to the following conclusion:
- The findings demonstrated that ego depletion has a discernible impact on one’s ability to exercise self-control. In addition, ego depletion was also found to have significant effect sizes on effort, perceived difficulty, negative affect, subjective fatigue, and blood glucose levels.
- Those of you keeping score at home will notice a psychological and physiological impact on your productivity due to the game.
- Because the effects of fatigue on your ability to exercise self-control become more pronounced as the day progresses, it is increasingly vital to make the most of the hours you have available early in the morning.
Small Morning Habits That Will Make Your Whole Day So Much Better
My self-care practice has been built on a solid foundation for a long time: my morning routine. My mental health improves noticeably as a result, which is significant coming from someone who struggles with depression and anxiety (and I feel an even bigger difference when I skip it). However, you are not required to take my word for it in any way. The benefits to your mental health of beginning your day in this manner are something that therapists will be quick to point out. According to clinical psychologist Ryan Howes, PhD, “a healthy, low-stress, [and] focused morning routine sets the tone for the whole day.” It is not enough to be able to congratulate yourself on acting like a responsible adult and sticking to your schedule. Establishing certain routines in the morning can make it much simpler to put your mental and physical well-being at the forefront of your other daytime activities. Every choice you make from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep uses up some of the willpower reserves in your brain. The brain is an incredible organ, but even it has its limits, and a lot of research points towards our willpower being a limited resource. Even though the brain has its limits, it is still an incredible organ. After a certain point, those reserves are depleted, and it becomes much more difficult to refuse immediate gratification. It could be why you skip a cycling class that you normally enjoy at the end of a long and stressful day to drink some wine at home instead. These choices that sap our capacity for self-control are unavoidable; after all, our lives are full of them. That is why having a solid morning routine is so important. According to Howes, when we automate our mornings, we develop habits that soon feel like second nature. It may eliminate some draining activities, such as deciding what to eat or arguing with yourself about hitting the snooze button again. When I don’t have to rush around and stress out first thing in the morning, I’m much more likely to make decisions that benefit my self-care and overall health and well-being. In addition, many of the activities that you can incorporate into your morning routine can be considered self-care in and of themselves. Now that we have that out of the way let’s talk about some of the things you should consider incorporating into your morning routine. The recommendations on this list are meant to be starting points, not a step-by-step guide (especially because who would have time for this all???). Because of this, it is important to remember that everyone’s ideal morning routine will be unique. Implementing a morning routine could also require some skill and resourcefulness (like waking up a little earlier to fit in some solo time before your kids wake up or involving them in your routine somehow). Again, try different things to see what works best for you, but remember that consistency is the most important thing.
1. Make Your Bed
While it is true that making your bed is a chore, it is also possible that doing so can be a deceptively easy and discreet way to improve your mood. There are many different reasons for this: Who doesn’t want to crawl into a bed that has been freshly made at the end of the day? ), it encourages good sleep hygiene (who doesn’t want to crawl into a bed that has been freshly made at the end of the day? ), and it may also do some incredible psychological work behind the scenes. William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, is credited with saying, “If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day.” It is a quote that has been repeated numerous times. It will instil in you a modest feeling of pride and motivate you to complete another task, and then another, and another after that. And by the time the day is over, that one completed task will have turned into many tasks that have been finished. I haven’t always been the type of person who makes her bed every morning, but after reading about this suggestion in one of my reports on mental health, I decided to give it a shot. At first, all I could say was that it was nice. After that, however, I discovered that making my bed made it much simpler for me to keep the rest of my room clean, which is always beneficial for my mental health. When I stopped doing the practice, I realised how much it had helped ground me and how it had served as a guidepost for other good habits I had developed. Then, after a few weeks of feeling more disorganised and depressed than usual, I suddenly realised, “Shit, I haven’t been making my bed,” and I immediately felt better. It ended up being the deciding factor in every single thing.
2. Nail A “Getting Ready” Order
Do you remember when we were talking about decision fatigue just now? It has a lot of relevance to the process of getting ready in the morning. The vast majority of us have that list of things we do every morning to get ready for the day (things like getting dressed, brushing our teeth, and so on), but you probably still need to get it down to an exact order. It’s possible that some mornings you get out of the shower and immediately start styling your hair, while on other days, you probably lounge around in your towel and scroll through the morning news. By establishing a method that can be followed step by step, you can prevent yourself from having to ask, “Okay, what should I do next?” regularly. All of these seemingly insignificant choices add up. Therefore, it is to your advantage to put as much as possible on autopilot.
3. Put Off Checking Your Phone
When we check our phones, especially after a long break, like when we’re sleeping, we invite a flood of stimulation and nonsense into our brain space. It is especially true after we’ve been away from our phones for a long period. Your mobile phone contains a surprising number of potential sources of stress, including notifications about the news, the current balance of your bank account, and texts that require your immediate attention right now. Once we’ve checked our phones, many of us are plugged in for the rest of the day. It is the case for many of us. Therefore, why hold off on that for a short while? “When you wake up, you’ve been sleeping, and you’re in a relatively relaxed state,” says Howes. “When you go to sleep, your body is relatively tense.” “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could keep that sense of general calm for as long as possible? The amount of time that we spend each day feeling stressed out should be reduced, both by our bodies and by our reactive emotional systems.” Additionally, reaching for your phone first thing in the morning is a fast and easy way to throw off your entire morning routine. Who among us hasn’t, before even getting out of bed, found themselves lost in the rabbit hole that is Twitter?
4. Stretch Your Body
Because I firmly believe that you are either a morning workout person or not, I did not want to include exercise on this list. However, no listicle will convince you to include exercise in your morning routine if you do not want to include it. But anyone can benefit from a good stretch first thing in the morning. It doesn’t need to be a full-blown yoga routine, nor does it even need to enhance your primary form of exercise. It may be just a method for getting your blood pumping and, to tell you the truth, for capitalising on the pleasant sensation of having a good stretch. Particularly in the morning, when you are likely to be stiff and have not yet adequately warmed up, stretch is extra important to prevent injury. The best way to get started is with this full-body stretch.
5. Drink Some Water
There is a lot of evidence pointing to drinking water being beneficial. For example, a glass of water first thing in the morning kickstarts the rest of the day’s hydration needs, even though you know you should stay hydrated throughout the day. Does anybody else ever get to noon or later and then realise they haven’t had a single drop of the stuff even though they’ve been drinking it all morning? Getting into the routine of drinking your first glass of water when you wake up can be of great assistance. Some individuals even go to the extent of placing a glass of water on the nightstand next to their bed the night before they intend to drink it. I have a friend who is a firm believer in this, but as for me, I’m on the #coldwater train all the way, so I always make sure to put a new jug of water in the refrigerator the night before, so that it’s nice and cold when I wake up in the morning. Whatever helps you the most, I say!
6. Write Morning Pages
It is easy to dismiss writing in the morning as an activity reserved solely for writers; however, this practice can be beneficial for anyone who wants to live a more creative life or engage in more self-reflection. Julia Cameron, the author of “The Artist’s Way,” is generally credited with being the person who came up with the idea for morning pages. She encourages people to start the day with three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing—”whatever crosses your mind”—and claims that doing so will improve your life in all aspects, including getting you more in touch with your emotions. She also claims that doing so will improve your life if you do it. She writes, “working with the morning pages, we begin to sort through the differences between our real feelings, which are often secret, and our official feelings, those on the record for public display.” Even if you don’t find value in writing three pages in the morning, you might still profit from developing some journaling practice. The information in this guide will get you started. (And if morning pages sound extremely like your stuff, check out The Artist’s Way or, at the very least, this guide to morning pages written by Rachel W. Miller, who read the book so that you don’t have to.)
7. Wash Your Face
Jia Tolentino, writing in The New Yorker, referred to skincare as a “psychological safety blanket,” but I can say that I have fully embraced the idea that it can be used as a tool for self-care. Many people who are smarter than I am have explained exactly how skin care can be used. A consistent skincare routine is not only required for healthy skin but also makes me feel like I’m giving myself a spa treatment every time I do it. It is a great way to start the day, especially if it will be a hectic and stressful one otherwise. It is unnecessary to have a complicated skincare routine (you only need three things), so don’t worry if you’re wondering how the heck you’re going to fit some 11-step process into your already crowded mornings. Your skincare routine can be as simple as it needs to be. You can follow the rabbit hole if you want to engage in a more involved skincare routine.
8. Do Something Fun Or Creative
A “routine” is something that you do regularly, so the very word “routine” suggests that you are productive. But one of the most beneficial things I’ve introduced into my morning routine is that I now play video games while drinking my coffee. Pokémon Shield is what I do first thing in the morning right now. My alarm clock no longer signals the beginning of the daily grind but rather the beginning of a two-hour chunk that is peaceful and focused on my time. It makes it easier for me to wake up in the morning because it no longer signifies the beginning of the daily grind but rather the beginning of a two-hour chunk that is peaceful and focused on my time. Making time for something fun and silly in the morning helps me conceptualise the morning as its unique segment of my day rather than just a prelude to work.
You might not be the type of person who enjoys playing video games, so here are some other things you could do instead:
- Watch a TV show online.
- Make something.
- Get up and move to some upbeat music.
- Hang out with your pets.
- Read a book.
- Test out a new breakfast recipe.
- Engage in any other enjoyable or creative endeavour you would normally save for a different part of the day.
9. Write Or Review Your Daily To-Do List
A morning that does not involve any work is, in the eyes of some, the epitome of a perfect morning. Valid. However, this presents the ideal opportunity for others, including myself, to get some planning done before allowing ourselves to be sidetracked by the inevitable flood of emails or packed schedule of meetings. You are once again getting ahead of the game when you take the time to write out or review your game plan for the day because you are preventing yourself from making decisions based on how you feel. Although this is wonderful for productivity, one must remember the significance of planning on a broader scale. The author Greg McKeown offers one of the best explanations I’ve ever read for why it’s so important to organise your tasks and schedule ahead of time in his book Essentialism. According to what he has written, “When we don’t purposefully and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people—our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families—will choose for us, and before long we will have lost sight of everything meaningful and important.”
Tips To Form A Better Morning Routine
Here are some suggestions to start establishing a productive morning routine that is uniquely yours.
- Consume a healthy breakfast (it can be fast and easy).
- Pay attention to the rhythms of your body. Then, when you are in the mood for it, work on your creative projects.
- Make sure to wake up and go to bed on time by setting alarms for both.
- At night, you should not receive notifications from your apps or phone.
- Create a morning routine that you can stick to even on the weekends.
- Keep a journal of your routines to understand better who you are.
Do you share any characteristics with notable figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs, Margaret Thatcher, or any of the individuals mentioned earlier? What does your unique morning ritual entail?
Mine has changed quite a bit over the past few months, and it will most likely continue to change. However, it seems as though I’ve finally found a routine that works pretty well for me with this schedule:
- Get up at 5:30 in the morning.
- Please refer to my Tomorrow List.
- Proceed to the computer, and start composing a new post for the blog.
- Take a shower and eat breakfast at seven o’clock.
- To the writing, we go.
Simple Ideas For Your Morning Routine
Use a foam roller to help loosen up your muscles. According to the list, “You will increase blood flow, improve your range of motion, and increase your chances of avoiding future injuries.” Carry out a brief bout of physical activity. You only need to exercise for ten minutes for it to start making a difference in both your mental and physical performance, which is a great benefit of exercise. Find a new recipe that is good for you. “Lack of preparation is one of the most common reasons we skip meals that are healthy for us to eat. Investing some time in the morning to search for recipes that pique your interest will make you better prepared and more motivated to prepare nutritious meals in the days and weeks to come.” Take a sip of water from a full glass. Your body will be grateful, and the process could not be any easier. Consume some coffee. Go ahead. According to research, it is not unhealthy for you to consume as long as you do not add any sweeteners. Consume some tea. You don’t care for water or coffee, do you? Not only is tea a healthy beverage, but new research suggests that drinking it may also stimulate your creative process. Brush your teeth while paying attention. Since you will have to carry it out regardless, why not stop for a second and pay attention to the details of what you are doing? It will bring you more serenity and happiness (this also works with other minor morning chores, like doing the dishes). Take a shower in ice water. Pleasant? No. However, some assert that it is a remedy for procrastination.
Follow the method developed by Wim Hof. This particular one was completely new to me. What it entails is as follows:
- When you open your eyes, sit in a position suitable for meditation.
- Take thirty deep breaths, inhaling through the nose or mouth and exhaling through the mouth in quick, powerful bursts. It should be done thirty times (like blowing up a balloon).
- Refrain from breathing until you let out a gasp.
- Inhale fully and keep your breath steady for ten full seconds.
- Perform this step a total of three more times.
- Take a shower with ice water. It seems to be a recipe for torment. “However, adherents assert that it improves performance and lowers stress levels (possibly because you’ve already completed the most stressful part of your day).
Delete yesterday from your calendar and mark it off. “Bring to your attention that another day of your life has passed. The next step is to assess how you feel about that and consider any changes or adjustments you want to make going forward. “The list is suggested here. Take note of your initial thought. “Either put it in writing, verbalise it to yourself, or pay attention. After that, you should decide on the following thought you want. This exercise in the morning routine has a remarkable impact on the amount of effort that is required “the list is insisted upon. Meditate constructively.” Deep Work is a book by Cal Newport that discusses the practice of productive meditation “and notes the list. “You are concentrating on your query, but you are not answering much critical thought. So instead, you focus on remaining present and mindful while allowing thoughts to come to you as they may. The next step is to bring your attention back to the question at hand whenever you become aware that your thoughts have wandered away from it.” Imagine describing it with just one word. It is a fantastic idea: “Consider or write down in just one word how you feel about the day that lies ahead, where you are in your life right now, or what it is that you need to hear. The following step is to place that word where it will be visible during the day.” Video log. “Make a quick video entry in your diary for the day (one to two minutes). You are free to talk about almost anything, such as what is going on in your life, what you are thankful for, and what you are thinking about, or you can choose a random topic for your speech. Then, either discuss it with other people or keep it to yourself.” Take a picture every day for one second. Then, try “the second a day app to create cool videos of your previous month, year, and so on.” Photolog. Even simpler, all you have to do is snap a picture every day “with the assistance of an app like the everyday phone app.” Read some literature. Reading is the single most effective activity for fostering mental growth. Full stop. Listen to a podcast. It can be combined with getting dressed, working out, or even taking a cold shower for those pressed for time. Here are some suggestions. Be grateful. It will not only make you happier in the here and now, but it will also rewire your brain to make it easier for you to see the positive in life. Take in a TED talk. Unfortunately, there is an overwhelming quantity of good ones available.