Why your morning routine can define how you respond to your day.
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There have been a few adjustments that I have made in my personal life to help me grow into a better, stronger version of myself. And owning my morning has been one of the most valuable. Allow me to share why I believe that prioritizing the importance of your morning, you will immediately reap benefits.
Wake up Earlier
There is extreme value in waking up earlier. Waking up earlier means you have more time to yourself. If you have a family like I do, then you can relate to the amount of responsibility that goes into raising one. Waking up earlier allows a pocket of quiet, un interrupted alone time that can work wonders if you utilize it properly.
Journal
Journaling can be a topic that can take up a blog all on its own. There is extreme power in journaling. I have been practicing journaling and years now and I have found it to be a form of meditation, a self reflection practice that soothes the soul. I like to wake up early and before I get into my exercise session, I like to journal. Journaling can be used to set your intention for the day. You have an opportunity to clear your mind by weeding out the negative and planting strong, positive, purposeful thoughts. Journaling allows for your to gain perspective on where you are in your life and what you want to accomplish. It helps you to stay focused on what is important.
Get Some Exercise In
Exercise is something that nobody has to explain how beneficial it can be to your health. However, in today’s society there is an immediate connotation with physical health. Exercise is linked more to physical benefits such as fitting into that new size of clothes or how you look more than how you feel emotionally and psychologically. Making time throughout the day, to get some physical exercise in, can dramatically change the way that you feel. A great benefit of waking up and getting a workout in early in the morning is that it wakes you up. The increase in heart rate creates more blood flow. This translates to more energy and a stronger focus towards your day.
Enjoy some Water, Coffee, or Tea
This is relative, but I personally like to wake up in the mornings and I drink a tall glass of water followed by a cup of plain black coffee. The caffeine helps me to get moving for my workout. My wife prefers to supplement with Tea. Regardless of which combination you choose to go with is up to you of course but the most important piece is just to enjoy the moment.
Enjoy a Shower
Taking a morning shower is something that should be a must for everyone. Not only is good hygiene important, but taking a shower can be a great way to wake up and start your day. Water always has a cleansing effect on me. In the mornings a warm or better yet, cold shower can really wake a person up. Especially, when all you want to do is stay in your warm bed under the covers.
Don’t Snooze the Alarm Clock
When the sound of your alarm goes off, rise! Don’t hit that snooze button. Hitting the snooze button only sends the signal to the brain that waking up and starting your day is not important. Snoozing the alarm clock is a bad habit that many have formed. Imagine you are going on vacation and you are super excited to wake up early and make it to your flight on time. When that alarm clock goes off, you more likely than not, you are going to get up and get moving because you are excited and this is a priority for you. The goal here is to apply that same excitement and priority to your morning and the rest of your day. Try the 3…2…1.. approach. As the alarm goes off, start the countdown method and just get up.
Prep the night before
Preparation is so important. If you haven’t read Sunday Evening Tips To Better Prepare You For the Week it’s worth a read. Something that helps me in the mornings is that I have created stations for myself. So, what exactly is a station? Well my first station starts off with having my clothes and shoes laid out in my closet. My second station is my toothbrush and towel to throw some cold water on my face. Followed by that, I turn on my coffee maker that I have prepped the night before. I have my coffee maker connected to an Alexa Plug- in. All I have to do is ask Alexa “turn on coffee.”
As I drink my coffee, I like to hit my last station which is my journal. I also have laid out on my kitchen table the night prior. By setting up stations I am able to move through them efficiently. Even though I am moving like a zombie at 4am, I gain focus as I move through them.
Read or Listen to something positive.
Take a few minutes to either read or listen to something positive. I believe we become what we constantly think about. We may not be aware of it sometimes, but if we are constantly stressed or worried then chances are we are thinking about negative thoughts or thoughts that take away energy rather than provide it. This is NOT the way you want to start your day. By doing a quick short read of one page of inspirational words or listening to an inspirational video can be food for your brain. The more positive thoughts and words that we are processing through our brains, the better our long term trajectory.
Get good sleep the night before
All of these great tips are nothing without a solid good night sleep. I run best with a good 8-9 hours of sleep. I can even get by rather well with 6 hours of sleep, but I cannot go lower than that and I cannot do this too often. While we are all ambitious and have lots of goals that we are setting for ourselves, we should not skimp on sleep.
Sleep is a regenerative process for the human body and we need that more than ever with all of the different responsibilities we are juggling today. Sleep affects not just your energy, but your mood as well. The goal in creating a strong morning routine is to increase our daily focus and improve our quality of life. To do this sleep needs to become a priority. So, turn off Netflix, put those mobile devices on airplane mode and get some Zzz’s…
The morning routine sets the tone for your day. It is a mindset that you begin to cultivate and instill into yourself. The more that you practice your own morning routine the more you will see how much value it provides to you in your daily life. We all know that life can be cumbersome and it can come with its storms. During difficult moments, if you are seeking constant improvement, then you are looking for any edge, or advantage that you can get. Setting up a structured morning routine can make all the difference.
