You hear the alarm go off and you instantly reach over to hit the snooze button. Just 5 more minutes please!
The day is starting but you are not ready. I get it, mornings can be tough for some. Especially if you stayed up late the night before or maybe you have a screaming baby that requires your attention throughout the night. When you sit up to start the day, you aren’t jumping out of bed like a springer spaniel ready to chase that squirrel but rather a very foggy headed sloth trying to make sense of how tired you are.
You raise out of bed to get yourself ready to tackle the world but it’s not just you, you might have two or three precious little children that need your assistance too. Next thing you know you are racing around the house trying to get everyone out the door with backpacks, lunches, and don’t forget the coffee. Your morning has just become one chaotic obstacle in the game of Jumanji. Or maybe you already have it all together and you just want to improve your morning.
Putting a morning routine into place can take one terrible day in the world of Jumanji and turn it into a day of Elle Woods entering the courtroom.
It can set the tone for the day to create a much more productive day all along making you feel much happier and less stressed.
What is a morning routine?
Honestly, it is just a series of good habits that you do each morning. That’s it! You are creating a list of habits to do each morning to set yourself up for a more productive day.
Let’s take control of your mornings to feel more accomplished and empowered by adding a few simple habits.
- WAKE UP EARLIER!
WAIT! WHAT? I am already waking up exhausted, why would I wake up earlier than I need to?
When you are constantly hitting the snooze button and frantically trying to rush around to get ready for the day, you are not setting a positive tone for the day. Your tone is hectic and off balanced. Start slowly here to allow time for your new habits to form. The time allowed for your morning routine will vary from person to person. Start by setting your alarm 15 minutes earlier and practice one routine. Then slowly increase it until you have plenty of time to accomplish your new habits.
- PRACTICE GRATITUDE!
Start each morning off with 3 things you are grateful for by writing them down in a notebook or a gratitude journal. They can be as simple as your cup of coffee or as large as a new promotion at work. This allows your brain to find the positive things in your life before you have even stepped foot outside your door to the hustle and bustle of the world.
- HYDRATE!
Set a large glass of water by your bedside table and upon waking up…start chugging. This will fire up your metabolism first thing along with flushing out all the toxins that build up overnight in your kidneys. Remember also our body is 72% water while our brains are 75% water. Your body has been deprived of water throughout the night. By drinking water first thing in the morning you are allowing yourself to feel more focused by rehydrating your brain cells. Goodbye foggy brain.
- MEDITATE!
Meditation trains the mind and body to listen. Upon waking in the morning, your mind and body is less stressed. You are more at ease and relaxed which is why this is a great time to practice meditation. Allow yourself to start each day more relaxed and focused to set the tone for a positive day. Not sure how to start here, my favorite approach is doing Yoga with Adrienne on YouTube. She is also a great start for beginners.
- EAT THE FROG!
If you haven’t read the book Eat That Frog! By Brian Tracy, I would highly recommend it. So to give you a very quick summary of the concept, you are creating a list of things you would like to accomplish that day. As you create your list you begin to categorize the items. List A are the must do’s of your day. They are not a choice and must be done no matter what, like a task assigned by your boss. List B are things you should do like emails and phone calls for the day. Then there is List C. These are things you would like to do but are not as important. The goal here is to make List A your main priority and they are often things you do not want to do like eat a frog! Do these items before considering any other items on your list and you will have an instant feel of gratification and long term success. The book does go into further detail on how to make your to do list smaller if this is an area you struggle with.
At the end of the day, we all want a little less stress in our lives and to feel a little more relaxed. Try implementing some new habits into your morning routine to set your day up for success.
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