Five Nonnegotiables To Incorporate Into Your Morning Routine
Set Your Day Up For Success
How you start your day determines the trajectory for the rest of your day. Therefore, a healthy and sustainable morning routine is critical in determining your success.
Here are five practices I incorporate without fail every morning:
1. Wake Up Early
“Early” can be relative — so let’s just say, wake up earlier than you currently do. I’d recommend one hour, but even thirty minutes has the potential to add so much value to your morning.
First, it means you don’t have to spend your entire morning rushing out the door. You can relax, and even enjoy getting ready for the day. Perhaps even have time to incorporate things you’ve always wanted to do, but told yourself you never have the time.
That extra thirty minutes to an hour of sleep will not make or break your day. And the extra time to incorporate healthy practices to get you into a good headspace going into the day more than compensates for getting slightly less sleep.
Or, perhaps consider the novel concept of actually getting to bed earlier. How many of us stay up thirty minutes to an hour later than we should be watching Netflix or scrolling? Maybe practice shutting it off a bit earlier to get more sleep on the front end — therefore not having to sacrifice any sleep at all!
2. Don’t Check Your Phone First Thing
This is a rule I live by and will always prioritize. When we wake up, our minds are vulnerable and susceptible to any information. It’s as if we wake up with a clean slate, and any content we absorb sets the stage for the direction our mindset takes.
So, by picking up your phone first thing and scrolling through emails, texts, or god forbid scroll social media — you are putting your mental health in the hands of whatever happens to appear on your screen.
We must protect our mental health by filtering the content we absorb. More importantly, refraining from doing so first thing in the morning. More often than not, what we find on our phones first thing will likely be stressful, overwhelming, or upsetting — causing our minds to immediately start racing.
Save yourself the risk by overall avoiding your phone, at least for the first hour you are awake. There is likely nothing so urgent that cannot wait the hour, and your headspace will thank you for it later. And when you do eventually check your phone, you will be fully awake and have a clear head in doing so.
3. Meditate
I would be remiss to not shed light on the importance of incorporating some form of mindfulness or meditation into your morning routine. Especially with the mental health epidemic in this fast-paced world around us, carving out time to practice mindfulness and tuning into ourselves is as important as ever.
I won’t specify an amount of or method to do this, for that I feel is a personal preference that can be determined through trial and error. It could look like taking deep breaths for two minutes as you close your eyes, or perhaps a thirty-minute guided meditation.
Whatever strategy works best for your schedule will suffice, but I highly urge you to start incorporate something along these lines. In my own meditation journey, I’ve found it’s allowed me to become familiar with the inner-workings of my thoughts and tendencies. It has taught me that I am not my thoughts, and has allowed me to calmly regulate both my emotions and nervous systems when either spikes.
If my experience alone isn’t doing it for you, consider this:
A study found that 10 days of guided meditation can reduce stress by 14% and reduce irritability by 27%, and three weeks of use was shown to increase compassion by 23% and reduce aggression by 57%.
Suffice to say, if you want to be your best self throughout the day, especially when things go awry, meditation is a surefire way to help.
4. Exercise
Similar to meditation, there’s a broad spectrum of what this may mean to you.
Whether it be doing ten pushups and jumping jacks and calling it a day, or perhaps going to the gym or a workout class for an hour —morning movement is necessary in developing a positive mindset to carry into your day.
According to this article, “exercise leads to the secretion of neurotransmitters that promote mental clarity and an improved attention span”.
So, if you currently depend on caffeine the moment you wake up to clear your brain fog, perhaps try incorporating exercise in your routine instead. You may find it to be a healthy replacement or addition to the coffee!
5. Drink Water & Take Vitamins
Staying hydrated, especially after a full night of sleeping, may seem like a given. But the added health benefits of simply drinking water are eye-opening.
Increased metabolism, immunity, skin radiance and weight loss — just to name a few, as explained in detail in this article.
I also recommend incorporating vitamins to help boost your nutritional intake. (I personally take a green powder supplement with multi-vitamins, as well as fish oil and a probiotic.)
I encourage you to craft your morning routine however best works for you. But remember that the morning determines the rest of your day.
So, why not set yourself up for success?
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