8 Tiny Things You Should Do in the Morning for a Great, Productive Day
Aside from killing dust mites
The way we start our day, in most cases, sets the tone for the following 15 to 18 hours.
Get it right and you feel positive, energised, invincible, blessed.
Get it wrong and it feels like it's disaster after disaster. Unless you are resilient, Buddha-like. I am not.
So instead, what if there was a simple way of making sure it is always, always a good day?
It barely requires you to allow yourself to have an hour to get ready in the morning. If it already feels like it is too much, bear with me because it will make you save time, and most probably, you are already implementing quite a few of those.
Drink water as soon as you wake up
It transports nutrients through blood circulation, allows you to regulate your body temperature, helps lubricate your entire body, and acts as a shock absorber.
Research also shows that it helps keep unblemished skin and reduces calorie intake (by giving you a sensation of fullness).
It helps with mental performance since when dehydrated; the brain is slower.
Drink as much as possible during the day and have a couple of glasses straight after opening your eyes.
Brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand
According to a University of Greifswald study, it helps improve neural connections.
The other benefit is it will help you be mindful while you are doing it. This trivial task becomes complicated enough with your non-dominant hand for you to be fully present here and now.
Meditate
You surely have heard about all the benefits of meditation. Whether it be to improve focus, calm anxiety, or boost your creativity. Often when I talk about it around me, I get three types of comments:
a) “I do not have time.”
It is when you least have time that you most need to meditate. Sounds paradoxical, but one effect of meditation is to actually gain time. You do things with more clarity and are less agitated. Your mind is more focused. Plus, let’s be honest, how much time do you spend on social media? And do you feel any better after binging on those posts you won’t remember tomorrow? Give it a go!
b) “It is too difficult, I cannot keep my mind blank.”
Meditation is not about having an empty mind. There will be thoughts. The point is only to try to not engage with them. However, without fighting them. If I tell you not to think about a pink elephant, what do you do? Same with meditating!
c) “I am not a religious or spiritual person.”
No need! You can consider it a mindfulness exercise that benefits both your mind and your body. No ritual is needed, nor is there a special entity attached to it. It does not belong to one faith more than to another.
There are many forms of meditation, and you can embrace your favourite type. Below are a few examples you can choose from:
- Mindful meditation
You see and hear your thoughts as they pass by your brain but do not hold on to them or judge them, only see them as passing clouds. - Focused meditation
You focus on something specific, like your breath going in and out or the flame of a candle. - Guided meditation
A voice guides you through a body scan, a loving-kindness meditation, or a visualisation process, for example. My two personal favourites are Vishen Lakhiani’s “6 Phase Meditation” and Lee Holden’s “Inner Smile Meditation”)
The best aspects of meditation are that you can take as long as you want to meditate (from 5 minutes to hours!) and vary your practice as much as you want, to meet your needs of the moment: calm anxiety, be more productive, set goals, get a good night sleep, feel energised, improve your memory.
Exercise
Exercising is good of the day, but first thing in the morning, research shows it adds various benefits.
- Appetite control for the rest of the day and support of weight loss.
- Better mood thanks to the stabilisation of cortisol (stress hormone) and the release of oxytocin (the “feel-good hormone” that “has been shown to affect pair bonding, maternal behaviour, and sexual receptivity” but also the “feelings of calmness and stress reduction.”)
These give you all the positivity needed to get on with your day and feel you can achieve anything after getting your “runner’s high”.
No need to wake up three hours before the normal time. Twenty minutes is enough to get your heart pumping and those hormones doing their job.
Make your bed
Why not straight away as you wake up? Because while you were meditating and running, your bed was breathing, getting some sunlight and oxygen too (great for us, bad for bed bugs!)
For McCraven, a former Navy Seal, making your bed “will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.”
He adds that “if you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made.”
This gives you, however tiny it could be, some sense of accomplishment and if needed, comfort as you go to sleep after a long tiring day.
By the way, I read not so long ago that making your bed should be the first thing you do when moving into a new house; I thought it was brilliant advice! It does not come naturally to our minds, but it makes so much sense.
Don’t ask me who wrote that article please, evidently, I haven’t been eating enough blueberries, (see below).
Have breakfast
Breakfast, as the name indicates, is the moment you break your fast. It does not have to be first thing in the morning, especially if you are intermittent faster. You should ensure that when you break your fast, you do it right.
Eat brain food such as-
- Avocado:
Full of monounsaturated fats that contribute to healthy blood circulation, lowering the risk of cognitive decline. - Blueberries:
Their antioxidants are known to boost memory and help brain cells form new connections. - Coconut oil:
Your brain cells will use it as fuel. - Eggs:
They are a source of vitamin B, great allies to prevent cognitive decline. - Walnuts:
On top of having the shape of the brain, they are a source of vitamin E that improves cognition and reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. - Dark chocolate:
The flavonoids found in this type of chocolate increase brain plasticity and help decrease age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
All-day long we should be cautious with our food intake but even more so after fasting. Choose the right nutrients for you and start your day with a happy stomach and a happy brain.
Learn something new
“If knowledge is power, then learning is a superpower,” — Jim Kwik.
You can learn in so many ways, choose the one that suits your learning style and schedule best.
- Are you a visual learner?
Try reading for twenty minutes.
To double your reading speed, losing none of the content or understanding, you can check Jim Kwik’s Super Reading program, it’s well worth it!
Just a tip to get you started: Use your finger (or mouse pointer) in a continuous motion, just under the line you are reading. Your eyes, naturally attracted to motion, will smoothly follow the finger and your speed will increase by about 25%.
If you prefer, you can watch a documentary. Some are very short, yet instructional and interesting. You could try “Explained”, the episodes only last for 16 to 18 minutes and cover a wide range of topics.
YouTube is definitely a great source of distractions (Nice kitties, right? And what about those Epic Fails?!) but it can also be a source of learning. Subscribe to channels related to a topic you want to investigate.
- Are you an auditory learner?
Choose your podcast.
I, personally, dislike multitasking and think it is counterproductive, however, some will find that listening to a podcast while cooking or driving is a great way to learn and save time.
There are podcasts on absolutely anything you want to know: AI, parenting, meditation, language learning, true crimes, sports, cooking, you name it.
Check the Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, The Joe Rogan Experience, Stuff You Should Know…
Pick your audiobook.
Audible is one of the most famous apps out there for audiobooks, but once again, YouTube has quite a few that you can listen to for free. Also, if you are registered with your public library, you might have access to their audible content.
- Are you a kinaesthetic learner?
Watch online tutorials and do as you learn. Crochet for your baby nephew, cook that amazing Tarte Tatin, Origami to destress, make shelves out of pallets, redecorate your home, fix your old computer.
The Udemy platform offers a variety of online courses that can apply to the manual field too. They often have discounts and offer courses that go from Reiki to Programming.
Chat with a friend around coffee or while playing golf.
Some people need to be doing something while they are learning, this is their way of retaining the information. Drink that nice latte while you are soaking up all the information this person has to share with you.
Remember that for Jim Rohn — and many others, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”. Surround yourself with friends that can teach you something. Learning does not have to be in a classroom or behind a screen, it can be very informal, pleasant, fun.
“Information combined with emotion becomes a long-term memory,” — Jim Kwik.
Whatever your learning style could be, there is a tool out there that will perfectly fit your needs and allow you to spend twenty minutes each day, developing your brain and making yourself a better you.
Journal
Journaling has no specific rule, yet here are a few ideas that can get you started if you do not know what to write:
- Gratitude:
Right down three things that happened yesterday or during the past week or month. It does not have to be anything complex. It can go from the roof you have over your head to receiving a sum of money permitting you to solve a difficult situation.
Even the smallest of things and this feeling of gratitude will make you feel better.
It also quickly becomes a virtuous circle as you end up appreciating more those moments during your day that you will write about them. - The “Daily Fives”:
For Robin Sharma, answer the following question: “What five things need to happen between now and the end of the last hour of the day today for this to have been an exceptionally productive day.”
You can check-mark them as the day goes. Writing them down makes you your own accountability partner. The following day, they can efficiently become one more reason for gratitude. - Reflection:
During your meditation, there might have been some thoughts, questions that crossed your mind, reflecting on them while journaling can be a good idea to clarify that thought and prevent it from popping up again in your following mindfulness session.
You might also want to take a few notes on what you're learning of the day was. Rewriting it in your own words will help it stick longer.
I also like to write a small summary of my previous day, notwithstanding that I mainly keep the constructive and productive events, the point being to start my day on the right foot, not to mope and brood.
Extra tip: Do what you hate first
From the “Daily Fives”, take the one that you like the least.
Once crossed over from your list, it will give you a sense of victory and fill you with the “I can” attitude for the following tasks.
It will prevent you from feeling guilty — for not doing it, when most probably it would not have been that difficult.
Also, it will help you be in the moment, entirely, rather than dreading the time when you will have to accomplish that task — because at some point, do it better sooner than later. Choose to produce over procrastinating.
So, postpone that TV show, that face mask, that football replay, that phone call with your bestie and get on with paying those bills, sending that email, writing that article.
Remember that first, you make your habits, then your habits make you!
Drink, brush your teeth, meditate, exercise, make your bed, have breakfast, learn something new, journal and do what you hate first.
You are already doing a few of those; I am sure, only make them your new long-lasting habits and give them the right importance, and you, the start of the day you deserve!
Have a wonderful morning and day!
