Morning Routine: A Scam or Valuable Part of the Day?
How to navigate between idealized nonsense and spontaneous mess
A perfect morning routine:
You wake up at 5 am, meditate, read a book, drink a green smoothie, and do yoga. Did I miss something?
Although the trend of idealized mornings was at its highest a few years ago, it left some of us embittered. Even to the point where we want to throw it all out and just ‘go with the flow.’
Yet, both of these positions are pretty extreme. As you’ll soon discover, mornings hugely impact our days, so we cannot undervalue them.
The science behind ‘getting up on the wrong side of the bed’
How does your day go when your morning starts well? And what happens if it’s terrible? I bet you also feel that the whole day tends to be better when the morning is good, and vice versa.
It doesn’t stop at common knowledge: in psychology, we call this effect ‘priming.’ Priming happens when one stimulus subconsciously influences your response to another one.
In this study, participants received an unexpected gift. As a result, they became more positive-oriented towards life and thus also happier: a perfect example of this effect.
Priming happens multiple times in our day, but mornings are at the top of the list. Therefore, if you don’t take care of them, they will take care of you.
To take advantage of priming, you need to plan your morning routine. That is a list of all activities you’ll perform in sequence. However, creating it is an art in itself, so to avoid amateurish mistakes, read the next section.
How to create a morning routine that sticks
Have you ever tried to create a morning routine? If so, how did you go about it?
Now, content featuring perfect morning routines isn’t as popular anymore. Yet, its influence is still visible in our approach to them.
For example, a common mistake is to try replicating these idealized routines in one go. Even if you wish to wake up at 5 am, do yoga, and meditate–you won’t be able to implement all of these at once.
I know, I know–not quite a marketable idea.
Yet, deep inside, I bet you know it. Thus, don’t act surprised when you see the next heading.
#1 Start from the bottom
Before you create the morning routine of your dreams, plan a simple one. You may be doing it already: wake up, wash up, and eat breakfast. That’s it. Don’t overdo it.
Do you remember when you tried to play the hero and started big: how did that work out for you?
Start humble, or you’ll get nowhere.
Once you plan a routine, make sure to test it before committing to it. It may seem redundant now, but it will be invaluable when you raise the bar higher. If something doesn’t work — play around with its timing, complexity, etc.
Such preparation will allow you to experiment without accountability–a crucial aspect of sustainable change.
When your experimentation is over, it’s time to stick to your routine and make it a habit. Only then can you go to the next step.
#2 Upgrade
Once you have a long series of successes with your basic morning routine, you can upgrade it. Do not hurry with the upgrade–do so only when you feel confident about your ability to keep doing it.
As in the previous step, when you add new elements, experiment with them. Some of your actions may be too long to do in the morning–identify these.
Now, beware of including time-consuming activities in your morning routine. Unless you live alone, many things can interrupt you in the meantime. (Leading to an uncompleted routine.)
The priority should always be creating and following a repeatable morning pattern. Everything else comes second.
My recommendations
In case you weren’t sure what to include in your morning routine, I have a few general recommendations.
Boost your mood
To start the day on the positive side, include something that will make you happy in your routine. It can be gratitude practice, prayer, an inspiring quote, etc.
Monitor your progress and preview your tasks
If you have any goal/habit tracker, mornings are a perfect time to verify how well you did the previous day. Not only will you watch your progress, but also review all your objectives for a given day.
It will help you manage your energy and willpower throughout the day.
As an alternative, you could go through your to-do list/calendar.
However, if you don’t enjoy your current undertakings, it may be better not to preview them. (Despite visible benefits.) Experiment with both versions and choose what fits you best.
A morning failed?
When incorporating your routine, you’re bound to go through some failures. Don’t try to deny it: it’ll happen. Nobody sticks to their routine with 100% accuracy 100% of the time.
Well, except the supermen or the pretending supermen.
Yet, if you can do it 80–90% of the time, that’s glorious! The remaining bit can either be the result of ‘life happened.’ Or (especially at the early stages) a sign that you still need to work on your routine.
All in all, don’t delay creating a morning routine, as it makes an enormous difference in a day. Also, never give up on it completely because it’s the base of solid self-discipline for life.
Key Takeaways
- The morning routine isn’t a scam, although some portray it as such. It adds immeasurable value to your life by making it more organized and fulfilling.
- Elaborate morning routines aren’t realistic. There’s always something that gets in the way during longer activities. To avoid this, start with a minimum of basic actions to do in the morning.
- Once you’re successful with following the basic version, add other desired elements. Next, experiment with them so you can follow them as effortlessly as the basic ones.
If you need additional advice on the art of a good morning, you may be interested in this article:
