Stress-Free Morning Routine— Avoid These 3 Mistakes (That I Made)
Our world is dominated by productivity tips and self-optimisation, especially in the morning.
After all, humans love structure.
It seems as though an endless list of morning routines is the key to a successful life. I now see things differently.
In this article, I want to address the 3 most common mistakes related to this topic and show how you can sensibly and structurally design your morning.
Morning routines sound fantastic
Motivated by many YouTube videos and articles on productivity, I’ve tried out many tips for designing my morning time in the past:
- Cold showers
- Exercise
- Walks
- Journaling
- 5 minutes of sun
- Writing daily plans
- Marking important to-dos
- Drinking a glass of water
- Etc.
This list could go on.
I felt more pressured than supported by the multitude of recommended routines. These recommendations were supposed to make starting my day easier. They weren’t supposed to stress me out, especially if I couldn’t manage to implement them in the morning.
From this experience, I asked myself the following questions:
- Are all these routines necessary?
- Can they even be counterproductive?
- How did my grandparents survive without journaling or a morning walk?
So, I analyzed 3 mistakes I have made:
#1 Less is more
The list of routines I’ve tried shows what I mean.
The topic is so current, you can find valuable tips and possibilities everywhere. Very quickly, you catch yourself trying out the third, fourth, or fifth morning routine. This doesn’t make your morning easier; it only complicates it. Some time ago, I read an article where the author had to lie down again after his morning routine because he was exhausted.
That describes the problem perfectly.
#2 Don’t be too hard on yourself
Too many morning routines are unachievable.
Even with just one or two rituals, it can always happen that a wrongly set alarm clock or an unforeseen appointment disrupts the entire process. You become frustrated with yourself, and the uncompleted tasks in the morning weigh on you all day like a backpack. Morning routines should occur daily and consistently, but you shouldn’t be too strict with yourself.
The world keeps turning even without 5 minutes of sun in the morning.
#3 Only let things into your life in the morning that do you good
There are numerous productivity experts on social networks.
When consuming their content, it’s easy to be seduced. You’ve incorporated morning routines that aren’t truly beneficial for you. My best example here is the famous cold showers. They are apparently the holy grail of morning routines. I’ve tried them. I hate them. Just the thought of a cold shower sends my mood plummeting in the morning.
Doing something unpleasant at the most sensitive time of the day can’t be good for productivity.
Design your morning relaxed with ONE simple ritual
As a small homework assignment, I can only recommend to every reader to reduce the topic of morning routines to a single routine.
One thing every morning that fells good for you. It doesn’t have to be anything special, maybe it’s the mundane cup of coffee. Or 5 minutes of fresh air on the balcony. That’s all it needs to be.
With a single morning routine, many advantages arise:
- A routine is achievable in 99% of all cases.
- You can choose what you enjoy the most.
- The combination of structure and relaxation in the morning is a perfect start to the day.
In my case, I’ve decided that exercise in the morning is my doping for the day. Not much exercise, a few push-ups after getting up. After this morning routine, I’m awake.
I feel great because I’ve already done some exercise — then I’m ready to save the world!
Did you enjoy my article, or would you like to learn more about this topic? Let me know in the comments and feel free to follow me!
