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The Ultimate Morning Routine to Wake up with Determination and Go to Bed with Satisfaction
“Either you run the day, or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn
Having a consistent morning routine reinforces the belief that you put yourself first, you are committed to self-improvement and you consciously choose to create the life you dream of. You will increase your self-esteem because you prioritize self-care and invest in your self-wealth.
The morning can be the quietest, most serene moment of your day and doing the important things during the morning can have a huge impact on your day. When you complete the important things like exercising, journaling, setting intentions and practicing gratitude before 9:00 AM, you get a sense of accomplishment which sets the rest of your day up for success. Doing the important things in the morning will reinforce discipline and will provide you with heightened focus, clarity, energy and motivation. It will make you feel empowered, confident and kick starts momentum which sets the tone of success for the rest of the day.
Reframe Your Mindset
The first step to actually be consistent with a productive morning routine is to reframe your mindset. When you go to sleep at night do you remember how comfy you felt in the morning or do you remember how productive you were and how satisfied you were with achieving your goals? At the moment you don’t want to get up but you rarely regret waking up early, you’re usually happier and satisfied that you got up early and got more things done.
Waking up 10 minutes before you have to leave the house reinforces a fury chaotic mindset which sets the tone for a chaotic, anxious, reactive day. Wouldn’t you rather give yourself enough time to begin your day in a calm state filled with intention and inspiration? Change the language from what time you have to get up, to what time you get to get up. You get to wake up just a bit earlier in order to prioritize yourself and do the important things.
During the day, others demand your time or take up your time which can be very draining. If you don’t set aside time to prioritize yourself, you won’t show up as the best version of yourself for others and you run the risk of burnout.
You need to prioritize yourself, and sometimes the morning is the only time you’ll be able to get the important things done. Trying to fit in meditation and journaling can easily fall to the wayside if you leave it until the end of the day. Waking up and committing to yourself and the important things supercharges your day.
If you’re someone who sees meditation and practicing gratitude as a waste of time because you could be being more productive, first understand how beneficial these things are to your mindset and well-being and then remind yourself that you are exactly where you need to be. A major cause of suffering in all areas of your life could be that you feel you should be further ahead. This is why pausing and reinforcing the belief that you are exactly where you need to be can reduce anxiety and be very grounding.
Wake Up When Your Alarm Goes Off
What you do in the morning, especially as soon as you wake up, conditions your mind and influences your attitude and behaviour towards the rest of the day.
As soon as your alarm goes off – don’t hit the snooze button – jump out of bed – no ifs ands or buts. Snoozing your alarm takes a physical and mental toll on your body. If you choose to snooze your alarm you are resisting your life and are actively choosing comfort over creating the life you dream of. You program your subconscious mind that you’re not committed to doing the things you say you will do.
By waking up as soon as your alarm goes off you reinforce that you have the discipline to do the things you don’t want to do. A life hack to making yourself get out of bed immediately is setting your phone (alarm clock) across the room so it forces you to physically get out of bed to turn it off.
“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” – George Horace Lorimer
Avoid The Screen
The first habit of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People outlined by Steven Covey is to be proactive. Being proactive in the morning means nourishing and conditioning your mind for success.
When you check emails or social media first thing in the morning you put yourself in reactive mode. You react to other people, give your time away, and surrender your energy and confidence. Would you rather give away your focus and emotions to
external distractions, or focus on yourself and reinforce your self-worth?
Instead, choose habits that will inspire and empower you and choose to prioritize yourself in the morning. Journal about what you’re grateful for and reinforce affirmations to make you feel abundant, worthy and happy.
We all know not to check our email and social media first thing in the morning, but actually refraining from the temptation can be a game changer. Commit to spending the first 30 minutes of the day without your phone.
Hydrate
Dehydration can adversely affect your mood. Studies have shown that it can decrease alertness, increase fatigue and cause confusion. Drinking enough water can promote a faster metabolism, increase weight loss, flush out toxins and maintain healthy skin and cells.
Pour water into your biggest glass or water bottle and drink at least 1 L before you start your day, and before you have coffee. Throughout my whole routine I am drinking all the water. If you want to take it a step further you can add some Himalayan sea salt to your water to increase your mineral intake.
Excercise
Depending on your schedule you might choose to do intense exercise in the morning because things may unexpectedly pop up in your evening that could impede on your exercise time. If you don’t do an intense bout of exercise in the morning, it even is beneficial to do 4 minutes of Tabata, or 10-15 minutes of yoga. It will benefit your mood and you will feel more accomplished and ready to take on what may face you in your day.
If you can get outside to exercise do it! Getting sunlight as the sun sets your circadian rhythm, signalling to your body that it’s daytime. Exposure to sunlight in the morning triggers the secretion of serotonin which is a neurotransmitter that regulates mood, memory, appetite and sleep.
Practice Gratitude
You want to begin your day in a state of abundance, not lack. When you wake up early and set aside time to practice gratitude you reinforce the belief that you have an abundance of time, while counting your abundant blessings.
It doesn’t have to be extensive, and it doesn’t have to be that out there. You just want to be intentional about expecting positive things. When you’re grateful for the beautiful sunrise or the smell of coffee, you prime your brain to see all the little things in a positive light. Gratitude helps you fall in love with the life you already have.
Any journal will work if you just want to free-flow and reflect on all the things you’re grateful for. If you want more of a structure or are just beginning practicing gratitude, my favourite is the five-minute gratitude journal.
Get it: Journal
Get it: The Five-Minute Journal
What I particularly like about the five-minute journal is that one of the exercises is to write down the three most amazing things that will happen that day – priming your mind for what you look forward to and expecting the good things you choose to expect amazing things to happen in your life.
Be Intentional & Affirmational
Each morning Benjamin Franklin would ask himself and reflect on, “what good shall I do this day?” Priming your mind to expect the good things that will happen or the positive way you will contribute to your life sets the tone for the rest of your day. Set intentions for what you wish to happen, review your goals and visualize who you want to be and what you want in your life.
The most effective way to be intentional about who you want to be is by reviewing self-affirmations. You can read your affirmations, or you can listen to recorded affirmations to prime your mindset for success. Plus, if you want to kill two birds you can listen to your affirmations while you’re exercising!
Meditate
Meditation in the morning helps to calm your thoughts and center yourself. The basics of meditation require practicing breathing – just spend 10 minutes noticing your breath. If you mind wanders and thoughts pop up in your head, just bring your awareness back to your breath.
When I first started meditating, I used the Headspace app. I found it extremely helpful that it would guide me through breathwork. Now I use the Calm app which has a variety of meditation options to choose from.
Reduce Decision Fatigue
Decision fatigue is the consequence of too much decision-making over the course of a day. As the day goes on and the number of decisions increases, the quality of decisions begins to deteriorate. Having too many decisions to make in the morning causes you to feel disorganized, confused and could eat up your time which can result in chaos. You don’t want to cause unnecessary stress and you don’t want to waste time and energy on minuscule unimportant decisions.
Plan, prepare and prioritize for peak performance!
A successful day begins the night before, plan and schedule your day the night before so that in the morning you already have a to-do list of the 6 most important things you want to get done for that day.
Similarly, you want to reduce decision fatigue of anything that can take up unnecessary time such as what outfit you will wear. Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg wore the same thing every day as to not waste time making decisions on clothes. Although that might be a stretch for some people, the idea is to plan out your outfit and your meals the night before so it’s not time consuming in the morning.
I personally plan out my schedule, my outfits and my meals on Sunday as to reduce decision fatigue throughout the week. You will be more productive, focused and will reserve energy for the important decisions.
The night before:
– Outline six of the most important tasks you want to get done
– Prioritize each task based on importance and urgency
– Allot yourself enough time for each task
Get it: High Performance Planner
– Includes Intention Setting & Evening Reflection
Eat the Frog
Since you already created a to-do list and have prioritized your tasks from the night before, you know what is most important, so get right to it! This concept is from Brian Tracy’s book Eat that Frog!, you essentially want to start your day with the hardest task so that it is over with. For some people that’s the gym, or a project they’re working on. Once you get it out of the way you will feel accomplished and you will be able to use that momentum to begin your other tasks.
Refuel
Some people choose intermittent fasting, so breakfast may not be what they call their first meal of the day, but whatever time you do eat make sure it is full of healthy fats and protein. Refuel and get ready for your day!
