Mornings can be the most productive time of your day... if you do the right things.
Whether we know it or not, we all have a morning routine. Depending on our lifestyle, we could be busy right from the word go, trying to do 10 things at the same time, or we could slower, deliberate and more methodical with our actions.
Regardless of which type we are, our routines give us a sense of control over our day. When people hear about habits or routines, for some reason they think about longer activities.
There are certain things which take minutes (if not seconds) to do that can give you a significant boost. They don’t require much energy output either.
I’ll go over five kinds of these morning routines here.
Having a glass of water before you eat
This is something that my wife actually prompted me to do and now I can’t start my day without doing this. We all know about the health benefits of drinking water. Depending on your sources, we’re told to drink six to eight glasses a day. Drinking a glass first thing in the morning mindlessly takes one of these down before you’re even aware of it.
So why is it important to drink water before you have breakfast? Water is a natural lubricant and allows for food to travel easily to the stomach. From a more unscientific point of view, I feel that having water early also “wakes up” my body, getting it ready to receive the food that’s about to come.
Micro Exercise
This is something I’ve been doing for years which I swear by. Having a fast metabolism is important since it helps you burn fat.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is known to be one of the most effective ways to maintain a high metabolism. As the name suggests, it works in intervals ranging from high intensity to medium intensity. While you coast at medium, you’re sprinting and going hard at high. This pushes your body to its limits and spikes your metabolism.
The concept of micro exercise is to do one set of exercise at a strenuous pace. I personally do 60 push ups. Admittedly it’s hard some mornings, but I feel stronger for it.
Morning Pages
As a writer, I can attribute the importance of writing consistently. It helps to clear the mind and sharpen your creativity. I run a publication on Medium called 100 Naked Words. Here, I write daily, as do nearly 20 other writers who have taken up the challenge of writing on a daily basis.
I personally write in the morning since my mind is clearest at that time. It just sets me up for the rest of the day. I know plenty of other writers would say the same thing, several being well known published authors.
Affirmations
Our mood fluctuates on a daily basis. We might have had a bad dream, which means our day started at an ebb. It might have started well if we woke up and remembered that it was a weekend. We might have slept poorly if we had a lot on our mind.
Affirmations help us to focus on what’s important and keep our minds clear. It might just be positive quotes or statements, or it could be reminders of what we’re trying to achieve through our daily actions.
A great analogy is that affirmations are like sweeping the floor. While it’s clean right after you have done it, dust will collect there over time. You have to keep sweeping it. There’s no way around it. Not only that, there is joy in the sweeping.
Just like with real sweeping, affirmations sweep away mental cobwebs that could be clouding up our judgement and causing us to not perform at our peak. Doing it every morning for two to three minutes helps us stay on track.
What sort of morning habits give you the boost you need to start your day strong?