A positive morning routine is essential
Your morning routine is very important. If your morning routine consists of staying in bed as late as possible and just making it to work on time, you´ve got to think if this is doing you any good. Doing this gets your day off to the wrong type of start – stress, anxiety and pressure! This of course can then have a negative impact on the whole day.
Imagine the difference it would make in your life if… you had a different morning routine , one that ensured a the day would start of well!
Let´s look at the normal morning routine of the average “joe”
1. Buzzing sound of the alarm going off.
2. You hit snooze (3 times, at least).
3. You lie there thinking about how nice it is in bed, so much better than getting up and going to that lousy job.
4. Eventually you get up and shower.
5. After this you get dressed.
6. You run out the door with some sort of food in your hand (anything you could grab).
There´s no way you can have a good start to the day when this is your morning routine! To have a good requires a little preparation and a solid foundation.
Here are some ideas to consider to have a better start to the day:
1. Set the alarm earlier. Tip if you go to bed earlier this makes it much easier! The reason why you are doing this is you will need more time to undertake your morning routine.
2. Get out of bed immediately. It is best not to lie there. If you do you may find yourself thinking about your day, the challenges ahead, your life, even your job, in a negative manner. If you are up and doing something and being active it is harder to have these negative thoughts!
• Have a Heroic Moment every morning. How do you have a heroic moment? You get up straight away when the alarm goes off. Don´t give yourself time to think about having an extra 5 minutes!
3. First thing you do is… drink a glass of water. You´ve had around 8 hours without any water. Your body needs it. If you have a glass of water you will feel better (plus it makes you feel full). Leave a bottle of water near your bed so you can do this easily every morning.
4. Exercise. If you are up earlier you may be able to walk to the next bus or metro stop. Do some pushups. It does not matter what you do but do something! When your body is moving focus on positive things. I do this when I am walking in the morning, I look around and give thanks for everything I see.
5. Enjoy your shower. If you´ve done some exercise in the house, or even if you have not, take a nice long hot shower and focus on positive things in your life. Feel and enjoy the water. Buy a nice shower gel so your senses are awakened as you shower!
6. Have a healthy breakfast. Consider eating some fruit and yogurt. Enjoy the food rather than grabbing it and rushing out. Really chew the food and eat it with pleasure.
7. Read something that inspires or meditate. Allow yourself to meditate or read something for 10 minutes. You don´t need any more time, just 10 minutes. Reading something that inspires or makes you feel positive will put you in the right frame of mind for the day ahead.
8. Revisit your goals. What you have not goals? Well let´s discuss that later, but assuming you have goals take 5 minutes each morning and review your goals. If you review your goals every day you are more likely to stay focused and reach them.
9. Embrace the day. If you follow the above before you leave the house you should be ready to tackle the day head on. Keep positive for as long as you can (yeah I know sometimes it´s hard) but being positive for 2 hours is better than not being positive! Each day you will find yourself being more and more positive.
What I have outlined above should take no more than 90 minutes to complete. If you find that this is too long, just reduce the time you take for your exercise, shower etc. Don´t make an excuse make a change! The essential points to take away from this blog post is to make sure you drink your water, be positive and feed your body in the morning! Simple eh!
Over the following days and weeks you will find that this positive routine will make a huge impact in your life.