The key to productive days is a healthy morning routine.
Your morning snooze habit might be holding you back, big time. It can be tempting to hit snooze 7 times and scroll through your phone before pulling yourself out of bed, but eventually, this leads to a lack of focus, exhaustion, and burnout.
Learning to take control of your morning and developing a morning routine can be life-changing. Sound dramatic? Well, you’ll just have to see for yourself!
Most highly successful people have morning routines because it sets them up to be mindful and productive throughout the day. A solid morning routine increases your focus, gives you more clarity, and makes you happier.
Here are 5 things you should do in the morning if you want to be successful:
1. Drink a glass of water
Your body needs water after a night of sleep, no matter how long you slept for. Aim to drink around 8 ounces of water first thing in the morning. You will feel immediately feel more energized and refreshed.
2. Wash your face
One of the first things you should do in the morning is to wash your face with cold water. If you didn’t feel significantly more awake after the glass of water, this should do the trick. Of course, brushing your teeth and using the bathroom are good additions to this step, but I’ll leave that up to you!
3. Move
You don’t have to go on a run or do a full workout — unless that’s your thing — but the goal is to just move around enough to get your blood flowing. You can simply do a couple of easy stretches. Reach your arms overhead and stretch to each side. Take a forward fold. Keep it simple and don’t overthink it. If you’re into yoga, sun salutations are a great way to get moving in the morning since they are simple, set sequences that don’t require much thinking.
4. Meditate
Before you stop reading this because you think you don’t know how to meditate, just wait one second. Meditation doesn’t require that you are a monk or a long-time yogi. All you need to be able to do is sit or lay down for a few minutes in silence. Everyone can do this, you just have to try. For some of us, this is really daunting!
It’s important to know that meditation is a practice. No one is good at meditating after the first try, or even the second or third. It takes time to become comfortable with silence. Give it time, don’t give up, and the results will amaze you. Nothing good comes easy.
5. Journal
Get out a journal and write whatever comes to mind. This will help spur your creativity, elevate your awareness, and increase your focus. Journal entries don’t have to be fully comprehensive recaps of your life. I used to think I needed to write everything that was happening in my life. Don’t write what doesn’t inspire you. You can write a few words or even draw a picture. Maybe you need to just plan out your day. What matters is that you’re spending time with yourself in quiet reflection.
These five steps are just a guideline to help you develop your own morning routine. It’s important to remember that everyone’s different. What works for one person might not work for the other. Find what works for you, and don’t be so hard on yourself if you slip up every now and then.
