Phone-Free Morning Routine for Better Focus and Productivity
Reaching for your device is often how most people kick off their day since there are many messages, alerts and apps that take over the brain before you even really start your day. Many proven successful individuals including business leaders like Tim Cook and Oprah Winfrey speak to the importance of developing an intentional morning routine to help enhance their productivity.
Using this approach is not just the ability to be disciplined, but allows and protects (for the most part) our mental energy – especially during one of the most important times of our day. When you take control of your morning routine you take control of where your attention is focused, what decisions you make, and ultimately how productive you are for the rest of the day.
The Unseen Costs of Checking Your Phone First Thing In The Morning
The first thing that you do in the morning has a direct correlation to your brain’s behavior for the remainder of the day. When you reach for your device, you instantly are bombarded with external forces making your brain shift into reactive mode because all your notifications, social media updates represent demands placed on your time.
Apps such as Instagram and WhatsApp are designed to attract your attention, and each one of your notifications triggers a dopamine response in your brain making it that much harder to focus on what would otherwise be deemed “meaningful”. Therefore, you didn’t start the day with brain clarity but rather distractions and self-comparison.
Decision Fatigue
Another unseen cost to your brain checking the latest updates on social media and through email in the morning is decision fatigue. By scrolling and spending time on many updates first thing, your brain will immediately start making multiple small decisions creating decision fatigue before you’ve even left your house.
Draining mental energy to focus on everyday life detracts from being productive in business. Over time, this will make it really hard to concentrate deeply.
The Impact on Brain Function
Your brain gets trained to switch between tasks routinely, instead of concentrating on one thing. This habit is out there because of the way that social media operates.
This creates a cycle that does not allow to break free from the habit.
How a No-Phone Morning Helps Clear Your Mind
A no-phone morning allows your brain to take a little bit of time to wake up naturally and without the impact of any external inputs. Many productivity experts and organizations, such as the Harvard Business Review, endorse the value of starting the day off with a good intentional morning, as it relates to your cognitive performance for that day.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is an incredibly effective tool to allow you to take control of your thoughts, relieve stress and prepare for the day ahead by adding a sense of focus and connection to your daily routine. By starting your day with some type of mindfulness activity, you will be clearer headed and more intentionally focused than you would normally be if your first activity of the day was distraction.
Small Time Practice
Even if you think that you only have 5-10 minutes available for a mindfulness activity in the morning, doing so will have a noticeable impact on your ability to accomplish tasks throughout the day. A clear mind equals better decisions.
This clarity creates greater levels of confidence because you are no longer reactive to what others want from you or want you to do but instead follow your plan that creates a productive and fulfilling day.
Start Small with Some Type of Phone-Free Morning Routine
Schedule your morning through evening preparation for the next day. Following a step-by-step routine for starting upon waking up.
Simple Routine
- Waking up
As you develop through starting simple routines, you will become more comfortable extending this phone-free period of time. You don’t have to have the perfect routine in order to be effective, but rather, it would be best to have different plans, however simply done, on a regular basis.
A simple routine can be done unattended or continuously.
The Science of Concentration and Deep Work within Morning hours
Your brain functions at its best and fastest because following a good night’s rest, your brain is at peak performance relating to decision making, concentration, and problem-solving are at their maximum performance levels after a good night’s rest. Many experts suggest completing important tasks earlier in the day because not having any distractions impacts your ability to function at a high level.
As a result, you’ll complete tasks at higher persuasiveness rates and create higher quality output, especially when positively influencing creativity.
Deep Work
Deep work refers to the completion of tasks that require maximum concentration without digital distractions. When you start working every morning without using the phone, your brain will not be under undue external stress throughout the day.
This allows you to continue daily, to be productive for much longer periods.
Connection Between Sleep and Focus
The importance of sleep is to improve your memory, attention level and emotional stability. If you wake well-rested, therefore, when you wake up you will be able to perform your tasks without needing to stimulate your brain with constant stimulation through your smartphone.
In contrast, when you do not get enough sleep you will be craving those quick dopamine hits by checking for any notifications you have on your phone.
Sleep Routine
- Go to sleep and waking up at the same time each day
- Screens should not be used for at least 30 to 60 minutes before bed
The routines will allow you to have more success because the internal clock will regulate your body’s energy levels better.
Replacing Phone Use with New Activities
By doing these things, you will not only establish a positive mindset for your day, you will also maintain focus on your day without the aid of technology.
Alternatives
- Drink some water and eat a nutritious breakfast
- Read a few pages of a book
All of the activities above are relatively easy to begin and will easily become habitual if you do these things on a regular basis.
Making Your Own Personal Morning Ritual
For example, an undemanding routine done daily is a much better way to build discipline and to improve your concentration over time than a rigorous system that is impossible to sustain over time.
Common Problems and Solutions
Developing a phone-less morning routine seems simple; however, it can be very hard sometimes. The primary problem is the tendency to pick up your phone as soon as you wake up.
Another issue is the fear of missing out on messages, updates, and work-related notifications from platforms like Gmail and Telegram.
Conclusion
Starting your day every time with focus helps your decision-making process by allowing you to make more intentional decisions that will align with your goals. Whether you are Elon Musk or one of the many successful individuals out there, the most important part of having a good routine is controlling your distractions.
What may be difficult at first will become increasingly easier through the process of developing a consistent routine. In a world that is full of digital distractions, gaining control over your morning will provide you with an advantage as you start each day with a purpose and not just reaction.
When you practice this routine on a daily basis, it will serve as a critical component of the success you will achieve in the long run and as you strive to live a busy yet focused life.