How to Build a Perfect Morning Routine for a Productive Day
The start of your day can influence the outcome of your day in a significant way; an anticipated and stable morning prepares you to face the headwinds of unexpected events. Instead of hurrying, checking smartphones, feeling stressed and reacting to problems; there should be time available to plan the day in a well-organized manner through a set morning routine that provides clarity of thought, movement of body, as well as organization of goal.
There have been studies performed by several well-respected organizations, including Harvard University and American Psychological Association, indicating that there is a direct correlation between morning habits, productivity, decision-making abilities, and level of stress.
If your day starts off with a sense of control and clarity from your morning routine, it creates a much easier road map to manage the remainder of your day. The purpose of a successful morning routine is not to wake up at 5 AM or to develop an overly complicated plan but to create a method that allows you to have the energy, focus, and direction to achieve success day in and day out.
Why Wake Up Early?
Waking up early gives you time that many others don’t have in their day; uninterrupted time (often referred to as “white space”). Most of the time, very few people are awake during the early morning hours, they are usually quiet without distractions or noises, and therefore easier to think and plan. As a result of the ability to think, many of the most successful leaders such as Tim Cook and Satya Nadella start their day early to help them to regain control before reacting to emails and messages from others.
Morning Brain Performance
Because your brain is still fresh from sleep, it is less affected by fatigue as a result of being exposed to a significant amount of information and making many decisions. When you wake up, your concentration, memory? and problem-solving skills will be at their best during the first few hours.
Adjusting Your Sleep Schedule
Using this gradual method, you will achieve much more success than if you make a complete overnight change that most people cannot sustain for long periods of time. One other important part of sleep adjustment is waking up at the same time every day, even on weekends, because we each run on a biological clock.
Once you have your sleep hours established, you will notice that getting up each morning is much easier than it was before and that you have more energy all morning instead of being tired.
Ideas For Becoming A Morning Person
To be a morning person requires good nighttime habits rather than a source of morning motivation. If you continue to go to bed late at night you can be motivated to wake up early by however you will not succeed in waking up at an earlier time, this is where you can accomplish most of your morning challenges if you have a straightforward nighttime routine.
Night Routine Habits
- Avoid using the telephone for 30 minutes before sleep
- Keep your alarm clock away from the bedside table
- When you wake up to drink some water
- Get direct sunlight exposure 10 minutes after waking up.
Begin Your Day Without Phone
People tend to make one of the worst mistakes each day by immediately checking their phones right after they wake up. By checking social media platforms (e.g., Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, etc.) as soon as your brain wakes up, it reacts to stimulus first and reacts to its own goals and objectives second…
Getting too much news/information and responding to everyone’s messages/notifications/input in the first few minutes after waking up also creates more stress over time. Starting each day with a bustling/distracted brain will not help you concentrate on your important work as the day goes on.
Alternatives to Phone in the Morning
There are several activities you can participate in during your morning routine versus using a phone! These activities allow your brain to slowly and calmly wake up which improves both mood and concentration.
Morning Activities
- drinking water
- stretching your body
- writing down your top goals for the day
- finding a quite place for a few minutes…
Use this time as many of the world’s most high achievers do to think, plan and do not consume any information from any outside source.
Formulating a No Phone Policy for Morning Routine
The most effective way to eliminate phone use within the first 30 minutes of waking is to set up a simple to follow rule that states you will not use your phone within the first 30 minutes of waking.
To prevent yourself from using your phone during the first 30 minutes after waking, either keep your phone in a separate area of your house while sleeping, or find another way to wake up such as an alarm clock (not a phone used as an alarm).This minor alteration can make a tremendous difference in your concentration, cognitive functioning, and productivity level on a daily basis.
Exercise and Movement in the AM
To perform morning exercise is not to create an exhaustion by having an intense exercise regimen but rather to wake your body and mind (and have fun!)
Morning exercise should be uncomplicated and straightforward so that you can maintain a regular pattern. Often times complex workout routines do not work for most people because they cannot stick to them for an extended period of time.
Simple Exercises
- Walking
- Stretching
- Yoga
- Pushups and squats
- Light jogging
By engaging in these activities every single day for a period of 10-20 minutes you will experience positive effects if you do so on a consistent basis.
How Exercise Can Improve Productivity
The exercise you perform releases substances in your brain that will enhance your mood and lower your stress level which enables you to work in a calmer and currently focus rather than getting fatigued and distracted while you work. Many successful entrepreneurs and leaders incorporate exercise first thing in the morning to allow them to be active and keep feeling that way through the entire day.
The more active your body is, the more active your mind will be as well.Morning exercisers tend to experience heightened productivity, greater focus, and superior time-management skills relative to those who wake up and start their day slowly.
Set Your Day Up Before You Start
An Easy Daily Planning Technique
Many professionals employ this method since it is the most efficient means for accomplishing deep work and time wasting.
Tools to Consider
Simple tools can be employed to organize/have a plan for your daily activities such as notebooks, to- do lists, or electronic applications.In today’s world, there are many options available for managing daily schedules and tasks, including tools like Google Calendar and Notion that allow users to create reminders, organize their to-do lists, and track how much work they have completed.
When you can see what needs completing, you become much more serious about actually doing those tasks and managing your time.
The Breakfast You Eat’s Impact on Energy
Brain Food to Eat First Thing
- Fried Eggs
- Bananas
- Nuts
Aside from the food items you eat, what you drink is just as important. Since you become dehydrated overnight, drinking water (first) should be the first habit established after waking. Drinking water will also improve your energy level as well as help your brain perform better.
Lemon water, milk, and tea are all good hydration sources as well.Most people in the workforce enjoy coffee, so it would be reasonable to suggest that they have coffee with breakfast rather than on an empty stomach.
Successful People Have Routines
The primary lesson that successful individuals can teach you is about consistency.
Oftentimes they attempt to create complex, elaborate routines that quickly become impossible to follow after days of doing them.
Building Routine Step by Step
For example, if you drink a glass of water upon waking, then you could add stretching and afterwards making a plan for the day.
Researchers, including some at University College London, have found that it generally takes anywhere from a few weeks (to over 3 months) of consistency and continuing to do certain behaviours each day before they develop into true habits.
Examples of Routine-Construction Mistakes:
- Early awakening attempts without gradual adjustments to physical awakening times.
- Long and tedious Morning Routine.
- Use of technology during morning activities.
- Staying awake until late night.
If these mistakes are avoided, routine maintenance will be easier for longer periods.
The Ability to Learn and Grow Mentally at the Start of Every Day
Mornings present an ideal opportunity for individuals to develop their own capacities for learning through reading, writing, thinking, and developing skills typically completed prior to the start of your workday. Through this behavior, individuals will experience gradual growth via daily improvements in mental capacity for knowledge and thought development.
Daily 20–30 minutes of reading and/or learning can produce significant results toward developing your career, life, and positive mindset. Historical figures such as Bill Gates frequently recount their reading habits as a means to making better decisions and improving their own total overall capacities to think independently and clearly.
Learning Through Reading and Writing Aspects of Your Life:
Morning education does not have to focus solely on academics, but instead can focus on any aspect of your life that will increase your success in life, and career.You should use your morning energy for creating something instead of wasting it with social media.
Reading books, listening to podcasts, learning new things that can be used at work, developing better ways to communicate, or improving your digital skills are just a few things that you can use to grow your knowledge during this time of day. Building this type of habit can give you new ways to think and new doors to open in your life.
How to Build this Simple Learning Habit
Keeping a book beside your bed or keeping a list of useful articles that you can read first thing in the morning makes getting started with this learning process easy.
Conclusion
The key purpose of a morning routine is to set you up for success during the day by giving you direction, energy and intentionality for your daily activities.
A lot of us have the urge to start an amazing daily routine the very first day we begin our morning routine. However, what works instead of trying to create an amazing daily routine on that day is to: start, be consistent in that practice and gradually increase how often you do that habit until it develops into an effective and productive daily routine for a successful life.