Do you get up first thing in the morning and jump straight onto your phone, or do you allow yourself time to meditate, eat a nutritious breakfast and get primed for your day?
If you don’t set yourself up for success in the morning with a morning routine, you spend your day on the back foot. Automatically, you will feel like there’s not enough time for everything and will start piling on the stress.
Before you have even sat down to start your day at work, you feel as if you’ve run a marathon. By the end, despite how “busy” you have been, you still won’t have achieved all the things you wanted to!
The key to a successful day is to prime yourself at the beginning so you are in a better state to deal with what the day throws at you.
Here are my top tips for starting your day right with a morning routine.
Boost Your Morning Routine By Getting Enough Sleep
No matter how great your morning routine is, you will find it hard to have a productive day if you start tired.
Health professionals recommend seven to nine hours every night, so count backwards from your alarm and prepare a bedtime routine that supports a good, long sleep. That means avoiding screens at least an hour before bed and taking time to wind down before lights out.
Don’t Pick Up The Phone!
This is a hard habit to break, but man is it important to nip it in the bud! You know how it goes – you pick up your phone to check your messages or look at the news headlines, and suddenly 30 minutes have passed and you are still scrolling social media!
Not only this, but starting your day in this way takes power away from you. Instead of being proactive and prioritising your tasks and ambitions for the day, you end up falling into the reactive state of responding to emails and messages.
Avoid looking at your device for at least the first hour of your day. This gives you time to get your most important tasks done without being sidetracked. All those social media notifications will still be there when you get to them later on in your schedule!
Drink A Glass Of Water
Leave the smartphone in the kitchen and replace it on your bedside table with a glass (or bottle) of water. After eight or nine hours of sleep, our body definitely appreciates a hydration boost to feel fresh and focused.
Practice Mindfulness
We’ve worked on fuelling and moving our body, so how about paying some attention to your mental space? Instead of rushing through your morning routine, try to work through it calmly and mindfully. Take some deep, mindful breaths and enjoy the sensation of your morning shower, eat your breakfast slowly and appreciate every bite.
It can also be helpful to set an intention for your day once you wake up. What’s your goal for the day? What quality would you like to focus on or embody? Selecting a single word, such as “empathy,” “calmness,” or “gratitude,” can transform the way you approach your entire day.
Eat A Nutritious Breakfast
Your digestive system has had a nice rest. Your body has been carefully healing and prepping you for a new day… do you really want the first thing you ingest to be loaded with sugar or caffeine and not much else?
What you choose to eat in the morning has a massive impact on your energy levels and focus throughout the day. Fuel yourself with a nutritious meal that’s going to keep you powering through until lunchtime.
Can’t be bothered with cooking or food prep in the morning? Do your tomorrow self a favour and throw everything together the night before. Plenty of healthy options are still delicious and satisfying – think avocado and eggs on toast, overnight oats with berries and yoghurt, or a simple green smoothie.
Get Moving
If you are not a morning person, it can be a torturous idea to get a sweat going before work. But there’s something so rewarding about getting your exercise out of the way first thing, so the prospect isn’t hanging over you all day.
Of course, there are plenty of health benefits to getting your blood pumping in the morning. There are the feel-good endorphins released by your body during exercise, and the bonus of improved memory and thinking skills when you get your movement in regularly.
Nailing the Morning Routine
Sometimes, we have the best intentions to begin a new morning routine but try to do too much at once and fail. To avoid this, start with one thing at a time.
Every night before you hit the hay, put a glass of water next to the bed and drink it when you wake up. Do this for a week, then add the next thing… and the next, until your new routine becomes so automatic that you barely have to think about it!
Having the right morning routine sets you up for the day ahead. But sometimes you need a little more support than that.
Sessions take place via zoom, so you can choose your surroundings, from a private office to the couch or anything in between. The most important thing is that you are comfortable, warm, hydrated, and relaxed to get the most out of the experience.
Whether you're a business owner wanting to take your business to the next level or a professional woman who needs help, take your next step forward. If you feel like you need extra support in making these changes, don't hesitate to reach out. Book in a time to chat with Hana or follow her on: Facebook Instagram or LinkedIn
