Many people experience difficulties finding enough time to do everything they want to do.
Additionally, starting the morning off right, instead of hitting that snooze button is a challenge in itself.
For many people, the morning starts with a hurry to get to school or work on time.
This article is here to change that.
In this article, I will not simply tell you about the importance of a morning routine.
There is a big chance you have read or heard about the benefits of having one already.
What I will do on top of that, is providing you with tools you can choose from, to build a morning routine that perfectly fits you.
Since everybody is different in how their body and mind functions, copying a morning routine from a famous entrepreneur or artist is hardly optimal.
While it can inspire and motivate you to start integrating morning routines in your day, it shouldn’t be a permanent solution.
1. The importance of morning routines
Before we get to the point where we start adjusting the perfect morning routine for each and everyone, let’s make sure we all agree on this simple premise.
Morning routines are important.
It’s no coincidence that so many successful people have one.
There is even a whole website dedicated to listing and publishing morning routines of successful people.
Moreover, it’s one of the first changes you can make in your life to ensure more happiness and success in the short- and long-run.
“If you win the morning you win the day”.
This saying is used a lot when talking about morning routines.
And that’s because there is a lot of truth to be found in it.
As described in this article, once you start accomplishing things in the morning, it sets you up for a chain reaction.
This means that early “victories” in the morning wire you to keep up the discipline and work ethic, to power through the rest of your day.
Furthermore, morning routines will make you gradually improve in the things you chose to integrate into it.
Because you practice it every day, making it a habit.
Adding to that, it’s important to have an actual routine, a series of habits if you will.
Changing the order of your routine or even the activities within it will make you slower and sloppier when executing it.
It will also make it harder to stick to a morning routine, and it will not endorse building discipline quite as much.
Now that I have covered the more obvious traits of having a morning routine, let’s see what other benefits it has in store for us.
One big benefit not many people think of is control.
After a strong start into the day, your mind and body are not as susceptible to external influences as they otherwise would be.
This means that when you encounter upsetting situations, instead of acting on your negative emotions, you simply observe them.
Letting them pass by without interfering with your state of mind too much.
For some, this might not seem like such a big deal on the first look.
However, everyone knows a person (maybe it’s yourself) that will be dragged down for the rest of the day, once a negative event happens.
This in return will not only diminish your productivity, happiness, and mood throughout the day.
It will also make you grumpy to the point where you have a negative impact on others.
Potentially worsening relationships.
To summarize, you should look into creating your own morning routine if:
- you want to increase productivity
- you want to have more control over your life
- you want to have more time in your life
- you want to be more disciplined
- you want to be a positive force in the life of others
After all, discipline equals freedom.
2. The 2 fundaments of a successful morning routine.
As I mentioned earlier, this article is not about providing the perfect blueprint for a morning routine.
What might work for others does not have to work for you and vice versa.
However, after reading this guide, you are hopefully equipped to build your own morning routine.
Tailored to your specific needs and wishes, helping you to conquer your goals.
To help you chose the components of your future routine, the following two fundaments should be integrated in one way or another.
In case you are new to morning routines and just started to look into it, I will make suggestions in each section.
These are the things I like to do or think are the most beneficial.
Also, I highly recommend reading about how to get motivated.
It will help you in finding the discipline to make a morning routine your new favorite habit.
2.1 The Body
After waking up (preferably early), you will need to start the engine that is your body.
If you want to read more about the benefits correlated with waking up early, check out this article.
Not only is your mind slow after a night full of sleep and rest, but your body is, too.
In order to get the gears going, you can choose from a plethora of different exercises and techniques.
It is important to get your body going in the morning, so you can start fresh into the day, not wasting time with feeling sluggish.
Get your blood flowing!
1.Stretching
Stretching can help you become more flexible in the long run. This is nice during sex, sports, and everyday situations.
Additionally, it decreases back pain, stress, and improves blood flow in your muscles.
Another advantage of stretching is that it does not take much time. You will already have beneficial results by doing it for 10-15 minutes a day.
This qualifies stretching as a perfect tool to integrate into your morning routine.
Especially if you struggle with time in general.
Having two jobs or having multiple children can take its toll on how much time there is left for a morning routine.
In that case, having an exercise you don’t need to dedicate much time to, but still benefits you greatly in the short- and long-term is a true blessing.
If you want to read more in-depth about stretching, head over this way.
2.Workout
Obviously here at Emerging-Athlete, we are big fans of working out.
Contrary to stretching, working out takes a little bit more time.
However, the time you do spend working out, could not be invested in a better way.
It’s not just bringing you closer to your dream body, it also reliefs stress, calms your mind and resets your focus.
Since this is about morning routines and not about working out, consider reading this article about the basics of building muscles.
If you are more experienced, definitely check out our hypertrophy guides.
There is one for each muscle group, this one should be the first one though!
Continuing, many people prefer not to workout in the morning, but rather later in the day.
I am one of them.
This, again, is just a case of preference. There is no right or wrong.
If you decide that you want to include working out in your daily activities, ask yourself if the morning is the best time to do it or not.
3. Cold showers
No matter when you shower. In the evening or morning, cold showers are always a good idea.
Boosting muscle recovery and weight loss, showering cold is often in line with other goals you try to achieve.
Next, these benefits are others like stress relief and refinement of your skin and hair.
Additionally, instead of using up more time, if you are someone who showers in the morning anyway, it might even decrease the time you spend in the bathroom
4. Walking
Taking a walk in the morning to distance yourself from the stress and obligations you will have to endure during the day can be a good idea.
Especially for people who struggle with stress, just letting your thoughts float for a bit and watch your surroundings can do wonders.
Calming your mind, relaxing your body, and activating you nonetheless.
A clear advantage of walks is that the duration of the walk is very flexible.
While a drawn out 40 minutes walk is nice, 15 minutes will do the trick as well.
5. Running
If you want to combine the stress relief and nature aspect of walking, while still working on losing weight, try running.
I know there are many people who do not like running.
But before giving up on the idea, maybe try not to go all in on every run.
When we talk about making it part of the morning routine, you should take a light approach and run comfortably.
It does not have to be a marathon!
Set your own pace and length, and just try to cruise and enjoy.
As these are only a couple of suggestions I can highly recommend, there are plenty of exercises you can do to wake up your body in the morning.
Some other examples are:
- yoga
- dancing
- any other sport that can be done alone
2.2 The mind
Now that we have found ways to wake up the body, we still need to take care of the mind.
To wake up the mind is at least as important as waking up the body.
Having a smooth and wholesome start into the morning can make or break the rest of your day.
1. Meditation
Meditation is very popular among successful people.
It can be found in many many morning routines.
It has clear health benefits while providing a peaceful, self-centered start into the day.
Meditation sets you up to be emotionally stable, grateful and energetic.
Moreover, it is timely flexible and effective, allowing you to make progress with only 15-20 minutes each day.
If you are just starting with meditation, Headspace is a great way to ensure success.
2. Journaling
Journaling is a great way of organizing your thoughts.
You can write down what you are grateful for.
What you want to achieve on this particular day.
Your short- and longterm goals.
And more.
As with everything within the morning routine, try to personalize it as much as possible.
Experiment with different ways of writing down your thoughts and stick with the one you like the most.
It does not take much time, 10 minutes should be sufficient.
3. Auto-Suggestion
Making use of positive affirmations will bring you closer to your dreams.
Influencing your attitudes and behaviors.
Not sure what Auto-Suggestion is?
Want to know more about it?
4. Writing
Closely related to journaling, just spending some time to handwrite on paper will have great benefits.
These include stimulating the brain, slowing down mental ageing and increasing learning comprehension.
While journaling is of more practical use, simply writing about whatever you feel like will have positive effects in itself.
5. Making your bed
Tidying your bed first thing in the morning might set you up for success on its own.
By completing this task straight on, your brain gets wired to complete other tasks throughout the day, making it easier to be productive.
It is also closely related to the “chain reaction” we hinted at earlier in this article.
Also, it shares a big advantage with other suggestions on this list.
That being the time factor.
Since it takes bare minutes to tidy your bed, it is one of the easiest things to include in your morning routine.
That’s why I strongly recommend it for everyone.
3. Closing
Now that you have ideas of what you can include in your personal morning routine, pick the ones you like the most and start experimenting.
Once you have found a particular formula that you not only enjoy, but also benefits you in multiple ways, stick to it and make it a habit.
Furthermore, as I didn’t mention eating or drinking in this list, make sure to eat healthily and drink enough water!
Drinking a glass of water after waking up can be a part of your morning routine just as much as working out!
For more information about nutrition, consider reading The Basics Of Nutrition.
If you have any questions regarding morning routines, or just want to share your take on it, feel free to leave a comment or reach us on social media!
Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Matthis
