I was never a morning person. I was always the one to stay in bed an extra hour or two if there was nothing important or specific to do in the morning. When I worked shifts that started in the afternoon, I would wake up late, ran around procrastinating, and never got anything done. Before I knew it, it was time to go to work and just like that, my day was gone without any accomplishments to show for it.
And then, I grew up. I slowly became conscious of my habits and things just started to change for the better. My schedule and morning routine changed when I became a yoga teacher and needed to get up around 5:30 AM to teach early morning classes and to meet private clients. With my early morning schedule and busy day that followed, I learned about morning habits and rituals that made a huge difference, not only in productivity, but in my overall health and wellbeing.
To better explain the benefits of a good morning routine and healthy morning habits, I’m going to tell you a little bit about my sister. She’s a morning person AND the queen of morning rituals. She’s also a mom, a wife, and has a full-time job.
I remember being at her house on vacation. I would wake up around 10am and see her sitting on her couch, watching the news and eating lunch. Yes, eating lunch 10am.
This is because at 10am, she had already finished about 50% of her work (she worked remotely), taken her kids to school, cleaned her home, and done a bunch of errands. After lunch, she would go back and finish her work and by the time her kids got home for school, she was already done for the day. Well, mostly done but you get the idea. How she does it? She wakes up extra early, makes to-do lists, and gets sh*t done.
Here are six morning habits to help you be more productive and get things done everyday.
1. Wake-up Early
I was always the person hitting the snooze button around 3-5 times after it rang. This meant staying in bed for an extra half hour or even more. The longer I stayed in bed, the less time I had to do the things I needed to do before going to work. Less time in the morning meant shorter walks for my highly energetic dog, no time to sit down and eat breakfast, meditate, or exercise.
More importantly, less time in the morning meant I was going to have to rush out of the house and probably arrive late to work. Ultimately, we all know what happens when we’re running late. Stress levels start to rise and from there, a whole biological chain of unhealthy events begin to occur within the body.
The best way to get up earlier is to decide what time you want to get up the night before. Have you heard of those people that wake up at whatever time they want without setting an alarm? They decide what time they want to get up and voila! They magically get up at the right time.
The mechanism behind it is the same as when a person falls asleep in the train and somehow wakes up right before his/her stop. Amazing! Of course, keep setting your alarm anyway just in case. But go ahead and give it a try. You might just get used to it!
2. Practice Gratitude
Have you heard of the phrase “abundance is a state of mind?” When I say abundance, I don’t just mean monetary abundance. I mean abundance in terms of family support, mental, physical, and spiritual health, and natural resources like water, earth, sun, air…, to name a few. These “little things, “ unfortunately, are the ones most of us take for granted.
Focusing on what we have is like turning on a switch. When we take the time to really feel grateful for what we already have, our state of mind shifts into a “glass-half-full” kind of feeling. Have you also heard the phrase “What you think, you become”? Well, what you think, you do become.
Every morning, use a notebook or Gratitude Journal to list out things you are thankful for. Practicing gratitude in the morning is particularly beneficial because it really sets your mood for the rest of your day. You leave home with a “I-have-enough attitude” and your day becomes just that, enough.
3. Meditate
There are now tons of scientific studies that support meditation as a means for optimal health and wellbeing. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) has been conducting ongoing studies that prove meditation to be beneficial for conditions like anxiety and depression, chronic pain, and high blood pressure, to name a few.
Meditation gives the body just what it needs at any given time. That means, if you meditate in the morning, meditation will help to awaken the body and mind, making you more productive and creative.
The mind is clearer and more settled, so you think clearer and make better decisions throughout your day. On the other hand, when you meditate in the evening, meditation helps to wind down the body and mind for a better good night sleep.
4. Set Goals
Setting goals, or creating to-do lists in the morning is like creating little maps for the mind. These little maps help provide direction and get the ground running to help achieve your daily goals. Once you know what your daily goals are, write them down. This is huge. Writing things down on paper is a very powerful practice. It’s also a great way to declutter the mind by taking things out of your head and transferring them onto paper.
Writing things down set your subconscious mind into gear and gives it the order to start achieving your goals. Napoleon Hill describes this process in his best-selling book “Think and Grow Rich.” My sister also says: “If it’s not on the list, it doesn’t exist.”
The process goes a little something like this:
Decide what needs to get done
Use a notebook or Day Planner to write it down
Keep checking your list from time to time
Cross things off
5. Move Your Body
I’m going to go ahead and be biased here and advise you to practice yoga.
Yoga not only helps to wake up and energize the body and mind, but it also helps to stretch out the muscles that tend to get chronically tight throughout a typical workday, like the hips, hamstrings, and shoulders.
If you can’t get to a yoga studio in the morning, there are tons of yoga classes online. Search on YouTube or search engine and choose a class that’s appropriate to your level and the time you have available. Here’s a 15-minute morning yoga class that’s suitable for all levels.
Of course, if you’re not into yoga, then any type of movement helps. And if you’re also not into serious morning workouts, a simple morning walk around the block will help. You can walk with your dog, your stroller, or walk your kids to school if possible.
6. Eat A Healthy Breakfast
Although I don’t necessarily agree with breakfast being the most important meal of the day, your breakfast does have the potential to make or break your eating patterns for the rest of the day. “Unhealthy” means different things to different people, but from my own research and personal experience, breakfasts that are highly processed and high in saturated fats, cholesterol, and simple sugars are not a good idea.
When I used to eat things like white toast with butter or sugary cereals for breakfast, I would end up feeling drained and super hungry way before lunch time. On the other hand, when I ate things like oatmeal with nuts and fruit, I’d feel energized and full and my eating choices throughout the day were so much healthier.
And there you have it!
Stay productive, my friends!