A famous saying states that “the early bird catches the worm” but few of us are true early birds. In most cases, we trudge like zombies around the house/office looking for coffee and our day begins after we have had this wondrous hot beverage.
However, if you are tired of such slow mornings, here are 5 tips to utterly transform your morning routine. It is all in the details that will help your mornings be more productive and help you from oversleeping or sleeping in for work.
Doing away with the phone
Modern technology in the form of smartphones is the greatest enemy of a proactive morning. Just as nighttime phone use destroys your sleep so can grabbing your smartphone as soon as you open your eyes hurt you. Answering messages is one thing but browsing through the news can upset you before dawn because you just hate what the politicians did now. Furthermore, if you find an interesting story at one of those clickbait websites, you might remain on the page reading it long enough to fall back asleep. In the end, do you really wish to start your day, even if it’s a Sunday, with torpidly lying in the bed for at least half an hour?
Another problem that might occur if you rely on the phone too much is the inability to get up altogether. Since analog alarm clocks are a thing of the past, we all now use digital ones as apps on our phones. However, they come with an integrated snooze option that we find it impossible to disengage. The 5, 10 or 20 minutes that you get of “extra” sleep will only make you groggier once you finally get up.
Turn off the snooze option on your phone or even better, get a proper alarm clock.
Plan the day
Instead of scrolling through Instagram stories of your friends, you can use the time right after you wake up much more productively. In order to get your imagination going, plan all the activities that await you that day. You can do this in your head if there isn’t too much info or better yet, set the plan on paper. This way, you will dive into creativity and productivity first thing in the morning, hopefully setting the pace for the rest of the day.
Hit the gym and not the sack
It might seem preposterous but there are several benefits to exercising early in the morning. First of all, a trip to the gym will require you to fully awake. Secondly, you will complete the entire routine faster and with ease because you are well-rested. If you go to the gym in the morning, you will not lose precious time in the evening that you could be spending with your loved ones. Anyway, you have to admit that more often than not you feel too tired to hit the gym at 8 PM and you would rather hit the sack instead. That’s why you should select the best of gym backpacks or duffel bags, put everything inside it in the evening and hit the gym as soon as it opens. You will be amazed by how much fresh and motivated you will be after the morning workout.
The power of meditation
Similar to going to the gym, your yoga group probably has classes in the afternoon or in the evening. However, you can use the yoga mat for some morning in-house meditation session. Just like exercising early in the morning will get your blood pumping, meditation will get your mind going. One of the many self-improvement benefits of yoga is mindfulness that you can use in the morning to awake all your chakras.
Drinking water and (then) eating
We all know about the importance of staying hydrated and the eight-glass bare minimum but have you ever thought about the fact that sleeping means we are left without water for full eight hours or more? That is why the first thing that goes into your system once you leave the bed should be a glass of water. Such quick rehydration will jumpstart your metabolism better than coffee can. Just make sure that the water temperature is at least lukewarm, as a class of ice-cold water will be a shock to the organism.
After you are done drinking your glass of water, don’t postpone breakfast. Even if you don’t believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you shouldn’t skip it. Even a light, healthy breakfast including oats and milk will get your metabolism going and you will be ready for the challenge of a new day. As far as gourmets are concerned, our advice is to go easy in terms of the quantity of food your east for breakfast.
We have shown you that transforming your morning routine is possible but we must warn you that it’s no easy task. These tips are there to help you make a slow transition by applying one type at a time. Usher one change per morning and soon you will overhaul your morning routine without a glitch.