Summary::
“Every Morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with your dreams, or wake up and chase them.”
1. Prepare for success the night before
Having a good morning routine can often mean spending a few minutes of your evening preparing for the day to come. Do the dishes, organize your desk, set the coffee maker to brew your morning coffee automatically and make sure to set an alarm (if you need one). And also set a bedtime! I believe the newest iPhone update also not only lets you set an alarm, but a go to bed alarm too!
2. Catch those Zzzzs
Another important factor that can set you up well for the following day is sleep. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep each night so that you are functional and ready to jump into a new day. More and more studies are coming out about the importance of sleep, so don’t slack here! If you are interested in this topic, Arianna Huffington speaks a lot about this and even has a book called the Sleep Revolution. Here is her TED talk.
3. Meditate
Okay, I must admit, I’m not very good at following this one, BUT I’ve heard so many leaders discuss the benefits of it that I had to include meditation. Just 20 minutes of meditation in the morning can help clear the mind and allows you the time and space to figure out the best plan of attack for the day. It can also help you control your mind in times of high-stress when you feel like your mind is moving a mile a minute.
Meditation has a bad rap in some circles, but just because you don’t identify as a crunchy granola type of meditating hippie, doesn’t mean that millions of people (including many successful entrepreneurs and world leaders) are wrong. Meditation is a fantastic way of combatting decision fatigue, anxiety, and stress.
If you’re a Meditation beginner like me, I’ve found the Headspace app to be the only thing that keeps my interest. Simply Download the app and listen to a guided meditation for 10 minutes. I prefer to do it before bed or first thing in the morning.
4. Eat Breakfast
We’ve all been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it is. Whether you choose bulletproof coffee, a piece of fruit, toast and eggs, or a green smoothie, breakfast refuels your body after the night of sleeping (literally breaking the fast), and you will feel that burst of energy throughout the morning.
It’s important to note that pre-made breakfast foods are often high in sodium or sugars, cereals are one of the main culprits here, so make sure you’re limiting your consumption of foods of that nature and always check the nutritional information on the food you buy.
If you want to try something new, like incorporating a smoothie as your breakfast, I would recommend following SimpleGreenSmoothies on instagram. They often do month-long challenges were they provide a grocery list weekly and new recipe daily.
5. Make an Achievable to-do list
The difference between a ‘To Do’ list and an achievable ‘To Do’ list, is the word achievable, which happens to be the most important part. If you write a list of all the things you have to do, you are setting yourself up for failure. Yes, you have to clean the living room and make an appointment for a checkup at the dentist, but does that need to be on your list of today?
An achievable ‘To Do’ list is a list of the top few things that you need to get done that day. You need to have triaged your full list of things to do and consolidated it down to the things that are most necessary for productivity and success.
I LOVE my new daily Planner from Ruff House Art. It’s simple, yet big enough to give me enough space, and I can check off the bubble next to everything I’ve done for extra gratification.
6. Exercise
Morning exercise is an effective and healthy way to wake up your body and mind. A little exercise will help you think clearly for the rest of the day and invigorate your sleepy body so it powers up and runs smoothly. MRI scans of the brain show that your mind is more active and productive after exercise. You will be able to focus better after a little light exercise, plus it’s good for your physical health too.
You don’t need to be running for an hour every morning, try doing between 7-25 minutes 6 days a week. For instance, you could walk for 10 minutes one day, and swim laps the next, do an at home circuit routine one morning and run stairs later in the week.
A bit of light exercise is not only good for your body, but you will feel a definite increase in your concentration and alertness levels on mornings when you wake up and get the blood flowing.
7. Pick 3 wins for the day
Speaking of success, while you’re waiting for the coffee to brew or your toast to brown, have a think about three things that you can and will achieve that day.
Did you do exercise that morning? Yes, well that’s win #1. Are you giving a presentation later? You’re going to nail it and that will be win #2. Ticking off all the items on your achievable to do list will be win #3.
It’s important to walk into your day knowing that you can make it a productive and positive day full of achievement and success, even if the feeling of that success is largely due to having completed small tasks. The difference that a mindset like this will have on your overall well-being and productivity is enormous.
The 5 Minute Journal has been talked about before on here, but I love it so much. It allows you to express gratitude, plan for wins, and pat yourself on the back at the end of the day. All in 5 Minutes. Grab it here!
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