Is there anything like the best morning routine?
I have tried experimenting with the first few things I do every morning. I think there is nothing like a perfect morning routine. But there are a lot of things worth considering or understanding.
Some background
You know how unproductive your day can be if you wake up and the first thing you pick up is your phone and you check the news or Twitter. You’ll be hooked in a few minutes. You’ll end up scrolling and scrolling for hours.
So, my first attempt was to prevent myself from doing this. I thought the best way to go about it was to turn off my phone or put it in airplane mode. This worked a few times until I needed to try something else.
I have tried DND.
Do not disturb.
But as I am writing this right now, another great alternative is to turn off mobile internet. To be honest, your phone is the biggest source of distraction. I don’t want to wake up and start making content creators richer or building their audience. I want to make that first hour of every morning about me.
After a few years, I began to notice a few things about my morning routine that’ll be valuable to you. Plus, I have read about some of the routines of great people, for instance, this Google Executive. The focus here is ‘how to create’ and not ‘what you should do.’ You will have the strategy for designing a routine that works for you but not much on what you should include because that’s up to you and what you want to achieve.
Things everyone should know about creating the best morning routine.
1. Create what works for you
The number one reason why there is nothing like the best morning routine is because what works for me won’t work for you. I am a freelance web developer, SEO specialist, and content strategist. Often, I work remotely. My routine will not work for someone who lives in a traffic-congested city, and they have to resume at 7:30 am in their place of work.
So, if you go to the internet to ask, what should be my morning routine, that’s a good start, though not the best. You don’t need to create yours. Learn all you can, and go back to work. Then, gently simplify what you do and stick with what works for you. It’s your duty to refine everything you read until you find what’s best.
A better approach would be to look at people with similar achievements to those you want. Follow them. Try what they do. Then, stick with what works for you. If they make coffee every day, try that for a month and see what your productivity looks like afterward.
I still love going for walks with headphones on. I still love working on my PC with very good noise-canceling headphones, and it’s because I tried them once and realized I love doing it. I love it when I can’t hear the sounds of my fingers on the keyboard when all I can hear are coordinated beats from equally good music artists.
In other words, start with a why. Why do you want to have a routine?
Then, follow it with the what. What can you include in your routine? Once you have an answer, keep reading to find out the ‘how.’
2. Discipline is the real deal
The best thing you can do about your morning routine is to stick with it for years. If you take something as simple as writing a page every day, you get to the end of the year with 365 pages of something. I can bet there is no way you will write that much, and your writing or thinking will not improve.
For my morning routine, I choose to read a few pages of a book. Also, I exercise. Today, I am very proud of my arms. And, if you check the blog, you can see how often I wrote about the books I read.
Choose something that will interest you. Then, develop the needed discipline.
3. Stay consistent
The benefits of everything will compound in, say, a few months or years, depending. The benefits of your morning routine will not jump out immediately. But it will start making sense in a few months. You will be glad you started early and stick to it.
4. You will have days off
It’s okay. We are all humans, and some days are just not great, no matter how much you want to do what needs to be done. The rule is not to take so many days off that it becomes hard to return to things you used to do. Get to it tomorrow.
5. A great day starts with a good night’s sleep
There is a correlation between sleeping well and a productive day. So, you need a night routine that involves getting good sleep for your morning routine to work. Sleeping late or poor sleep will make you wake up feeling tired or lethargic. So, try to get a good night’s rest. A smart sleep light can be good for you in that regard.
6. Start the Morning At A Realistic, Comfortable Time
You might be tempted to start your morning routine as early as 5 am daily. It’s okay if you have been waking up at 5 am before then. If you’re not, choosing a more reasonable time is better. You will struggle to stay consistent until you’re used to new routines because it’s always hard to build new habits.
The idea is to do things you can replicate every day. If you have heard about implementation intentions, it says it is important to specify the time and place for your schedule. Your brain automatically stores that as data. So, when you select 6 am to wake up and read a book, your brain hammers that into you every day until it sticks. Then, randomly, if you wake up and do something else, your brain returns the data it has that says, ‘Hello, it’s 6 am, you’re supposed to be doing something particular.’
7. Clear your mind
The best thing you can do is to clear your mind before you start the day. Think of it like getting your mind rested so that it seems ready and fresh when you wake up again. Or look at it like giving your mind some sleep. Do you know what it feels like after you have a great sleep?
Normally, sleep should do this for you because sleep removes toxins from your brain. Other things that can help are physical activities like running, showering, cycling, etc.
You can take things a step further if you add one of these physical activities to your morning routine.
8. Start with just two things
Start with two things. It has to be simple and easy to execute.
As humans, you might want to do many things all at once. You want to improve your health, finances, communications, and relationships. You might be tempted to ramp up many things into those first few hours of the morning, but it’s a fast approach to either burnout or give up fast.
So, start with just two. That’s a maximum. In a few months, you can decide to add more.
Some morning routine ideas you can use to develop yours
Exercise
Improve your health. You can choose some forms of exercise like running or home workouts, not necessarily going to the gym.
Learning
Learn a new skill or language.
Reading
Reading is the way you learn new things and build empires. You can entertain yourself as well.
Drinking coffee
Coffee has many benefits, some of which can be personal. For instance, I substituted coffee for soda at some point, and I enjoyed it.
Find a coffee maker on Amazon.
Read some reviews of some affordable coffee makers:
Writing down your ideas
When you write something in the morning, you earn the freedom to express yourself as clearly as possible before the day, and your mind gets busy.
You don’t need anything fancy to start writing every morning. A notebook, your phone, or your PC is all you need. Install MS Word or any other writing app. Then, start.
Drink water
Drink a glass cup of water because it is healthy or simple.
Body hygiene
Take good care of your body.
Meditation
It is one of the oldest and most helpful activities to focus your mind. You can read more about the benefits of meditation because I can’t do justice to the topic enough.
Arrange your tasks according to their importance.
Here’s a question I have had before, but I don’t know the source: What’s one thing that I can do today to get closer to my dreams?
Your answer can help you set your priorities. Or, you can take another approach. Write down all you need to do and arrange them in order of importance. So, if you do the first few, your day will still be productive if you don’t cover everything on the list.
Summary
How to design the best morning that works for you
- Start with why. Why do you need a routine
- Find people that have similar or desired lives and see what they do.
- Read up on some of the popular morning routine activities and their benefits.
- Pick two and not more than that.
- Start each day at the most convenient and comfortable time. Adjust later.
- Stay consistent
- Iterate once you understand what works for you.
Good luck.
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