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| Morning |
“When you arise in the morning, think of what precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love” ~Larry Page
Seeing the birthing of another day is one of life’s precious gifts to us as humans. Considering the fact that there are no two equal mornings and each morning comes with its peculiarities, every morning we experience deserves to be cherished and spent well with the best morning routine list.
Right from my days as a little child, I have been taught the significance of valuing mornings. I remember repeatedly hearing my mum say “morning shows the day”. In all honesty, that line never made sense to me, until I gained a little independence from her and had the liberty to make certain personal and life-changing decisions.
I figured that more often than not, the fruits that life places on our banquets of experiences are a product of our own very decisions. And until we realize that every second, minute and hour of the day counts, we would literally be wasting our lives away.
I really wouldn’t say I am a morning person, but I know the importance of my mornings and I don’t joke with them, if you follow me on Instagram you would know from the snippets of my morning activities that I share. And that is why I have taken my time to compile this list of some of the best morning routines.
Most people typically roll off their beds in just enough time to brush their teeth, have a bath and get started on another day. They’ll probably get one junk or the other on their way to work or something. This might be cool but then, there are better ways of actually starting your day, especially with a motivated feeling, while ensuring that you achieve a more productive day.
Before writing on this topic, I had moments of reflection where I ruminated over the importance of the hours between 6 am and 9 am: why are they so important? Are they capable of determining what would or would not happen for most of the day? Well, here’s what I came up with:
- I reckon that due to the newness that the early hours of the day come with, access to fresh ideas and thoughts is granted.
- Starting the day with an energetic tide is a beautiful way of commanding your productivity.
- While your actions during those hours might not be fully responsible for how your day unfolds, they play a major role in determining that. Since mornings start the day, every morning is an opportunity to plan out how you want your day to be and actually walk with it.
Ever since I realized that the early hours of every single day I spend, play important roles in determining how my day would be, I started being more conscious at making decisions about them.
I’ll share a short story here. While I was in college, a few years back, I literally lived every day haggardly- I had no plans whatsoever. This continued for many weeks. I would leave my home for classes and somehow find myself in one location I never expected.
It was so terrible I started fearing that one day, my lack of schedule would make me lose something big and truthfully, I almost did.
Over time, I noticed that I started going late to important places because my activities were clashing- a classic sign of failing to plan. Well, it continued until I disclosed my predicament to a friend who suggested that I always plan my day very early in the morning.
She suggested that I got a journal where I could take out sometime in the morning to plan my day and ensure that I live every moment of the day intentionally. More like a to-do list. I did get a journal and imbibed the habit and sincerely, I have never regretted doing that.
One of my best morning routines, especially on weekdays, is to ensure that I outline my goals for the day in my journal and ensure that I bring them to actualization. I love the satisfying feeling I get when checking out the goals. Sincerely, I would recommend journaling to anyone going through the same problem I went through.
I know what it means to walk through a day without proper planning and that is why I have decided to help every one of my readers by launching my journal. Yes, you read right, my journal will be launched come Fall this year. It is a massive project for me and I sincerely hope that it will be of significant help to everybody who gets it as they journey their way into self-development.
Now, let’s talk about some of the best morning routines you can actually do before 9 am, to increase your productivity at work, or anywhere else.
First things first, I must say that many of these things are a product of my own experience but they could be adopted by anyone at all. I think they are healthy morning routines that you can imbibe into your morning schedule to ensure that you have a perfect morning.
1. Get Up Early
I can relate to the tiredness and laziness that accompanies waking up early. I can count the number of times I have had to hit the snooze button on my alarm. However, the truth is that waking up early is one of the best ways to prepare for the day.
For starters, you have ample time to prepare for other activities. Also, waking up early helps you stay alert for the rest of the day. The best way to achieve this is by going to bed early. I mean early to bed, early to rise, right?
2. Drink Water
One of the best ways to utilize your morning properly is by drinking water first thing in the morning. Think about it, prior to waking up, you have been asleep for about 5-6 hours and your body has been dehydrated all through.
Drinking a glass of water after a night rest helps with rehydration and getting your brain invigorated. But that’s not all, it also helps you have clear skin by flushing away toxic chemicals and substances in your body.
It is also good for reducing weight loss and helps to boost your metabolism by 24%. Imagine getting all that benefits just by having a routine of drinking 8 oz of water every morning? Sounds great to me!
3. Workout
This is another effective way you can spend your morning, definitely one of the best on my morning routine list. Working out has a lot of benefits. Some of them are:
- It helps improve your mental health and mood.
- It helps you keep your reasoning, learning and judgment skills sane.
- Reduces your risk of having a heart disease.
- It helps you to control your weight…
These are just a few of the benefits you will get when you work out every morning before 9 am. Now, I know that working out every morning before 9 am seems unrealistic but that’s because you have a skewed concept about working out.
You do not necessarily have to go to gyms to work out. Don’t get me wrong, I am not condemning going to a gym. After all, gyms are actually created for working out. But then again, you would not be thinking of going to a gym if, for instance, you were to resume at your workplace by 9 am on the dot, would you? There are self-controlled ways you can work out from the comfort of your home.
With the existence of YouTube and other streaming/video websites, you can have access to professional tutors and dedicated as little as 30 minutes to your workouts. With time, your mental health will be stabilized, and you would attack every day like you are ready for the new day.
4. Daily Affirmations
The words that come out of our mouths are a product of the flood of thoughts roaming in our minds, and more often than not, our days are patterned according to our thoughts. So, one of the things you can do every morning before 9 am is to filter your thoughts and convert the negative ones into positivity by constantly saying positive things to yourself.
It sounds like a myth, but your words actually play important roles in determining your reality. You cannot compare someone who wakes up in the morning and make positive declarations and affirmations about the day with someone who does exactly the opposite.
The results will never be the same. Starting your day on a negative note would definitely tell on your reality. No matter how bad your situation is, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel, so why not choose to see the light instead?
Wake up every day and saying positive things like “I am positive that today would be a great day”, “I am not a failure and although things might be rough right now, I am certain that I would emerge a winner and not a loser”. The more you say words like that, the more you begin to see them play out in your life.
5. Eat A Real Breakfast
So, I get that you might be wondering what I mean by “real breakfast”. Well, I don’t know what you eat in the morning but one thing I am sure of is that many persons do not actually eat well. The bowl of cereal that you consume is definitely not a “real breakfast”.
Good food is a giver of energy so it makes sense to eat food that fuels your energy, especially in the morning. Overeating would make you fatigued by the end of the day.
Skipping breakfast would have the same effect. Normally, the best way to approach breakfast is to have a light and healthy breakfast that will sustain you until it is lunchtime. Eating healthy and well is one of the best things to do in your morning routines.
6. Journal
This is definitely one of my favorite things to do and it has a special preference on my best morning routine list. If you are a dedicated follower of the content of my blogs, you would know that I am very keen on journaling.
Journaling helps you pour out some of the deepest thoughts of your heart on the pages of black sheets and subsequently, unburdening your mind with the issues you might be facing at the time.
Journaling has drastically improved the quality of my life and enabled me to keep track of my growth and a lot of individuals are missing out on such empowerment.
You don’t have to write for hours to invite the positive impact of journaling in your life, people journal differently through writing prompts, a stream of consciousness, a few minutes or hours the most important thing is that your mind and focal point is cleansed.
It is good to make out time to cleanse your mind before you step out in the morning. It could b defining the theme for your day, reminding yourself of positivity, writing notes of affirmations or words of encouragement before you step out to conquer.
Doing this every morning has enabled me to live through the day with intentionality, productivity and more. And you can adopt the same routine if you truly want to take charge of your life and uplevel your daily input.
More importantly, journaling helps you map out your plans properly. I don’t think anyone would love to go out in the morning with no pre-conceived plans of what to do. Journaling avails you the opportunity to decide what and how you want your day to look like.
Now, I do know that journaling in itself, won’t actualize a good day for you, your actions and inactions would. But a good journal, structured in a way that would push you to be a better person could actually be of immense help.
Sadly, there are not so many good journals around but not to worry, I have carefully created a life-changing journal (Life Compass) of all the mindful activities, empowering prompts and life-changing exercises that will enable you to start your day, schedule your activities, check-in with yourself, track your goals and enable you to re-evaluate the things that worked and didn’t work there-by enabling you to continually win the day.
7. Read
Like I said earlier, with a new day comes the freshness of the mind and what you take in really matters. When you read, you are opening your mind to the thoughts of the writers and broadening your horizon. This is why it is very important to be deliberate about what you read.
Instead of just going to see the latest update on your friends’ statuses or the most recent post they made, how about committing yourself to a personal development book – there are many great ones out there. If that’s too much for you, you can visit my blog to read amazing articles that would help you become a better person.
The more you do this, the better your mind grows in housing and spreading positivity. Reading is one of the best things I love to do as a morning routine.
8. Listen To Podcasts
I have written about podcasts in different posts. I love them and I would recommend listening to my readers. On your way to work or while having your breakfast, you can stay connected to great podcasts that would help beautify your mindset resulting in a positive outlook.
9. Listen To A Beautiful Playlist
An alternative to listening to podcasts, you can listen to great feel-good and upbeat songs. I love rap so anything by JCole or Kendrick would be great. Gospel songs too are great! Slow songs can lull you back to sleep and that defeats the purpose of listening to songs, right?
Also, avoid listening to songs that scream negativity and trashy content and all other kinds of meaningless content should be avoided. Be deliberate about the content you are taking in.
So, there you have it, the best morning routine for success. If you have not imbibed these habits, you should. And yes, just in case you have anything you think should be on my list of best morning routines, feel free to hit me up in the comment section!
FOR YOU
Hello there! I am super happy that you have read my list of best morning routines to this point.
I sincerely hope that this article will change some negative perceptions and habits that you might be having regarding your mornings. Knowing how to start a good day is the key to achieving ultimate productivity. I do hope to get positive feedback from you!
