1. Waking Up At Inconsistent Times
Waking up at different times during the week is counterproductive to forming healthy habits. Waking up later on some days, welcomes in the feeling to rush and make up for the time you have slept longer. It may make you feel frustrated that you have not gotten around to performing all of the tasks you had set out to complete for that day and that allows for a build-up, and you watch your to do list growing longer and feel your overwhelm growing larger. This increases your anxiety and stress level, and you might find yourself going to sleep later in the evening, because you are catching up on the day, or you are running on a buzz that does not allow you to unwind at the end of the day. This leads to exhaustion on top of the anxiety and stress you already feel. Going to bed late leaves you waking up feeling tired or not well rested, and it all spirals downward from there. Waking up later on the weekends feels good, because it’s great to sleep in after a busy or hectic week, but it affects your bio-rhythm and you do not get to perform all of your personal errands or do the fun stuff you had been planning. You may find yourself losing your days and weekend to time spent on catching up rather than creating, and on weekends, recovering rather than relaxing or reaping the rewards of your productivity.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Life By:
Choosing a time that feels comfortable for you, such as 7 am for example. Ensure that the time is early enough not to rush, and that it is after the required 8 hours of sleep. Wake up every day at the same time, yes, even on the weekends. This forms a healthy routine, and your body responds well to the rhythm, you may even find yourself waking up without an alarm, and eager to start the day with energy. Doing this puts you in a place to be in charge of the day, you choose how to run the day and do not allow the day to ruin you.
2. Hitting the Snooze Button
Yes, it feels good to hit that button and get a few extra minutes of Zzzs, especially if you were having a great dream, and those pillow and covers are oh so comfy. What you are actually doing is waking yourself up from sleep repeatedly, and this is harmful to your well-being. It also leads to waking up later than planned and then rushing. Rushing causes irritability, and you may find yourself having conflict with loved ones before you have even left home, and that is no way to start the day.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Day By:
Disabling the snooze function on your phone. Knowing that you do not have that as an option helps you to get up immediately, and the “five more minutes” negation in your mind is no longer an option.
Place your alarm/phone out of reach, so that you are forced to get up and out of bed, and on your feet.
Set an alarm tone that is not alarming or stressful or annoying, because that is not the first thing you want to hear in the morning, and it is upsetting to your nervous system. At the same time, do not make the alarm tone so relaxing and peaceful and calm that you are encouraged to climb right back into bed. Instead, make it a fun, uplifting tone that will instantly put you in a good mood. It should be a tone that sets the tone for the day.
As soon as your alarm goes off, count to 5 and then get up, decide to take charge of the day. This is a lovely practice that stimulates your sense of immediate action, which is a procrastination buster.
3. Checking Your Phone First Thing
This allows for information overload, and for overwhelm to be the first thing you feel. Do not start your day by checking messages and e-mails, you will have enough of the day for you to do that. It also leads to checking social media, and your planned five minutes on one platform soon becomes an hour on several platforms. It is time wasting, and is a distraction. This is something that can wait for at least one hour after you have spent the more important things to get your day going on the right track.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Time By:
Replacing the time you would otherwise spend in bed scrolling through pictures posted on social media with activities that will strengthen your day. This can be stretching, meditating, journaling, exercising or just deep breathing. Start off your day intentionally, the right way, and the rest of the day will go well. In the event that something disturbs your flow, you will be much better equipped to deal with it in a wellness state of being.
4. Not Drinking Water
This is a practice that is harmful to your well-being, because while you were sleeping for hopefully eight hours, you were not giving your body thew precious H2O it needs. Start the day off by drinking a glass of water hydrates your brain, thereby keeping you sharp, staves off headaches, helps fight fatigue, and is so good for your overall for your body function.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Well Being By:
Hydrating first thing in the morning. Keep a bottle of water next to your bed. Make it pretty and tasty, by adding some mint, berries, lemons or cucumber to your water.
5. Not Stretching Or Exercising
You have been lying down for at least eight hours, and will proceed to a job where you will most likely be sitting at a desk for another eight hours. Not moving is destructive to your physical health, it impacts your spine, blood circulation, lymphatic system, to name a few.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Well Being By:
Start by stretching in the morning to stimulate the blood flow after sleep, it also improves your posture helps tense muscles to relax. Stretching helps with back pain, and reduces pressure on your spine, especially if you are sitting at a desk all day or have suffered a back injury. After stretching, even a ten minute workout goes a long way to waking you up, it sets you up to be alert for the day, improves your mood, and gets your blood pumping. If you don’t have time for much exercise in the morning, simple star jumps, a bit of yoga, or swaying around with a Hula Hoop is great fun and does wonders for your health.
6. Skipping Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This is because when you wake up, your blood sugar needed for brain and muscle function is low after fasting while you were asleep. Breakfast (Break + Fast) is feeding your body the nutrients it needs after fasting for eight hours. Not eating in the morning disturbs your body´s rhythm of breaking that fast and prolongs the fasting. As a result, you are low on energy, and over eat later, most likely on sugary foods to give you a lift. This is a false “lift” and you soon find yourself in a low.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Physical Health By:
Enjoying a delicious and nutritious meal in the morning. Breakfast is a great way to jumpstart your metabolism, so start with something wholesome like eggs, bran, a bowl of fruit, a smoothie, Greek yoghurt with berries and nuts, or oats to replace sugary breakfast treats like croissants and pastries and always, skip the donuts, in fact, make donuts “don’tnuts” in your morning routine.
7. Plan Your Day The Night Before
This may sound like unnecessary work, but think of the time you will save in the morning, to savour your cup of coffee, or to just start the day off with serenity, and peaceful bliss, instead of rushing to get through the breakfast run, or having to try on a million outfits before you can decide on what to wear. You can cannot control external forces like the weather or the traffic for the day, but you can take ownership of how your day starts, you choose if you want it to be a frantic rush or to bring in intentional flow.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Peaceful Morning By:
Preparing the night before gives you a great head start to the new day. Decide on the clothes you would like to wear and give it a good press if need be. Pack your bag with everything you will need, ensure that all of the files and documents you would like to take with you are sorted and ready to grab as you leave the door. Prepare your lunch or snacks. Lay out your vitamins so that you do not forget to take them. Leave a post-it on the fridge of the groceries you simply cannot forget to grab on the way home from work and grab it on the way out the door. Find little ways so that you can have a powerful and meaningful morning. Do this so that you can create an unshakeable state of being, and let nothing get to you during the day.
1. Waking Up At Inconsistent Times
Waking up at different times during the week is counterproductive to forming healthy habits. Waking up later on some days, welcomes in the feeling to rush and make up for the time you have slept longer. It may make you feel frustrated that you have not gotten around to performing all of the tasks you had set out to complete for that day and that allows for a build-up, and you watch your to do list growing longer and feel your overwhelm growing larger. This increases your anxiety and stress level, and you might find yourself going to sleep later in the evening, because you are catching up on the day, or you are running on a buzz that does not allow you to unwind at the end of the day. This leads to exhaustion on top of the anxiety and stress you already feel. Going to bed late leaves you waking up feeling tired or not well rested, and it all spirals downward from there. Waking up later on the weekends feels good, because it’s great to sleep in after a busy or hectic week, but it affects your bio-rhythm and you do not get to perform all of your personal errands or do the fun stuff you had been planning. You may find yourself losing your days and weekend to time spent on catching up rather than creating, and on weekends, recovering rather than relaxing or reaping the rewards of your productivity.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Life By:
Choosing a time that feels comfortable for you, such as 7 am for example. Ensure that the time is early enough not to rush, and that it is after the required 8 hours of sleep. Wake up every day at the same time, yes, even on the weekends. This forms a healthy routine, and your body responds well to the rhythm, you may even find yourself waking up without an alarm, and eager to start the day with energy. Doing this puts you in a place to be in charge of the day, you choose how to run the day and do not allow the day to ruin you.
2. Hitting the Snooze Button
Yes, it feels good to hit that button and get a few extra minutes of Zzzs, especially if you were having a great dream, and those pillow and covers are oh so comfy. What you are actually doing is waking yourself up from sleep repeatedly, and this is harmful to your well-being. It also leads to waking up later than planned and then rushing. Rushing causes irritability, and you may find yourself having conflict with loved ones before you have even left home, and that is no way to start the day.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Day By:
Disabling the snooze function on your phone. Knowing that you do not have that as an option helps you to get up immediately, and the “five more minutes” negation in your mind is no longer an option.
Place your alarm/phone out of reach, so that you are forced to get up and out of bed, and on your feet.
Set an alarm tone that is not alarming or stressful or annoying, because that is not the first thing you want to hear in the morning, and it is upsetting to your nervous system. At the same time, do not make the alarm tone so relaxing and peaceful and calm that you are encouraged to climb right back into bed. Instead, make it a fun, uplifting tone that will instantly put you in a good mood. It should be a tone that sets the tone for the day.
As soon as your alarm goes off, count to 5 and then get up, decide to take charge of the day. This is a lovely practice that stimulates your sense of immediate action, which is a procrastination buster.
3. Checking Your Phone First Thing
This allows for information overload, and for overwhelm to be the first thing you feel. Do not start your day by checking messages and e-mails, you will have enough of the day for you to do that. It also leads to checking social media, and your planned five minutes on one platform soon becomes an hour on several platforms. It is time wasting, and is a distraction. This is something that can wait for at least one hour after you have spent the more important things to get your day going on the right track.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Time By:
Replacing the time you would otherwise spend in bed scrolling through pictures posted on social media with activities that will strengthen your day. This can be stretching, meditating, journaling, exercising or just deep breathing. Start off your day intentionally, the right way, and the rest of the day will go well. In the event that something disturbs your flow, you will be much better equipped to deal with it in a wellness state of being.
4. Not Drinking Water
This is a practice that is harmful to your well-being, because while you were sleeping for hopefully eight hours, you were not giving your body thew precious H2O it needs. Start the day off by drinking a glass of water hydrates your brain, thereby keeping you sharp, staves off headaches, helps fight fatigue, and is so good for your overall for your body function.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Well Being By:
Hydrating first thing in the morning. Keep a bottle of water next to your bed. Make it pretty and tasty, by adding some mint, berries, lemons or cucumber to your water.
5. Not Stretching Or Exercising
You have been lying down for at least eight hours, and will proceed to a job where you will most likely be sitting at a desk for another eight hours. Not moving is destructive to your physical health, it impacts your spine, blood circulation, lymphatic system, to name a few.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Well Being By:
Start by stretching in the morning to stimulate the blood flow after sleep, it also improves your posture helps tense muscles to relax. Stretching helps with back pain, and reduces pressure on your spine, especially if you are sitting at a desk all day or have suffered a back injury. After stretching, even a ten minute workout goes a long way to waking you up, it sets you up to be alert for the day, improves your mood, and gets your blood pumping. If you don’t have time for much exercise in the morning, simple star jumps, a bit of yoga, or swaying around with a Hula Hoop is great fun and does wonders for your health.
6. Skipping Breakfast
Enjoying a delicious and nutritious meal in the morning. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This is because when you wake up, your blood sugar needed for brain and muscle function is low after fasting while you were asleep. Breakfast (Break + Fast) is feeding your body the nutrients it needs after fasting for eight hours. Not eating in the morning disturbs your body´s rhythm of breaking that fast and prolongs the fasting. As a result, you are low on energy, and over eat later, most likely on sugary foods to give you a lift. This is a false “lift” and you soon find yourself in a low.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Physical Health By:
Breakfast is a great way to jumpstart your metabolism, so start with something wholesome like eggs, bran, a bowl of fruit, a smoothie, Greek yoghurt with berries and nuts, or oats to replace sugary breakfast treats like croissants and pastries and always, skip the donuts, in fact, make donuts “don’tnuts” in your morning routine.
7. Plan Your Day The Night Before
This may sound like unnecessary work, but think of the time you will save in the morning to savour your cup of coffee, or to just start the day off with serenity, and peaceful bliss, instead of rushing to get through the breakfast run, or having to try on a million outfits before you can decide on what to wear. You can cannot control external forces like the weather or the traffic for the day, but you can take ownership of how your day starts, you choose if you want it to be a frantic rush or to bring in intentional flow.
Reclaim Ownership Of Your Peaceful Morning By:
Preparing the night before gives you a great head start to the new day. Decide on the clothes you would like to wear and give it a good press if need be. Pack your bag with everything you will need, ensure that all of the files and documents you would like to take with you are sorted and ready to grab as you leave the door. Prepare your lunch or snacks. Lay out your vitamins so that you do not forget to take them. Leave a post-it on the fridge of the groceries you simply cannot forget to grab on the way home from work and grab it on the way out the door. Find little ways so that you can have a powerful and meaningful morning. Do this so that you can create an unshakeable state of being, and let nothing get to you during the day.
One Response
Oh oh… It seems I’m collecting deadly morning habits and I almost have the full set. Thanks Dee, for this great list of the simple things I can do each morning to have a better shot at having a successful day.