At what point in your day does your day derail?
Many clients come to me for advice on how to navigate the mid-day slump or the late-day meltdown. They are surprised when I ask them to tell me about their morning routines because the morning doesn’t appear to be their problem.
But when there’s a breakdown — in your day, in your body, in a system — the source is not the cause. You want to look up the chain to see where the seeds of the breakdown originate.
The old adage is true: a good beginning is half the task.
How you start your day sets the tone for the rest of your day.
And when it comes to having a stronger day, it’s likely your habits that are in the way. Habits are unconscious responses to triggers: hitting snooze, checking social media and email, doom-scrolling the news and web. These are the things you do without thinking.
To counter these habits you need rituals: actions that you do with intention and purpose.
Here are 7 morning rituals to kickstart a productive day.
7 Morning Rituals to Kickstart a Productive Day
(1) Start the Night Before
In the Jewish tradition, the day starts at sun-down the evening before. This comes from the story of creation, which describes a day as starting in the evening.
The best morning routines start with a solid evening ritual.
- Review your schedule and your to-do list so you know what you’ll need to do, when, and where. This will help you wake up with a purpose and a plan.
- Pack your bag with what you’ll need for the next day, and have it ready by the door.
- Lay out your clothes.
- Lay out whatever you’ll need for your breakfast.
- Set your alarm clock for the time you need to wake up.
With everything prepared the night before, you eliminate decisions that can drain energy before you’ve even started, and your morning routine will proceed much more smoothly.
(2) Get Out of Bed When the Alarm Sounds
The number one killer of a productive morning is the habit of hitting snooze.
The time you spend hitting snooze to get those extra 8 minutes of sleep isn’t serving you. Those incremental time periods don’t give you quality sleep. Moreover, each time you hit snooze you’re making an unconscious decision to continue sleeping. Those decisions eat up your precious decision bandwidth. By the time you do get out of bed, you’ve depleted your executive function and you haven’t even done anything of substance yet.
Put the alarm across the room — or outside your room — so you force yourself to get out of bed to turn if off. Then keep moving.
Tip: after shutting your alarm, turn on the lights and proceed directly to the bathroom to brush your teeth. The minty toothpaste will help awaken your senses and the lights will make it hard to go back to sleep.
Read: How to Break the Habit of Hitting Snooze in the Morning
(3) Make Your Bed
You may not care about your bed, but your subconscious mind does. Making your bed first thing in the morning sets the tone for your day.
Within the first 10 minutes after waking up, you’ve accomplished a notable, visible task, giving you a sense of accomplishment and a mini dopamine hit for checking something off your list. In addition, making your bed reduces the temptation to get back into bed for a quick nap.
Read: 3 Reasons to Make Your Bed Every Morning
(4) Get Outside
The body regulates itself through the cycles of light and dark, so getting outside helps your body know what time it is. Your eyes are the portal to your brain. Try to get natural light within 30 minutes of waking up. This will start your body’s system that produces melatonin, helping you to fall asleep easier at night.
(5) Move Your Body
Bodies are designed to move. You’ve just spent several hours in stillness laying in bed. Even if your mind doesn’t feel up to it, your body needs to move.
Movement will help you wake up. It boosts energy levels by increasing blood flow and oxygen to muscles and brain.
In addition, movement enhances cognitive function and triggers release of endorphins, which are natural mood lifters. This will put you in a more positive and focused state of mind, reducing stress and anxiety that can hinder your productivity.
This doesn’t need to be a full workout for hours. Even 10–20 minutes of movement can help you wake up.
One caveat: keep your morning movement to a level that isn’t too cognitively demanding for you. That might mean sticking to movements that you know well and have confidence in. Too much cognitive demand from a workout can actually increase stress and cognitive fatigue, leaving you mentally drained and unable to focus.
Also Read: – The Simple Rule That Has Helped Me Sustain Daily Workouts for Over a Decade — Even When I Don’t Feel Like Working Out – 7 Factors to Create the Best Workout Stimulus for ADHD Brains
(6) Practice Mindfulness and Meditation
Mindfulness is simply the practice of intentional thoughts and actions. Meditation is one way to practice this. “Meditation” doesn’t need to be intense or very long. Even a couple of minutes of stillness to focus on your breathing can be extraordinarily helpful to staying grounded and organizing yourself before you head out into the world.
(7) Eat a Nutritious Breakfast
Nothing kills focus and attention more than being hangry. Plan a nutritious breakfast high in protein, which will keep you full for longer.
Personally, I find it hard to eat first thing in the morning, so I eat something small before my workout, with another morning snack after my workout. Between both morning snacks I aim for a total of 20–30 grams of protein.
Further Reading
Want more resources on how to create a solid morning routine? Check out these other posts.
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