How To Create Better Morning Routines

First of all, I know most of you might think:

Why should I want to wake up early in the morning instead of keep sleeping?

What big differences will it do to me if I wake up early in the morning?

Believe me there are plenty of good reasons to make you change your morning routines, whether you have work to do or just stay at home sleeping.

There will be some days that you need more sleep either for resting or as a reward because you have worked a lot. I’m not gonna lie to you. I, myself do that once in a while, but most of my days are not like that anymore because I used to be like that. I feel you, sleeping and procrastinating are both tempting. However one day I decided that I have to change my mindset if I want to reach my potential. I needed to replace my bad habits with good ones.

Changing your morning routine creates plenty of benefits for your success and that’s what we’re going to discuss below. By the way before we start, don’t worry; you don’t have to change everything according to what I’m going to tell you. Maybe you can’t do some of the things or they just don’t feel right to you. That’s ok because everyone is different. Another misconception is that you need to make big changes to progress in something. That’s wrong and you don’t need to rush. Just keep trying with baby steps and even small changes every day will take you closer to your goals in a matter of weeks.

• The first thing you need to do actually is part of the night before. Sleep 7-9 hours more or less. Not less because that’s what your body needs in order to regenerate its energy and not more because you lose important time where you could be productive.
• Set an alarm to wake you up. For example if you go to bed at 12 am, then you should set it for 8 am. I’m sure you hit that snooze button when you hear the alarm ringing and think “let’s sleep another 5 minutes”. Unfortunately you end up sleeping another 1-2 hours the least. Even if you sleep for another 5-10 more minutes nothing changes, you are just being lazy. If you can’t help it, then there is a trick you can do. Set a second alarm 5 minutes after the first has rung, but put it somewhere you can’t reach it while being in bed. In that way the only way to turned it off is to get out of bed.

• Always have a full glass of water next to your bed. You may need it during the night, but that’s not the important thing. Drink the whole glass as soon as you wake up. Your body was dehydrated for 7-8 hours and needs water. It hydrates your body, refreshes you, helps your skin glow and also helps with weight loss.
• Stretch and meditate for at least 5 minutes of each. Meditating has plenty of benefits mentally and physically. It will calm you down and will make you feel positive to start the day. Check the article I wrote where I get more in depth on how to meditate and what are the benefits of it. Stretching will burn a few calories and stretch your muscles because while we sleep the muscles tighten up. This results in better posture and less pains or aches.

• Wash your face with cold water. Cold water will wake you up, improve blood circulation and enhance the brightness of your face. Also it tones up the skin, thus not having wrinkles.
• Don’t eat just yet. Go for a 10-15 minute run, but ONLY light jogging. Because your stomach is empty and intense workout is bad for the body in that case. However with light jogging or light bodyweight exercises your body starts burning fat to use it as energy because it lacks carbs. If it’s a beautiful day even better. You can feel the morning breeze, fill your lungs with fresh air and feel the warm sun on your skin, which helps with bone repairing. Also you should feel more energized.
• Now you can have your breakfast and for those that don’t like having it, just do it. Even if you went for a run or you didn’t, still your body had nothing to eat for hours. Except from the fact that you need a good dose of carbs and protein to start the day through a healthy breakfast. Fruits, eggs, wholegrain bread with ham and cheese, tea, fresh juices, oatmeal are a few good choices. Preferably instead of coffee drink fresh juice or tea. You get more nutrients and energy. Leave the coffee for 2-3 hours later on.

• Have a shower after the breakfast because food is more important at that moment for your body. If you can handle it, have a cold shower. If you can’t, then use lukewarm water at least.
• During the whole morning and especially while running listen to a motivational speaker you like or your favourite music. Something that is inspiring to you and will pump you up.

• Next you need to check your emails and voicemails. Maybe something urgent or important came up both in your personal or professional life. BUT don’t check anything else like Facebook or Twitter. You will get distracted and lose time by checking the news feed.
• According to your emails and voicemails along with the things you have to do for the day you can map your day. Write down everything you need to do and list them by prioritizing them. That way you won’t forget anything and when you finish a task tick them off. You will feel a relief when you are done and that feeling is amazing. Try every day to incorporate in your program the to-do list for the day with small parts of a bigger goal you are trying to achieve. Therefore in the long run you will succeed at some point.
• For better results for the long-term goals, try visualization. Imagine those goals what would look like after you achieved them and that helps you mentally to go out and get them.
• Last but not least is gratitude. Be thankful all day long for the people and the things you already have in your life. That’s what optimistic people do every single day of their lives and they are happier. Don’t be a downer. Everyone has struggles and difficulties.

This is my equation for success:

By taking actions while getting out of your comfort zone combined with being consisted you create good habits. Those habits are the only way to help you reach your goals in life. At the beginning are hard but with time they become part of your life and you don’t even think about them anymore.

Hopefully you see my point now; you changed your mindset and started creating good habits. All these are just a small section of the things you can change to upgrade your life and reach your full potential, but changing your morning routines is a big step. And if I did it, then so can you. Everyone needs to start from somewhere.

Share this article to inform more people and tell us your thoughts in the comments below: Do you have a morning routine? Do you use these tips? If not-which ones do you use? Can you suggest something that helped you a lot?​