Here’s why you need a good morning routine…
- Choosing what’s most important to you and prioritising those things
- Teeny, tiny increments when building morning habits
- Traditional ways to set a morning routines
- Not so traditional ways to set morning routines
- The often ignored connection between nighttime routines and morning routines
- Early birds, night owls and perfectly average pigeons
- Setting morning routines when you really (really) hate mornings
- Setting morning routines when you’re a free soul who hates rules and expectations
- Keeping it chill and doing what works for you
– NYT article on decision fatigue
– Smiling Mind app
– Buddify App
– Flow for Bullet Journalling
The best bits from the episode?
‘Building a morning routine is about creating a system that works for you, that sets you up for the day and makes you feel good about being alive.’
‘Outer order equals inner calm.’
‘Routines provide us with security.’
Here’s the 5 step process I chat about in the episode.
1. Decide what you want to do every morning
Things like ‘I want to exercise every morning and spend 20 minutes reading something for fun’. ‘I want to leave the house every day fully prepared and in a calm manner’ ‘I want to take the time to eat a proper breakfast at home and not scoff a protein bar at may desk at 10am’.
These things are all doable but not all at once. Just brain dump everything into a notebook or blank doc on your computer to get started.
2. Choose your top 3 items on your list
Then forget about number 2 and 3 for now and concentrate on number 1. Number 1 is your priority for the next month.
3. Figure out the smallest way you can implement that habit.
A 5 minute walk in the morning.
Drink a 100ml green smoothie.
Read your book for 10 minutes.
Work on your novel/album/side hustle for 10 minutes.
Commit to doing that every day for 7 days. Then up it to 20 minutes.
4. Set a reward
Figure out what type of reward you get. There’s two types of rewards. Inner rewards and outer rewards.
An inner reward is basically basking in the glow of having achieved something. For example I exercise 3 to 5 mornings a week and my reward is the endorphin kick that gives me a good day. I literally lie in bed at 5.45am and I say ‘Do I want to have a good day or a bad day?’ – inevitably I choose a good day and that means getting my butt out of bed and heading to bootcamp.
Inner rewards don’t work for everyone. You might need an outer reward – you might have to bribe yourself with a cafe coffee after a workout or 20 minutes of reading a book or watching an episode of a show you love.
One tip about outer rewards – don’t give in to yourself. If you’ve promised yourself you can only watch an episode of your favourite show if you went to your yoga, don’t give in. That’s the whole point of rewards.
5. Focus on the benefits
When we start developing new habits you can lose sight of the benefits really quickly. To combat this, try coming up with a positive sentence around your new habit.
‘I’m going for a walk every morning to improve my physical and mental wellbeing’
‘I’m spending 30 minutes every morning applying for new jobs because I’m ready to change careers.’
‘I’m not drinking alcohol during the week because I want to wake up each morning with a clear head.’
By repeating the reason and benefit of your morning routine habits, it will solidify your reasons for doing it.
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