There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to morning routines. To make something as practical as a morning routine work for you, the most important thing is to choose to do it consistently every day. That's what makes it a routine! Therefore, it has to be something that can be blended seamlessly into your life.
Few things yield significant results if only done once or twice, or every once in a while. Sustaining success ultimately requires consistent action and constant repetition.
This is the concept behind morning routines and why they can work so well if you choose to mindfully practice them. John Maxwell said it best, "You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret to your success is found in your daily routine."
Everyone Has A Morning Routine; Good, Bad, or Indifferent
As creatures of habit, we're prone to repeating activities every day. If you're used to brushing your teeth first thing in the morning, habit will prompt you to it without much effort if you do it consistently and repeatedly all your life. Unconscious habits creep into our lives daily, sometimes we may not even remember doing certain things.
Your mornings may constitute eating breakfast, drinking water, making your bed as soon as you wake up, but it could also be more like checking your inbox and newsfeed for messages, checking stock market updates, or hitting the snooze button for an extended hour of sleep. Different actions give very different results.
Whatever you are used to repeatedly doing every day constitutes your morning routine. By taking a closer look at those actions and especially their consequences, you will have an idea as to why you get almost the same patterns, feelings, and results in your life.
Whether you feel sluggish every morning or you know with certainty that the morning is your best time to write or work on your most important set of tasks most of the time goes back to how you started the day.
We may be wired very uniquely from one another as our backgrounds, personalities, and experiences vary, but we're universally the same in our forming of and response to habits. Habits influence our life big time, whether we like it or not, and they greatly contribute to how we ultimately feel and how we function.
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Benefits of a Morning Routine
There are numerous benefits to the habit of a positive and effective morning routine. It is the seedbed of our day and one that often dictates how the rest of the day will take shape. A consciously-built morning routine will more effortlessly set you up for a positive day ahead, even making you more productive by day and successful in life.
Here are some of the benefits of creating a morning routine that works for you.
It will set you up for a successful and productive day ahead
"Either run the day or the day runs you." Having a morning routine is winning half the battle in terms of managing your day and setting yourself up for a productive and successful day ahead. You are also more likely to put more intention into completing your tasks when you have a direction. Plan what to do with your day at the start before it gets away from you.
Better health
A beneficial morning routine ultimately is up to you and what works best for you. If you've given yourself the freedom to consciously choose your routine and build from your positive actions, you are also more likely to incorporate healthier activities into it such as physical exercise and eating a healthy breakfast.
Improved sense of wellbeing
A morning routine is very much about gaining more time from your day. When you plan your activities first thing in the morning, it will become so automatic to you that in the long run, you'll even gain more time. With more time comes not just freedom but a greater sense of wellbeing and control. You'll feel less anxious going about the rest of your day and more prepared for unforeseen events.
It will give you more confidence
A strong morning routine helps make you feel more accomplished at the start of your day. This feeling reinforces self-efficacy or the belief that we have what it takes to accomplish what needs to be done. Additionally, a morning routine helps you prepare for the day ahead giving you an even greater boost of self-belief and confidence in yourself.
Stress less
If we don't have an effective morning routine in place, we are likely to start our days feeling stressed or confused, and that feeling will grow! Having solid morning practices in place empowers your day. It can also help to integrate mindful practices such as writing down things you are grateful for or including a meditation practice. Also, when you begin your day with a clear structure and a plan, it minimizes stress and anxiety.
