Over the last few months, I’ve noticed that a lot of ‘A Day in My Life’, and ‘My Morning Routine’ videos have been circulating on social media platforms, like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. The videos generally contain a person who is really productive in the morning, waking up at 5am, going for long runs, having a really fancy, healthy breakfast and then getting loads of work done. As great as that is for some, it’s pretty difficult to do, and often leaves viewers with a sense of failure and unproductivity. I know when I watch those videos while I’m still lying in bed at 12pm, I begin to feel pretty bad about myself. So, here are some smaller things to incorporate into your morning routine that might help you have a more productive day.
- Avoid going on your phone
The first thirty minutes of your day will decide how the remainder of the day is likely to be spent. If you spend the first half hour after you wake up on your phone, then it’s likely that you’ll spend a lot of the day on your phone scrolling. This might be one of the most difficult ones to put into practice, since it’s so easy to wake up and check through social media. However, waking up and leaving your phone aside means that you aren’t tempted to lie in bed for hours watching an endless stream of TikTok videos.
- Make your bed straight away
By waking up and making your bed straight away, you are instantly completing one task. Before you even start your day, you have checked one thing off your to-do list. Having a made bed also makes your room look cleaner and more organised, creating a better working environment. There’s also less temptation to crawl back into bed.
- Spend five minutes journaling or meditating
I find that if I wake up, look at my to-do list and try to get started right away, it gets overwhelming pretty quickly. Looking at the long list of things I need to complete gets daunting and I end up not knowing where to start. However, by taking five minutes before starting work to calm down and clear my mind helps me to make better decisions and avoid getting stressed out so easily.
- Give yourself plenty of time to get ready
One of the worst feelings has to be waking up with not enough time, and then having to rush around searching frantically for all the things you need. You end up feeling stressed for the rest of the day, and it’s just not a great way to start your day off. By planning in an extra bit of time you allow yourself to make some mistakes, like not being able to find your keys, or not being able to decide what to wear for the day. It also gives you an extra bit of time to have a coffee and some breakfast before starting your day, which will help you focus a bit more.
- Get your things ready the night before
Following on from the previous point, if you have all your things (outfit, keys, purse/wallet) set out and ready the night before, you don’t have to hunt around first thing in the morning. Also, it makes you feel organised and productive, which will help the rest of your daily tasks follow suit.
I hope that these will be somewhat helpful to someone. It’s important to remember that building habits takes time, and by trying to do everything at once you’re less likely to be able to sustain the new habits. Trying to implement one small thing at a time gradually is a good way to form a solid routine.
