3 New Habits to Marvelous Mornings

I am not a morning person. Like not at all. I’m not sure I will really ever love the prospect of waking up early. I think it’s the fact that I love staying up late. I enjoy the way the moon shines on clear nights. I enjoy the quiet still when everyone’s gone to bed. I enjoy closing each day down. As I have worked on myself the past few months, I have tried to incorporate a few new habits that have helped me enjoy mornings….a little more.

Morning Planning- This one has been very good for my mornings, though it can be a dangerous game to play if you allow it. Starting each day by looking ahead at what is to come is refreshing. In that quiet moment by yourself you can take 10 minutes to think through the day. As a planner, this tactic has helped me feel more positive in the day’s task. It gives me a starting line and illuminates the path forward.

The thing is, you can’t let yourself drift back to sleep. This has been my challenge. It’s so easy to sit up in bed with your phone to check your schedule, only to slowly lay back down and hit the snooze button. Don’t allow yourself to do this. If you do, like I have a million times, you will feel more defeated when that alarm hits you with those annoying reminders once again.

One way to help curtail this common mistake is to move your phone, or other device used for alarms, away from your arm’s reach. This way when the alarm goes off you actually have to get yourself out of bed to turn it off. I would also suggest having your attire for the morning laid out by the device. If you do this, your brain will automatically think to change into the clothes for the morning and continue on to your morning planning time.

That morning planning time is key. Allow yourself that time to breathe. Enjoy the quiet. Attack the day.

Get Moving– This is one that I have already talked about, but it is so important to your morning success. You’ve got to find a way to get moving. There is no perfect activity to do. You just need to find what trips your trigger. It needs to be something that will push you to work and to get on with your day.

Since the end of April, I have been able to move each day. Each day looks a little different, though I do have my go to activities. If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know that I have picked up running. By no means does this mean that it is easy, but it is an activity that gives me life after I’ve crossed that finish line. It gives me that extra energy and makes me feel more positive overall on the prospects of the day.

I also recently started adding workouts in the weight room to my routine. This is something that I’ve enjoyed in the past, but had let slip by the wayside the past few years. If you are going to start lifting, I suggest lifting with a friend. It is so much easier to push yourself when working with someone else. You also end up doing more than you would if you were by yourself. I feel very fortunate to have that person in my good friend, Ray. Though he doesn’t know this, I look up to him. He is such a genuinely good person and he’s incredibly strong. As a competitive person, it helps to have someone that can crush me in these lifts. It pushes me to do more. It gives me a goal to achieve. It makes it more fun.

Fuel Your Machine- In the past, breakfast has been something that I didn’t even think about. It’s probably because my body wasn’t working hard enough to actually care to eat in the morning. That habit can be deadly as you end up picking up something unhealthy on those few occasions where you actually feel that urge to eat. Though the breakfast pizza from QT is delicious, you can’t sustain these marvelous mornings with it bogging you down.

It is so important that we fuel our body for the day’s tasks. If you just get up and shower with nothing to fuel yourself, you will be left dragging by midmorning. I also suggest finding the liquids that help you push forward. For me, coffee does the trick. I make sure to ground fresh coffee the night before and start the water kettle before going on my morning run. It’s all about that morning routine.

I take my breakfast to go, as I like to consume it after burning it up in the weight room. I personally really enjoy One Bars. They have great flavor and I don’t feel bogged down by them. I also like to take my coffee to school to kick start my first period class. I suggest having that great water container that you enjoy refilling throughout the day. You need water. We all need water. Just drink it.

What are your morning routine tricks?