5 Things You Need To Stop Doing Each Morning
The way we start our day can often determine how the rest of our day is going to go, and how we approach our day. If you start it with tension and stress, then chances are the rest of the day is going to follow suit.
You’re not going to find me telling you to skip your morning coffee – that’s just mean and I’d never do it. But these are some things you need to stop doing each morning so you can start the day in the best place possible.
1 – Checking Your Phone First
Emails, Facebook, Instagram.. It’s all there ready for you and so tempting to grab your phone and lay in bed checking everything. I have to admit, even I do it – but I’m trying to stop. Because it really isn’t good for you.
Interestingly enough, on the days I make an effort to get out of bed and get myself organised before I go checking everything on my phone, I seem to have a much calmer start to the day.
When I check my emails first it feels like I’m putting out fires from the moment I wake up. Which means my mind is already in a state of overdrive before I’m out of bed. Not good.
There is literally nothing important enough that can’t wait another 30 minutes. If it’s an emergency, surely someone will call you. Start your day in a calm way.
2 – Skipping Breakfast
Okay, to be honest, I believe there are exceptions to this. I know a lot of people choose to fast intermittently and eating breakfast for them often happens around lunch time.
Which is totally fine. But unless you’re following this as a rule, skipping breakfast is probably not a good idea.
Because by the time 10am comes around you’ll be reaching for a pile of donuts and have consumed 5 coffees in an attempt to curb your appetite.
When you think about it, we use coffee for energy when we should be using food. We should be energising our bodies with fantastic food, especially first thing of a morning. Even if you manage to only eat one healthy meal in a day, make it breakfast.
A lot of people have rushed mornings, I understand. I’ve had to deal with perfectly timed daycare runs and getting to work before 7am too. Which is why being prepared is essential.
Know what you’re going to have for breakfast before you wake up. Prepare it. Freeze some mini quiche’s you can heat and eat on the go.
Prep a smoothie so all you have to do is blitz it up and you’re done. You don’t have to cook bacon and eggs every morning but you do have to fuel yourself for your day.
3 – Not Making Your Bed
This is a big mindset one. Making your bed is your first task of the day. If you make your bed every single morning then you are ticking an item off your to do list before you even leave your bedroom.
That’s a massive shift in mindset in comparison to leaving it a mess and getting back to it later. It kicks off your day in a positive way and sets you up for productivity.
In addition, whenever you walk into your bedroom throughout the day you’ll have more positive feelings about that room.
How nice does it feel when you walk into your bedroom and see the bed all nicely made, in comparison to when it is all ruffled and messed up? It also reinforces the sense of having accomplished something that day.
Because there are definitely days when we don’t feel like we are accomplishing much at all.
Plus, getting into a made bed at night feels awesome.
Try it for a month and see how much of a difference it makes to your day.
4 – Stressing Over What To Wear
How much time do you spend of a morning working out what to wear?
We have a whole heap of brainpower being used of a morning to make decisions we should and could have made the night before.
This means our brains are already working in overdrive and starting to become exhausted before we leave the house.
What to wear, if you need to iron your shirt, what to eat, what route to take to work, what to read on your commute, whether to workout before or after work, what type of coffee to have, what time to leave… there’s so many decisions we should be making into a routine.
Prepare what you’re going to wear the night before. Get it all out ready, make sure it’s all ironed or clean and have it set up ready to go.
This eliminates a whole lot of decision making of a morning.
5 – Hitting The Snooze Button… Repeatedly
Hands up… I know I’m guilty of this. I also know the days I get out of bed without hitting snooze are the days I feel a lot better and seem to be more productive.
Here’s the thing, I’m not a morning person. But I still get up at 5am every day to work.
It took a bit to get used to at first, but like any discipline, it became easier with practice.
The key was to not think about it. Don’t even think about hitting snooze.
The more you think, the more you convince yourself that you don’t actually need to get out of bed then and you hit snooze again, and again, and again.
Try for a whole week to just get up as soon as your alarm goes off. Put your alarm further away from the bed so you have to physically get up.
Get all of your coffee supplies out ready so you can just walk out and make your coffee (coffee is always a good motivator to get out of bed).
Once you’ve done it for a week, keep going. You’ll feel so much better for it.
How many of these things do you do of a morning?
They are simple habits to change and ones that can make a massive difference to your day.
