What is a healthy morning routine and how do you start one?

When it comes to starting the day, successful people are intentional about good morning routine habits.

It’s the difference between successful people and those who are constantly procrastinating, then going to bed filled with guilt and frustration and waking up the next morning with 0 motivation.⁣

How to create a healthy morning routine?

1. Wake up Early

Successful people wake up early to start their day with a set goal in mind. Waking up early gives you a head start on the day and allows you to get things done before everyone else is awake.

I used to think waking up early was a form of punishment for people in school – but I found out my parents still wake up early even though they don’t have any young kids to wake anymore.

It turns out they were doing it for themselves as developing it as a habit makes you set for one of the healthiest morning routine you could ever think of.

The easiest way to make this a habit is to go to bed early. Once you go to bed early for a few days – you break any cycle of “sleeping late and waking up late.”

2. Practice Gratitude

When you wake up in the morning think of a few things you’re grateful for when you first wake up. Pay attention to your thoughts – by recognizing what your current thoughts are, you are able to question them.

During the questioning process you will more than likely see they are not worth worrying about.

Winners wake up every morning and express gratitude for things others take for granted.⁣

Daily reflection ensures you are in control of your life. And this could be part of practicing gratitude also as you could use this moment to journal things you’re grateful for.

3. Make your bed

This is the simplest activity that tells how much one pays attention to a simple ritual that can help you stay organized and kick out laziness.

What do you think it says of you if someone enters your home and sees a bed with scattered sheets that you slept on the previous night?

Benefits of making your bed in the morning

• It gives you a sense of pride on achieving a task, then you get motivated to accomplish more tasks. One task completed would turn into many tasks completed.
• Again it reinforces the fact that the little things matter.

4. Do your most important work first thing in the morning.

This is the most important advice to kick out procrastination out of your life. Do something called DEEP WORK, first 2-3 hours in the morning.

Successful people plan the night before on work they need to tackle the next morning. And if you want to start your day in an unstoppable manner, pick your most important and difficult work and see how much you can cover before any other activity.

Deep work is you getting the most important stuff done on your to do list, without any distractions and being FULL FOCUS, to achieve even better results.⁣

Here you need to prioritize, see what you really need to do today and make it a habit to take yourself off activities that you know are a complete waste of time.

5. Eat a healthy breakfast or none at all

A healthy breakfast provides you with the nutrients you need to power through your day. When it comes to breakfast realize that having a healthy breakfast is non-negotiable if you want to stay healthy.

Fuel your body and brain so you can be at your best all day. As you can be powering your body to function well throughout the day or you set yourself up to failure by being hungry within the next 2 – 3 hours.

If you indulge in the usual crap breakfast you see on TV such as cereals and other processed foods you raise insulin levels and that disturb your sugar levels that not just affect your energy throughout the day but you sleep at night.

6. Meditate

20 min of meditation in the morning can significantly increase your focus, reduce anxiety and improve your productivity.
Your meditation could be one or a combination of prayers, sitting still or practicing breathing techniques.

It all starts with a Breath. How is it possible that something as simple as a Breath could change your entire day? It’s important to learn how to control our Thoughts and our reactions. Things 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 when you start to see things slow down and learn how to control how you react.

You’ll really see the benefits of a meditation practice if you stick to it for long enough for it to make a difference. It is a long term commitment but if you can manage to focus and keep at it you’ll see some of these 5 main benefits.

7. Read a book (3o mins – 1 hour)

Reading is a great use of your time as against starting your day with social media or responding to emails.

Successful people know the benefits of constantly learning new things, including increased knowledge, brain health, and happiness.

If you have a goal of learning/studying more books – mornings are the best time to read. As there’s minimal disturbance or and you might find yourself busy throughout the day.

8. Exercise

A healthy body leads to a healthy mind. Exercise is key to having an active morning routine.

Not everybody would prefer to exercise intensely in the morning just like having breakfast – but I believe everyone can incorporate even minimal form of physical activity such as walking to get your blood flowing.

Do a form of movement

The goal is to move – it doesn’t matter what you do, but do something. Getting your body moving first thing in the morning helps to increase your energy and boost alertness for the day.

Some people prefer to do their full workouts to start the day because they know they may not have enough time again.

How many times should you exercise a week?

For best results, you want to exercise a few times per week as part of your morning routine for a healthy body.

While you’re also physically active throughout the week. Take some time during your lunch break to go for a walk or work a quick workout before heading to work in the morning.

It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you start moving around and get that blood pumping. Pick activities you enjoy that you will stick with.

Get some sunlight/Exercise outdoors

You can use this opportunity to get some sunlight in the morning and afternoon. This is effective to fix and maintain your sleep schedule. As the best way to stay active and stay lean is definitely by walking with intention.⁣⁣

Exercise is good for your health, and you will start to get fitter and even slimmer and more toned if you stick with it. This will improve how you feel and how you feel about yourself. That added confidence can be a tremendous additional mood booster.

The problem with morning routines

Most people associate them with 3 hour morning routine that involves chores such as journaling, saying affirmations without any relation to work done. So they dread it and say it does not work.

Every other thing you do in the morning apart from your most important work is to help you have a holistic approach to life instead of acting like a robot or working to exhaustion (burnout).

Rather than making it all about chores – get straight to work. Wake up, say your prayers, read/journal, tackle the work you’ve planned to do from the previous day that moves the needle the most.

Steps to make morning routine work

1. Make it a habit – You won’t get the result in the next day, so keep the determination up and harden those will.
2. Choose an early and consistent waking time
3. Engage in productive habits that align with your intentions
4. Never compromise on healthy breakfast
5. Decrease screen time to minimize distraction

My Morning Routine:

➟ Wake up at 6am
➟ Meditate
➟ Journal
➟ 2 – 4 hours of focused work

No bullshit, no fluff, as a good morning routine should be.

— Ross 💡 (@THEROSSHARKNESS) May 20, 2022

Benefits of having a healthy morning routine

1. Increased productivity

The key to starting and winning the day is to develop good habits and morning rituals that keep your body, mind and soul in check.

If you have a healthy morning routine you know is guaranteed to work and give results – would you want to jeopardize it by going to bed by 3am when you know you could be productive in the morning if you had prioritized your bed time?

2. Set the tone for the rest of the day 

How you start your day can influence how you tackle the rest of the day.

Chances are, if your morning sucks, the rest of the day will too. So if you just sit on your phone for half an hour, you won’t be doing much else the rest of the day.

Having a healthy morning routine gives you structure and helps you set the tone for the day. Instead of jumping right into work on days you feel motivated and “lazying around” on days you don’t feel like – morning routines keeps you consistent and prevents burnout.

3. Make better use of your time and Energy

You have the most energy at mornings. One cause of tiredness is bad time management and putting things off.

Would you want to start your day with just waking up, feel existential dread, wait for your body to stop feeling like its made out of clay, and then send your best friend 30 tiktoks in the span of 30 minutes for no reason?

The reason why its important to do Deep Work in the morning is because you still have all that Willpower left, your energy is the highest after you’ve waken up and you want to use this to your advantage!⁣

4. Wake up with a plan

Building a morning routine can help you start your day by knowing what you want to accomplish and how you will do it.

5. Unplug from technology

A healthy morning routine can help you take some time for yourself first thing in the morning before you get caught up in emails and social media.

6. Be Prepared for work 

If you want to instill habits and tactics that will ensure personal victory, productivity and success- healthy morning routines before work would help you become better prepared and ready to give your best shot at work. 

Healthy habits for morning routine

This is a recap of all the points above on how have a good morning routine.

1. Wake up early
2. Practice Gratitude
3. Make your bed
4. Do your most important work first thing in the morning.
5. Eat a healthy breakfast
6. Meditate
7. Read a book
8. Exercise

CONCLUSION

The goal is not to have the best morning routine or a perfect morning routine, but to lead an intentional life and program your day into a productive & healthy one.

Make your morning routine a priority and start the day with being the best version of yourself through healthy morning habits.

Meditation, Proper nutrition and exercise are amongst the best healthy habits for morning routine.