How a great morning routine can change your life

You feel tired and lifeless all day? Your workday crawls by and your concentration is lost, you notice. However, yesterday you gave up an hour of television to crawl into your bed a little earlier. Perhaps the problem does not lie with your evening schedule, but with the approach to your morning routine. A good morning routine can really change your life.

Think for yourself: what’s the first thing you do when you get up? Chances are – after you’ve had your alarm clock snoozed a couple of times – you’ll need to check your smartphone first. Maybe you’re already checking your emails, on Facebook, … Spoiler: that’s where you make your first big mistake. Then quickly get out of bed, rush through the bathroom, quickly get the children ready for school and off you go into the car. Breakfast? There’s no time for that! And yeah, you’re gonna be in the fog for that, too.

The importance of a good morning routine

I’m sure you know the proverb “Get out of bed with the wrong leg”. There’s a good reason for that. In the first 90 minutes after your alarm goes off, you lay the foundation for the rest of your day.

By not giving your body and mind the time to wake up and take immediate action, your heartbeat will rise immediately and you will fly through your morning in a hurry. You’ll see that the rest of your day also feels a lot more stressed. You’re less focused and less efficient and even after a cup of coffee or four you won’t find the energy you crave.

Reprogramming your morning routine is a first step towards a productive day. Yes, even a more productive life. It takes a little adjustment in the beginning, but you’ll be surprised how quickly you reap the benefits of your new habits.

“Since I took care of my morning routine, my days feel less rushed, have more time for myself and for the things I really want to do!”
Thomas

Help! How do I get started?

It’s important that you take back the control and become the boss of your morning. By regaining control you will see that you experience less stress and start your days with a more positive mindset and more energy. It goes without saying that this will have a huge impact on your life. There are two parts to a good morning routine: waking up mentally and physically.

Wake up your brain

When you just wake up, you still feel a little drowsy and you might even have some “brain death” feeling, a.k.a brain fog. This is normal. Your brain just spent eight hours in a low-power mode. Don’t make the mistake to immediately grab your smartphone and overload yourself with all kinds of messages and stimuli. Give your brain time to get going.

You can do this perfectly by putting on some quiet music and arranging your thoughts. Take a moment to write down your thoughts and start the day proactively instead of reactively. Literally writing down your thoughts brings peace of mind and will give you less headaches throughout the day. Reading a book or browsing the newspaper are also great ways to stimulate your brain and get ready for a productive day.

Wake up your body

At least as important as bracing yourself mentally for the day is getting your body going during your morning routine. Make time to get into your body for a while by stretching or having a short yoga session, for example. Your body also needs movement. Start your day with a short workout via an app that will get you moving for 5 to 10 minutes. A few minutes of jumping rope or doing burpees is enough.

Make sure you eat healthy

In order to get your body physically going and start the so-called incinerator, your body needs the sufficient fuel. Your breakfast is therefore the most important meal of the day! Integrating a healthy breakfast into your morning routine is an absolute must if you want to change your life. For many people this may seem like a challenge, but it’s really just a matter of growing a habit.

Don’t you get a bite down your throat in the morning? Then a healthy breakfast drink like our Goodmorning’s might be the solution. 400 kCal with an ideal mix of proteins, carbohydrates and unsaturated fats make a bottle of Goodmorning the ideal replacement for a balanced and healthy breakfast. Moreover, the bottles come in a handy pocket size, so you can take them perfectly on the go. This saves you extra time that you can spend on other things in the morning.

One step at a time

Don’t make the mistake that many people make: seeing it big and wanting to achieve too much all at once. Chances are you won’t achieve the expected results right away. You make a few mistakes, lose motivation and eventually you give up disappointed. That is of course detrimental to your self-confidence and your results.

Getting a perfect morning routine seems like a challenge, but it’s mainly a matter of teaching yourself new habits and being consistent in them. Don’t be put off by the challenge, but divide it up in small steps and let yourself grow into it from day to day.

Set your alarm clock to an hour that is slightly outside your comfort zone and then set your alarm clock 5 minutes earlier each time. Once you get used to this, you can introduce your morning workout in your morning routine. This can range from a 7-minute full body workout to half a marathon.

An example of a simple yet effective morning routine might look like this:

You get up at 6:50.
You write your to do’s in a notebook or in a diary
You get your body going with a short workout
Take care of yourself: take a shower, brush your teeth, ..
Nourish your body: Have a hearty breakfast to get through your day.
Take some time for your personal development: read the not-so-sensational newspaper or a good book
You are now ready to win the day!

Consider every day that you’ve achieved your goal as a success and realize that it’s not so bad if you drop a stitch. There is always a new day.

Before you realise it, you have taught yourself a new habit and your morning routine has become your new lifestyle! Every day is a good day to change your life.

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