Let’s make this next month the most productive one yet with these 7 secrets to a morning routine for success! We all have those big goals we are trying to hit, but the truth is those big goals actually contain a group of smaller goals within them. For example, if you’re trying to run a marathon that would require you to train every week for months. The big goal: run a marathon, the small goals: find a running plan, follow the plan, maybe join a running group for accountability, etc.
Big goals typically require commitment and the easiest way to stay committed is to have a plan or routine in place to keep you on track. Talk to any successful person and odds are they’ll have a morning routine that they swear by.
This post is all about 7 secrets to a morning routine for success.
7 Secrets to a Morning Routine for Success
First, let’s get one thing straight, you do not need to be productive in order to have value and there will always be days when you just CAN’T and that’s okay! This is about creating a routine that feels sustainable and will hopefully serve as a tool you can reach for when things feel tough. A good morning routine will boost your energy and leave you feeling excited about the day ahead.
Secret #1: Start your Morning Unplugged
How many times have you opened your eyes in the morning and the first thing you did was roll over and look at your phone? There are multiple studies that show looking at our phones first thing in the morning causes stress and overwhelm.
We haven’t even brushed our teeth yet and we’re already looking at our calendars and to-do lists or scrolling through social media comparing our lives to the curated squares we see on our screens. Looking at our phones first thing in the morning uses up our brain’s resources, we only have a certain amount of undivided attention we can give in a day, so let’s not waste it so early in the day.
One of the best things you can do to increase your productivity in the morning is to start it off unplugged. Before going to leave your phone to charge overnight in another room or somewhere it’s unreachable if you require an alarm to help you wake up why not go old school and purchase an alarm clock from amazon? or put that Google home / Alexa to work and set a morning alarm.
Secret #2: 10 Minutes of Movement
Maybe it’s not such a secret but intentional movement has a variety of benefits including boosting our energy levels. Maybe you dread any sort of vigorous exercise or struggle to gain momentum early in the morning, well, the good news is you get to decide what movement feels best for you. It could be a 10-minute walk around the block, some neck, and arm circles while sitting down, or a quick yoga video off youtube (highly recommend Yoga by Kassandra for a 10 min flow!).
Nobody is suggesting a one-hour cross-fit workout at 7 am (at least not in this corner of the internet), movement can be simple as long as it feels sustainable to you. Commit to 10 minutes of movement each morning and after a few weeks, you will notice a drastic change in your overall mood, wellness, and productivity!
Secret #3: Meal Prep your Breakfasts
One thing that most successful people prioritize is mitigating decision fatigue. Decision fatigue is a concept that says the more decisions you make in a day the less capacity you have to make more. If you’re in business or are someone with a lot of personal goals mitigating decision fatigue will serve you well. The less time you spend on making small decisions the more brain capacity you will have to make the bigger decisions that impact your business and life.
An easy way to do this is by meal prepping! rather than stressing about what you can make each morning take the decision away by investing in a meal prep service or planning your meals yourself ahead of time. Easy breakfasts you can pre-plan like overnight oats or smoothies can also eliminate the need to make a decision about your meal first thing in the morning. If you have the capacity you should be meal-prepping your lunches as well.
Some entrepreneurs even downsize their wardrobes and create easy grab-and-go outfits! Start by meal prepping or creating easy-to-make breakfast plans and then slowly take audits of other areas in your routine where you can mitigate decision fatigue.
Secret #4: Motivational Mornings!
At this point, you should be starting to feel energized, you have moved your body with intention and fuelled your body with some food, now it’s time to fuel your mind! You may need to grab your phone for this part unless you have a Google home/ Alexa or are choosing to use a physical book, but do not open any social apps or email if you are.
Let’s start the day with the right mindset, choose a personal development book or a motivational podcast, and dedicate 20 minutes to consuming it. Think about professional athletes and how the coach revs them up with a motivational speech just before game time. You’re the basketball player and you need to find your coach Carter! (yes, that was a sports reference haha) who is going to inspire you to take on the day ahead?
Here are a couple of podcasts that have quick inspirational episodes:
Secret #5: Remember your Why
This might be one of the most important steps, your “why” is what’s going to keep you motivated, it’s that light at the end of the tunnel, the reason why you’re working in the first place! Remembering your why (if you’re a creative visual person) could be taking time to look at your vision board. It can also look like reading out your list of goals for the year or reading a mini-story that you wrote about your future self.
Whatever it looks like for you just make sure you’re taking time to immerse yourself in your goals and your purpose. Vision boards are a visual reminder of our goals and looking at them every day can help maintain excitement and give us the momentum we need to pursue them.
Secret #6: Set your Intention
Most of us will set an intention for the year or MAYBE each month, but what about setting an intention for each day? Setting an intention will provide some accountability and give a bit more direction and purpose to your day.
An intention can look a bit different than a goal or task, for example, your intention for the day might be: to approach the day with creativity whereas your tasks might be meal prepping lunches or launching an email campaign. A fun way to set your intention for the day is to let the universe guide you (getting a bit woo-woo here) by pulling a card.
*Try the Super Attractor deck by Gabby Bernstein.
Secret #7: Plan your Big 3
What makes you feel unproductive? Not accomplishing your goals or tasks for the day. The biggest mistake people make when it comes to productivity is overstuffing their to-do lists, this will inevitably leave you feeling like a failure when you can’t accomplish these unrealistic goals.
It’s easy to believe that having more on your to-do list will help you achieve your goals faster when in reality it will slow you down. When you add so much to your list that you can never accomplish it in a day you demotivate yourself and perhaps fall into a slump.
Instead, pick your big 3, these are the top tasks that you absolutely must accomplish that day in order to feel productive and move the needle on whatever you’re working on. These 3 tasks are the only thing you need to accomplish, this way if you accomplish more you feel as if you’re going above and beyond and if you only accomplish those 3 you can still feel productive and motivated for the next day.
Productive Morning Routine List
Let’s recap! Here’s everything you need to have a morning routine for success
- An old-school alarm clock for an unplugged wake-up.
- A 10-minute movement plan.
- Premade or easy-to-make breakfast.
- A 15-minute podcast episode or chapter in a personal dev book to read.
- Your vision board.
- Card deck.
- Agenda to write our big 3 in.
Schedule for a Morning Routine for Success
Okay, so you might be thinking “this is great and all but how am I going to fit all of these tips into my schedule?”. Well, the facts are that 1. we will make time for whatever is important to us, so as yourself how important are your goals to you? and 2. These really don’t need to take up a lot of your time! Below is a sample schedule to show you just how little time you need, and you can adjust it to fit your lifestyle and needs.
7:00 am Wake up.
7:00 – 7:10 am 10 Minutes of movement.
7:10 – 7:25 am Wash up, brush teeth, and get dressed.
7:25 – 7:40 am Meal prepped breakfast.
7:40 – 8:00 am Motivational morning (read a chapter in a personal development book or listen to a motivational podcast).
8:00 – 8:10 am Remember your why (look at your vision board and read out your goals).
8:10 – 8:30 am Set your intention for the day and plan your big 3.
8:30 am Finally grab your phone and leave for work or whatever else you have going on!
Success is all about productivity and commitment, and in order to stay committed to your goals you need a routine that fuels you and feels sustainable. It’s not about taking giant steps, it’s about the little steps each day that moves you toward your goal.
This post was all about 7 Secrets to a Morning Routine for Success
Thank you so much for reading this blog post by Sipping on Gratitude a personal growth and development blog.
Let’s be personal dev friends! check out the other categories on the blog.
[…] 7 Secrets to a Morning Routine for Success […]