How you start your day dictates how well you perform for the next several waking hours. Start it the wrong way, whether it’s a nutrition-less breakfast or only getting a couple of hours of sleep, and your performance and output will suffer. Luckily, it’s never too late to change your morning routine, no matter how deeply ingrained it is in your everyday life. Replace the harmful habits that eat up your time and energy with these five healthy habits that can contribute to success:
Schedule Your Day
Dividing the limited time you have per day is important to make sure you focus on high-priority tasks. Without a schedule guiding your efforts, you will likely get sidetracked with menial tasks and fall into countless rabbit holes thus ending the day with nothing to show for. Most articles advise you to make a weekly schedule as having to do it less frequently could encourage people to stick with the habit more. However, requiring yourself to write a daily schedule can instill the habit in a more fundamental way. It becomes part of your everyday life rather than just a once-a-week chore you do. At the very least, your schedule should contain the list of tasks you plan to work on for the day, from highest priority to lowest.
Eat a Hearty Breakfast
Another cliche in the list of good morning routine habits is eating a well-balanced breakfast. Starting the day with donuts or ice cream is simply unhealthy and can lead to serious health complications over time, such as obesity and diabetes. These refined sugars and empty carbohydrates do nothing to replenish the mind and body. If you’re pressed for time in the morning time, a healthy breakfast usually takes a backseat for a quicker meal on the go. A healthy breakfast, such as oatmeal with fruits or scrambled eggs with wheat toast, can help sustain your energy requirements throughout the day without getting hit by fatigue. If you really have to rush off to your office, grab a granola bar and a bottle of water. Regardless, never start working without a hearty meal.
Meditate
Meditation has been around for ages, and countless scientific studies and reports have been published praising its benefits, yet only a handful actually incorporate it into their morning routine. You don’t even have to attend a special class or have any special equipment to meditate. Simply sit down on the floor with your back upright and take deep breaths. Free your mind of anything but that exercise. Incorporating meditation and deep breathing exercises into your daily routine can enhance your focus, reduce stress, and improve your overall health.
Work Out
A good workout regimen consists of a pre workout and post workout phase. Your pre-workout should include stretching and resistance training exercises while a post-workout routine should include cooldown exercises. Working out is a great way to whip your mind into a more focused state. Working out every morning also gives you structure and goals and helps you break any bad habits that are weighing you down. Moreover, it can build self-confidence and a competitive drive.
Review Your Finances
Most people review their account statements and budget after work. And while it shows prudence and responsibility, postponing your expense tracking and budget review until the last few hours of the day can lead to oversight. Since you are physically and mentally drained from work and other personal obligations you had to attend to, you are likely to overlook errors or any key data points that shed light on your finances. Once you’ve done the first four habits above, sit down and give yourself 5 to 10 minutes to review your financial situation.
Final Thoughts
Starting your day the right way can give you the focus and rhythm to improve your work output, both in quality and quantity. It also strengthens your personal and professional relationships by improving your mood and helping you make time for people who matter most in your life.
Comments »
