I am a productivity geek: anything remotely related to letting me do more and spend less energy is golden to me! A well crafted morning routine is one of those tiny little things that I know can make a difference but I never really managed to make them work. Hopefully this time around they’ll stick!
So when my colleague Sasha launched a “let me design your morning routine” motif, I had to sign up and see what was in store for me.
Sasha is not only a Happiness Engineer but also our go to wellness specialist when it comes to working remotely, exercising the body (and mind), setting a mindset for success, etc…
I signed up and answered the survey in the same day (last Thursday or Friday) and got my brand new routine Sunday, just in time to start the week.
Although, to be 100% honest, I haven’t followed it strictly – it’s been amazing even having a routine that I have been following EVERY DAY this week (yes – EVERY DAY).
I stripped it out slightly to start slowly and let myself first have a routine in place and then add up the variations. To start, this is it:
- Wake up and do those first things in the day (drink water, brush teeth, ..)
- Meditate for 10 min
- Yoga for 20-30 min
- Shower and breakfast
Whenever I can, I add journaling to it (10 min or the morning pages) but I consider it complete with the above steps
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Why a morning routine?
To start: every very productive person has one. well, not necessarily a morning routine, but routines in general. In my case, although I never considered myself a morning person, I do think that starting the day with the right mindset and checking off the most important things sets the right tone for my days
Then with Covid and the confinement I haven’t gone out so much, walked so much and have eaten way too much crap (even though I consider myself lucky to live in a place where I can spend time outside) On the other hand, I felt my resistance (physical and mental) decreasing and thought my body deserved that I took better care of it!
Which are the next routine steps ?
This morning routine should stick and I want to make it the daily bare minimum : meditate and yoga. I’ll be going to Lisbon next week and want to see whether I can incorporate it when traveling as well – it will be a great test to my resilience.
Then (in a couple of weeks) the idea is to add a more physical form of exercise like running (my goal is to run 5K by the end of 2020) and daily journaling (in line with my multipotentialite journey)
Get updates about how this experiment goes:
What about you? Tell me about it in the comments below!
If you’d like to get a Personalized morning routine as well, please check Sasha’s Master Your Mornings page . She is offering them for a limited time period only 🙂
5 comments
Hallo! I actually received a recomendation from a woman from work called “daily greatness” journal
I’m still figuring it out so I don’t even sure if I recommend it to you – But the truth is, that this is my 3rd week and I’ve been keeping it up. It’s not like you need to write a long text or anything, it’s more like a tool for you to keep yourself in check about your general goals, daily, weekly and every 3 months, finally every year. Eg.: Every week on Sundays (or Monday mornings) you sort of look at your week from “above” and see what you could’ve done better, how you can make the next ones go more towards your goals..
For me the most interesting result is that I’m more focused on my goals: I always have 3-4 areas to focus and I forget about some of them along the way. Like this I can reassess weekly.
Anyways, check their website, it’s pretty self-explanatory.
Any useful tools for meditation, do you have something? I usually like the guided meditations of Headspace!
And also – I recommend, for running, the Nike App and their guided runs, particularly the ones with Andy from(also) Headspace. But I like their coach trainings that have a final goal, in your case would be the 5k, and it prepares you for short runs and long runs, it’s nicely balanced.
Heyy! AHah, feel free to offer me one for 2021 :p
I actually just started with a new planner: CleverFox – so am still trying to figure out if it works for me. Seems pretty cool so far , but I’m only one week in.
For meditation – I signed up for the Waking Up app by Sam Harris (will post about it in the upcoming weeks) – it’s a bit more serious but pretty awesome as he walks you through the whole process of starting to meditate and it’s really engaging! The app is paid from lesson 5 onwards but I purchased it to support his work (as in fact he offers it to anyone that can’t afford it).
Thanks for the running apps ideas – I’ll be sure to check them when the time comes!! I think some are already installed in fact… but will check Andy’s ones – they seem cool! Is it free or a paid one ?
The Nike one is free, and it’s pretty good! I saw recently that Adidas also launched a good one (of course they did) and has also some good exercises to go along with running but maybe your yoga has you covered for that part.
Cool, looking forward to hear about Waking Up! Good luck with your morning routine!
Lae this is great!! I’m happy to see that you’ve established your baseline. You know what *must* be there in order for it to feel complete, and as you said, from their you can add and embellish to your liking. The important part is to have this dedicated time, every day, just for you, to get your energy in alignment for the day ahead. Well done!! And thanks for sharing your journey 🙂
Hey Sasha! Thankss, its been imensely helpful and a great journey (albeit small) so far!
Thanks for opening up to helping people like me unstuck morning routines 🙂