A good morning routine can make your life easier. It can help you build the life you want, by being more serene, grounded and focused. We don’t all have time to build complex and lengthy morning routines. In this post you will find three quick and easy morning routine ideas that will improve your life, even if you don’t really have time for a morning routine.
Morning Routine Ideas for Success
Most people love the idea of having some extra hours available in the morning to set up practices that can help them be successful. However, that is not a realistic scenario for most people.
People on podcasts, videos and other media keep telling you to wake up super early – while still having a good amount of sleep – and start your day off dedicating it all to you.
That sounds great, except you may work three jobs, have two kids or have any other activity that takes up most of your time. You may also not have the emotional capacity to build a routine. If getting out of bed already requires a big effort, developing new lenghty practices may be too hard.
Does that mean that you have to give up the idea of having a good morning routine? Not really.
Whatever it is that you do when you wake up, you probably built a routine that makes you somewhat functional. In this post, you will find three morning routine ideas that you can easily integrate in your already existing routine. They are quick, they are easy and they can help you in your path towards success.
After a while, you may want to build upon those practices and move things around. That’s all great, as long as you start somewhere. The following practices can give you the push you need. If you already have an excellent morning routine, instead, integrating these practices may push it to the next level with very little effort.
1. Wake Up 15 Minutes Earlier
This may initially sound like it’s too much effort. However, think about it: it’s only fifteen minutes. It’s fairly easy to do. You do not even have to start with 15 minutes directly. You can start by setting your alarm 5 minutes earlier and build up to the 15 minutes.
The main reason to do so is not necessarily to add new things to your routine. It is to make you do your regular things in a more relaxed way.
Starting the day off with a serene attitude can help you with focus, anxiety managent, and relationships. Most of all, you just feel better. Give yourself time to do things properly, with no rush. Do them calmly.
Go to bed 15 minutes earlier at night. You do not want to sacrifice sleep time to chase some morning routine ideal. Morning routine ideas are great as long as they do not disrupt core pillars of our well-being. Having enough sleep is one of those pillars.
Waking up 15 minutes earlier, obviously, also gives you the possibility of adding something to your morning practices. Later in this post you will find what should be a priority.
Be Intentional
Another great benefit deriving from waking up 15 minutes earlier is that the extra time gives you the chance to be more intentional. Instead of going on autopilot mode, you can truly experience what you do. That would give you an additional bonus: the chance to be grateful for the little, normal, things in your life.
Gratitude is often mentioned as one of the tools to improve life. Being intentional about what we do gives us the chance to practice the attitude of gratitude in circumstances we would normally not even notice. Another efficient way to add something good to your day.
Even actions that seem unimportant, like maybe applying skincare products, can become an act of self-love when done intentionally. Same goes for that first cup of coffee, which could feel a bit different, a bit better, if you drink it without worrying about time.
2. The Simplest of the Morning Routine Ideas: the Toilet Mantra
This has to be the simplest of the morning routine ideas to integrate in your morning. You don’t need any extra time, nor to think about a thousand things – in fact, you shouldn’t.
Just sit on your toilet and start repeating a Mantra of your choice. Substitute mindless scrolling on your phone with something that can help you regulate improve your life and well-being. You can greatly benefit from repeating mantras in several aspects of your life.
Meditation can be beneficial in several ways. According to Harvard University, for example, it can reduce stress, pain, depression and more. It can have a pretty big impact on our well-being.
However, one may think about meditation as something that takes up time, and sometimes it really can. Moreover, some are afraid they can’t meditate because they have a mind that wanders, and others don’t feel aligned with some meditation practices.
An easy fix to this is to start with Mantras. Focusing your mind on something – even nothingness – is the way to meditation.
It is fairly easy to focus on the repetition of a word or a combination of words. Mantras are a great tool for all those who don’t know where to start when approaching meditation. Even experienced practicioners still use Mantras, though, because they are powerful.
Since we are talking about a morning routine, what better way to spend your time on the toilet than repeating Mantras over and over to shape your day as a successful one?
Which Mantras to Choose
When choosing the mantra, you can try different things. You could start by writing your own affirmations and repeating those. They may give you confidence and serenity, depending on what you choose to focus on.
You could move to the Sacred Mantras that oriental cultures have used for eons. You can also decide to do a mix of the two, or experiment with other Mantras. It’s your morning, your day. Choose whatever feels right to you.
Doing the Mantra repetition while on the toilet – or maybe while brushing your teeth, doing your skincare routine, or getting dressed – will give you the benefits of meditation even when you don’t have the possibility of putting time aside. Always try to be intentional with what you repeat. Being quick doesn’t mean being sloppy, after all.
3. Get Morning Sunlight Exposure
Balancing body and mind isn’t always easy. A valuable tool to improve physical and mental health is to get sunlight exposure first thing in the morning, according to neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman.
According to Huberman “Getting sunlight in your eyes first thing in the morning is absolutely vital to mental and physical health. It is perhaps the most important thing that any and all of us can and should do in order to promote metabolic well-being, promote the positive function of your hormone system, get your mental health steering in the right direction.”
He recommends that people get from as little as 2 minutes to at least 30 minutes of sunlight exposure in the morning. The average he suggests is a minimum of 5 minutes on sunny days and 15 minutes when overcast. Do not stare at the sun, though, just enjoy the sunlight, even better if while walking. Protect yourself appropriately.
How to Get Sunlight
A closed window doesn’t work. It is essential not to have glass blocking the rays.
Those extra 15 minutes come in super handy now, don’t they? You can squeeze 5 minutes of sunlight in. If you have the chance to walk to your morning destination, that may be a great solution. If you really do not have any minute left to stay outside, open that window and enjoy the sunlight from where you are, maybe while sipping coffee or tea.
As one of its most noticeable effects, sunlight exposure will help you get a good night sleep. That in itself is going to boost productivity and mood. It will help your nervous system, which rules your body and mind.
It is such a little thing to do, but it has a substantial impact on your well-being. It is certainly worth a try. As with anything, do not try it once and then scream that nothing works for you just because you didn’t experience benefits after day one. Give it a little time – it doesn’t need much, honestly – and it will work its magic on you.
The benefits of sunlight do not end there. Exposing to sunlight throughout the day is also beneficial, so is watching the sunset. However, when improving your morning routine, morning sunlight exposure could be a real game-changer.
