There are typically two types of people in the world: the morning person and the one who has several alarms set every 15 minutes. Whichever group you fall into, we have a helpful guide on how to be more productive in the morning right here to kickstart your day. Not only will this encourage better habits and a healthier routine, you’ll see knock-on benefits throughout your lifestyle, organisation, productivity and house management.How to have a healthy morning routine
1. Set a max of two alarms. If you struggle to get up on the first alarm, set yourself two in order to have a little snooze for the first one, but let that be your maximum as you want to set yourself up right and not in a lazy state of mind.
2. Drink water straight away. We all need to drink plenty of water during the day and there’s no better way to set you up than a healthy, hydrating glass of water. Not only is it great for your body in the morning after depriving it from water for hours during sleep, but if you set this in your routine, it will get you straight out of bed into a healthier habit rather than lying in bed endlessly scrolling through social media before you finally get up.
3. Check emails. Let the first thing you do on the internet be to check your emails to catch up on any reminders, diaries or communications so they don’t get lost or built up too much. You can use this time to be more productive by getting back to people, sorting bills or catching up on helpful newsletters you’ve subscribed to. Set up this time on a home desk to put you into a more ‘get-up-and-go’ mental attitude. Having the right home
office desk is important and will have you feeling much more in control, comfortable and productive.
4. Set a time limit for social media. If checking social media is enriching for you in the morning - and we mean truly enriching - set a time limit to keep you from dwelling and to not get distracted for too long. Social media can be a good outlet for educating yourself and staying up-to-date with current affairs rather than just constantly looking at what others are up to; it can act as your morning ‘newspaper’. Setting a time limit will make you realise that this is one part of your morning routine and shouldn’t take over completely. It’s very easy to be lying in bed scrolling for half an hour to even an hour, before finding you’ve wasted quite a bit of time.
5. Set the house up. Once you’re up, get into the habit of making your bed, tidying the sofa, opening the curtains, updating calendars and doing little chores to keep on top of house tidiness. Cleaning in the morning can be very therapeutic and get your thoughts running clearer whilst you wash up, sort laundry and plan meals. Look through your food stock and be resourceful and prep meals – it could be something simple, like getting something out of the freezer ready so it’s defrosted for teatime.
6. Make breakfast. Now that you’ve saved time by setting limits on your internet use, you can use that time for healthier starts to the day with breakfast. Try out more exciting recipes like smoothie bowls or jazz up toasts with avocado, banana, peanut butter or fruits. Fuelling yourself for the day is so important and having more time for breakfast to be more creative and varied will improve physical and mental health.
7. Exercise. Set up a home gym to get you more energised in the mornings and to be ready for the day. Getting your blood rushing and heart pumping will make you feel better in yourself and incorporating it into your morning routine will set you up for a fantastic day. And you don’t have to worry about squeezing it in elsewhere. You can even use apps to do workouts and check items off a list or simply look at online workout videos on YouTube to get your exercise in, from 10 minutes to half an hour.
8. Rest. Finally, have some time to just rest before you get on with whatever the day has planned for you. So often we’re always rushing around, leaving things to build up and getting stressed in the mornings. Knowing that you’ve planned a routine and stuck to it will put you at ease and what’s amazing is that you can schedule in time to rest just before the day’s work starts. This can be time for you, whether it’s resting with a little read, time to cuddle pets, loved ones or catch up on TV. Having that relaxed and calm time you’ve planned for and can have because you’ve done all you need to do for the morning will have you feeling much more in control and stress-free. That’s why it’s so useful and healthy to instil these habits to make for a more productive morning routine and in turn a more productive and healthier lifestyle.
