I have been ALL about that morning girl life lately. I posted a couple of week’s ago the morning routine I have started implementing for success. You guys seemed to really enjoy that so then I decided to do this blog post about things that I ELIMINATED from my morning routine in order to be more successful and FEEL BETTER each morning.
You will very likely find something on this list that you are probably doing every morning and need to get rid of the habit. So be sure to leave in the comments what on the list you need to throw out the window!
10 Morning Habits That MUST GO!
Hitting your snooze button on your alarm. I feel like whoever created the snooze button was just an enabler for all of lazy people and for people who are not morning people. It is literally just an excuse to go back to sleep for another 10 minutes. It actually just makes you more irritable and often rushed when you do finally get yourself up. An alarm is an annoying sound that disrupts your sleep. Imagine what that is doing to your mood to force yourself to hear it multiple times in the morning. Stop it. Just get up.
Checking your phone as soon as you wake up. Here is the only thing that worked to get me to stop doing this. I was watching an Amy Landino video on YouTube and she pointed something out: Why would the first thing you do when you wake up is give your time, thoughts, and energy to someone else before giving anything to yourself? I mean think about it. You wake up and let other people decide what your first thoughts in the mornings are going to be and a lot of the time they aren’t positive thoughts. Instead, meditate. Pray. Do some exercise. Do some affirmations to start your day however it is that YOU want to start it with the mindset that YOU chose for yourself. It was a hard habit to start but it honestly was one of the most liberating habits to get rid of.
Watching/reading the news. This is bad for the same reasons as number 2. It does not help anyone for you to start your day listening to news and frustrating stories. Politics never puts anyone in a good mood, does it? Hearing about what wrongs were done in the world when you’re mind is still trying to decide what kind of mood you will be in is NOT the best idea. These things can greatly impact our mood. You need to make sure that YOU have decided how you’re going to feel for the day before you go filling your mind with the world’s negatives.
Skipping breakfast. I used to be the QUEEN of skipping breakfast. I was never hungry in the mornings so I would just wait until lunch when I am starving. In actuality, this starts your day with no fuel and no energy. It also is a big part of the reason why some of us have that midday fatigue going on. I am not saying have huge meals and I am also not saying it has to be the first thing you do in the morning but you should definitely include nourishing yourself into your morning routine.
Not stretching. My boyfriend put me on to this. I used to complain about headaches, back problems, and many other things and he started asking me if I stretched in the mornings. I said no. I don’t know why this habit is so difficult to actually want to get started. It doesn’t take too much time, but there is a HUGE benefit to it. You your tense joints and muscles. You create space in your neck. Once I started doing it, I got much fewer headaches and my back pains decreased significantly. It is energizing and all around healthy for your body. Now, I do yoga daily because it helps with both my physical and mental health. However, if yoga is not for you, at least start touching your toes and doing your regular morning stretches to help rejuvenate you in the mornings.
Not starting your day with water. HYDRATE BEFORE YOU DIE-DRATE. Drinking water has multiple benefits for your health. You feel more refreshed. It helps wake you up and get you more alert. Water release your body of toxins early in the morning. It fuels your BRAIN. I mean… the benefits of water in the morning just go on and on. Drinking water in the morning helps me FEEL like I have it together and that’s one of my personal favorite benefits right there. Plus, I always feel more energized after having some nice, cold, water.
Waking up with only enough time to get ready for work. I cannot say this enough. I should have made it number one. How can you have a productive and relaxing morning routine that starts your day off right if you wake up with time to do nothing but shower, get dressed, and go? My advice would be to wake up at least an hour and a half to two hours before you have to start getting dressed. Why? You need time to be with just you in the mornings. You want to be able to go through a morning routine for SUCCESS without having to rush through it at the same time. Your mornings are so vital and important because they give you the opportunity to start your day YOUR way. You can work on a side hustle and start creating more income or an independent life without a 9-5 (tis what I do). You could exercise and get your health together. Or you could simply just have some alone time before your kids wake up for school. But that last minute waking up thing does NOTHING for you.
Waiting until the morning to figure out what you’re going to wear. I talk about this a bit more in my productive night routine post, but you really should pick out your clothes the night before. It is a waste of time. From experience, I tend to take more time in the morning trying to decide what I am going to wear than at night when I am trying to pick things out. Have your clothes already picked out and laid out on your bed or dresser so all you have to worry about is putting them on.
Not making up your bed. This is what I discovered about making up your bed and why it is a good idea. One: it forces you to do something productive in the morning and that will help you wake up and get your day started. Two: when you wake up in the morning and make up your bed and see it look all nice and together, you’re less likely to want to get in it and mess up the job you just did. At least that is how it is for me. I tend to take myself to another room just to avoid sitting on my beautifully made up bed. This doesn’t work when my boyfriend is home because I always wake up before he does but if I make him make up the bed when he gets up it has a similar impact on him as well! Make up your bed people. It changes lives.
Dreading your work day. As I said a couple times in this post already, YOU decide how your day is going to go. If you tell yourself work is going to suck, it will. You have to start getting excited to be the best you each day. You have to start speaking life into your work day and mentally prepare yourself not to deal with BS but to have a great day regardless of BS. Stop sitting and wishing you didn’t have to work and think about when you wish you had a job. Think about the fact that your job is financing your passion. That’s where your mindset needs to be. Starting your day with negative thoughts starts your day with negative energy. So this MUST GO.
Now I know there was SOMETHING on this list that you probably shouldn’t be doing and do every single morning. What on this list do you think you need to get rid of? Are there any additional morning habits you think you could add to this list? Share your thoughts down below!
I love you CherishingFlo fam!