“Take excellent care of the front end of your day, and the rest of your day will pretty much take care of itself. Own your morning. Elevate your life.” ~
By Adam Jones
Morning routine is a popular topic in the world of self-development. With good reason too. Starting your day on the right foot with an effective morning routine sets a positive tone for the rest of the day.
By being intentional when you first wake up, you control the day; the day doesn’t control you. A good morning routine can also boost your happiness, reduce stress levels and increase productivity.
Many articles you read about morning routines will suggest doing some exercise or reading a book. Whilst there is nothing wrong with these ideas, here are five unique morning routine ideas to supercharge your day:
1. Drink a Glass of Water with Apple Cider Vinegar
When you wake up, your body is dehydrated. To help it work as efficiently as possible, consider drinking a large glass of water to rehydrate. You can supercharge that glass of water by adding a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. This helps kill harmful bacteria, lower blood sugar levels and improve heart health. Apple cider vinegar also helps improve energy, flush out toxins and increase your metabolism.
Be sure to drink the apple cider vinegar with water because its acidity can weaken your tooth enamel.
2. Be Conscious of Your First Thought
Being conscious of your first thought starts your day with positivity. If you are thinking about all your troubles, it will probably be hard to shake this mood for the rest of the day. If your first thought is about achieving goals, or what you are grateful for, you will probably feel motivated to have a great day.
This one can be hard at first because our minds have a negative bias. You’ll need to work to create this as a habit. To help, have a pen and paper next to your bed so you can jot down your first thought each morning. Writing down your thoughts every morning gives you a record you can look back over. So at the end of the week, you can schedule a time to review the week’s thoughts. Then think about how you can create thoughts that make you feel more uplifted.
3. Practice Gratitude
Practicing gratitude is simple yet so effective. Every morning write down three things that you are grateful for in life. You can mix it up some days where you write down three things you are grateful for about a specific person. It could be your partner, children, or anyone who is important to you.
Scientific studies have shown the many benefits of gratitude. The most common are increased well-being, reduction of stress, and improved social relationships.
4. Try Calisthenics
I haven’t totally missed exercise from this list. Exercise is so important to keep our bodies feeling strong and healthy. However, going for a run or hopping on your bike can sometimes be a bit boring or inconvenient.
It’s good to mix up your exercise routine and calisthenics are a great way of doing just that. Calisthenics is a form of exercise that mainly works on your core muscle groups with minimal equipment and normally only using your bodyweight. It’s great for building all-around core strength and can be done almost anywhere. Think press-ups, bodyweight squats, one-legged squats, and you are on the right track.
5. Avoid Your Phone
This idea is less about what you should do and more about what you shouldn’t do. According to an IDC Research Report sponsored by Facebook, 79% of survey participants (7,446 18-44-year-old iPhone and Android smartphone owners in the U.S.) reached for their phone within 15 minutes of waking up. So if you’re like most people, the first thing you do in the morning is to grab your phone and start scrolling. It’s not that you even have anything specific to look for, it’s just a habit. But looking at our phones can distract us and cause stress.
When you start to build your morning routine, try not to let your phone sidetrack you by leaving it out of sight, yet reachable in an emergency. Prepare the night before if you can and don’t leave your phone near your bed. If you need an alarm, buy a cheap one that you can put next to your bed instead.
Summary
As you can see from the list, these aren’t your common morning routine ideas. I hope they have brought a fresh perspective on how you can best start your day. These ideas can supplement your current morning routine, or if you are new to the world of morning routines, they can be a great place to start.
My suggestion would be to add one, possibly two to your routine. Try them out for a week or so to see if you like them. The most important aspect of building the habit of a morning routine is doing something you enjoy every day. You’ll increase the chance of the habit sticking.
About the Author
Adam Jones writes for The Growth Reactor, a blog that helps people find actionable personal growth & self-improvement tips, hacks, and guides to help them achieve what they want in life.
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