I always seem to return to an article I came across earlier this year that talks about ‘10 ways to feel less busy’. One of the 10 ways that’s listed is to ‘respect your rhythms’. I remember being like, yes, that sounds absolutely right and so, so true. I live for ways to better myself and think of how I can respect my rhythms during my day-to-day. So here are a some things I’ve learnt over the last year on how to approach my morning routine.
Alarm times
Respecting your rhythm is really important: listen to your body for what it needs. If you’re finding it difficult to wake up, go to bed earlier. To better myself this year, I really had to drill it into myself that going to bed at 11pm or earlier doesn’t make me sad or boring, and shouldn’t make me feel like I’m missing out. It means I respect my body.
If it’s not working, move your alarm 15 to 30 minutes forward or backwards, as you might be disrupting your sleep cycle. If you set your alarm later, find something you can do the night before that will shave 30 minutes off your morning routine so you can sleep well.
I (try to) wake up at 6:00am everyday but plan to ease it backwards to 5:45. I snooze far too much and end up rushing my morning. There should be enough time to get things done at a good pace.
Top tip: Put your alarm WAY across the room; it shouldn’t be within arms reach for you to snooze it. Don’t be like me though and still get back into bed!
Tasks
Especially if you’re not a morning person, don’t do any big tasks first thing; it’ll stress the start of your day. The very first thing I try to do in my morning routine is to meditate. My day is unbelievably different if I start it this way. Otherwise I’m trying to dive into the day and that’s never going to work out.
When I’m at work, I tend to leave bigger tasks until around 11am. That’s when I’m most awake, but these have to be done before 3pm as that’s when I start to slow down.
Top tip: Make sure you know your ideal window of time when you’re most productive.
Food
This is probably the thing I still struggle with the most and most people do too. A lot of the time, the thing you want to eat at 9am probably isn’t the best for you (like me), or (also like me) you eat the same thing all the time that still isn’t too great for you either.
I love porridge but the problem I have is that it makes me SLEEPY. As soon as I eat it I want to go back to bed. But I love it so much for breakfast I eat it anyway.
Top tip: Experiment! Find and eat food that energises you and keeps you fuller for longer.
Extra tips
- Don’t sleep in too long even on the weekends, because that throws you off when you need to wake up early again. Even if I’ve been out the night before, I get up early, then if I need a power nap I’ll have one later.
- Social media can wait! Don’t make scrolling the first thing you do in the morning, maybe listen to a podcast or write your daily to-do list instead.
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Written by Betsy Uchendu
Illustrated by Francesca Mariama
