The Ideal Morning Routine

By Prathamesh Kapse | 20th June, 2023

Discover the power of an ideal morning routine in shaping your day for success. From rehydration to setting clear intentions, learn the 8 crucial aspects that will boost your energy, enhance mental clarity, and maximize productivity. Customize your routine based on your needs and seize the start of your day to seize the entire day.

We wake up and get to our daily routines. Rarely do we give a second thought to the fact that the way we go about our tasks early in the morning can shape the way we go about our tasks for the entire day.

Mornings can really make a difference in how you perform throughout the day. If I wake up and consume a lot of social media instantly, my brain receives dopamine from it. This ensures my system that I receive dopamine from this particular task. So, without a second thought, my brain will bring me back to the same dopamine-donating task that I performed this early morning. This is a proven thing and not something that’s based on observation.

An ideal morning routine can not only set you up for the day but it can also make sure you don’t lose any days to procrastination or laziness. Because, if you follow the ideal morning routine, which may vary depending on what type of mornings you have, you are 80% in control of the entire day. The things that I will include in an ideal morning routine are very general. They can be included in any busy man’s schedule. They won’t take up more than 10 minutes of your time but they’ll set the tone perfectly for the entire day.

The Ideal Morning Routine: The 8 Aspects.

1. Rehydration.

After waking up with 7-9 hours of sleep, your body is dehydrated. When you’re sleeping, the body keeps performing vital functions. So, drinking a glass of water can kick-start your metabolism and aid your digestion process. Rehydrating can also improve mental clarity and well-being along with boosting your energy and mood. Being dehydrated has its side effects which are impaired cognitive and mental functions. This can result in laziness and fatigue when we wake up. Drinking a glass of water can thus make a huge difference in waking up.

2. Waking Up At The Same Time Every Day.

Having a fixed wake-up and go-to-bed time can really make a huge difference in sleep quality. Fixing a sleep schedule helps you to fall asleep naturally and get out of bed with more energy than usual. This helps us get a more efficient and restorative sleep ensuring energy to flow through throughout the day. We all know what getting a good night’s sleep can be like, right? RIGHT?

3. Making Your Bed.

Some things seem very small, unimportant, and mundane. I mean, how can making your bed after you wake up help you shape your day toward productivity in any way? Apart from the obvious, that is being organized, making your bed gives you a sense of accomplishment early in the day. The reason that’s necessary is the task that provides Dopamine to the brain at the beginning of the day is the task that the brain keeps wanting Dopamine from throughout the day. Not saying that you would want to keep making your bed throughout the day but you would want to do productive things apart from the rest.

4. Stretching.

Waking up after sleeping in almost the same position throughout the night (or day depending on you) can make our body and muscles sore. That’s enough reason to stretch/ go for a walk/jog when you wake up. It improves blood circulation, increases flexibility and range of motion, and promotes a better posture. Not only does it have these physical benefits but also mental benefits like stimulating the release of Endorphins (the feel-good) chemical and also other natural mood-boosting chemicals in the brain.

5. Mindfulness/ Meditation.

Meditation is often misunderstood. It is seen as sitting down and thinking about nothing other than breathing in and out. However, meditating means actually observing your thoughts without judgment. It encourages present-moment awareness and mindfulness by intentionally focusing on the present moment. Reducing stress and anxiety are just the side-benefits of setting a peaceful and centered tone by meditating. Improving mental clarity and focus are just the tip of the iceberg of benefits meditation and mindfulness have to offer.

6. Plan Your Day.

What’s a day without a plan? If you want to get something done by the end of the day in the best way possible, you need a plan. It can increase your productivity by allowing you to recognize all the important tasks and get them done during the more productive parts of your day. Know that feeling when you have everything planned so you don’t have to worry about every next moment? You can have that daily if you plan daily. However, an important thing to not do is freak out when plans don’t execute as you want them to.

Always remind yourself to keep some margin for error. You can’t always have a very productive day. If you’re time-blocking, always block 5 extra minutes of time for any emergency maneuvers.

7. Practice Gratitude.

Waking up in the morning can feel blank. You forget some things or you just become unaware of most. Practicing gratitude can help you bring back the awareness of all the good things that matter the most.

Get a diary, get a pen, and start writing down things that you are grateful for. It could be anything from having food on your plate to the job that you have. This leads to an increase in happiness, satisfaction, and an overall positive mindset to kick-start the day.

It’s very important to get the right feelings from the start of the day otherwise we let 24 hours slip very easily.

8. Make Your Intentions Clear.

We often need to remind ourselves what we have got to do and what we don’t. Making your intentions clear at the start of the day can really help with that. If I say that I will finish the research for this one article by the end of the day, I can start working towards it instantly. That would be my main intention. It doesn’t always have to be something work-related. It can also be something like “I will approach today with a positive attitude and solve every problem that I face instead of skipping to other ones.” This will create a clear image of how your day should look, helping you to make that image clearer.

Apart from these methods/ tasks, there are a lot of other things that help or have been proven to help when you implement them in your morning routines. Based on your routine/schedule, you can find more of these and implement them in your lives. Even though all the above methods have been included considering various routines/ fields of work, everybody has a different style or way of working. Find your style, find what works for you and why it works for you, and then just customize everything based on your needs and wants.

An ideal start to the day is very necessary to keep the work flowing smoothly. I’m sure most of us have experienced this when we start working early morning and keep feeling the need to work throughout the day. It also happens with studying. If you can seize the start to your day, you can seize the entire day.

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