Changes are that we’ve all seen or heard the stories of successful people that wake up at 4 in the morning and have the best day. They might seem overdramatic but there are a lot of upsides for building a morning routine.
Waking up at 4 in the morning may not be for you. However, starting your day by waking up at a consistent time, consuming the right nutrition and exercising has a significant effect. According to research, having a morning routine has a proven impact on your productivity and happiness according to research.
What is a morning routine?
A morning routine is exactly what it says. It is a set of tasks or habits that you do the moment you wake up. Starting your day the right way has an enormous impact on your focus and productivity for the day. A morning routine is not bound to anything as you can do all the things you wish to do. The important thing is that you keep in mind that this routine will set you up for the rest of the day.
The benefits of building a morning routine
A morning routine has many benefits that will kickstart your day. Below you find 9 benefits that will have a significant impact after keeping up with your morning routine for several weeks.
- Feeling more in control of your schedule
- Being able to better prioritize your time
- Engage with every task
- Anticipate change more easily
- Adopt healthy-habits easier
- Increase productivity
- Have less stress
- Boost energy levels
- Boost your confidence
The psychology of a morning routine, are you a morning person?
According to research of Matthew Walker, there are in fact people that are morning types or are evening types. We live in a world that is built around morning types but only 40% of people are early birds. Roughly 30% of people are evening types and the final 30 percent fall in between.
It is crucial to know what type you are if you are building a morning routine. Evening types experience that their brain is not fully sharp in the morning, they need some extra time to become fully functional. A morning routine can actually help you out here!
By already doing several tasks before starting your job or studying can help you be more productive in the time you have. So what are you, an evening type or a morning type? You can find out by doing the test on this page.
Changing your morning routine can be hard
Before you get too excited and start implementing a morning routine, it is crucial to understand how you can change your habits. According to James Clear as stated in Atomic Habits there are 4 simple steps in your habit cycles.
The cycle follows these steps, cue, craving, response and reward. Whereas the cue and the craving are the so-called problem, the response and reward solves this problem. The simplest way to remove a bad habit is by removing the cue. This way the rest of the cycle will not be triggered.
But how is this helpful if you want to change your morning routine? Well, imagen you are someone that grabs their smartphone the moment the alarm goes off. Before you know it you have spent 15 minutes scrolling on Instagram and are now in a rush to be on time. By simply setting your alarm on an analog alarm clock and placing your phone in the living room, you remove the cue which will result in less stress in the morning.
Frequently asked questions about building a morning routine
How do I make my new morning routine last?
If you want to make your morning routine last it is important that you know how habits work and how you can change them. To learn more about changing patterns and habits, read this article.
Next to this, the best way to get started is to come up with a small routine that is only 2 or 3 steps long. If you can keep up with this routine for several weeks, you can start expanding the amount of steps. This way it is easier to start as it won’t feel like a mountain to climb when seeing your routine.
What if I skip a day?
It is perfectly normal to skip a day, don’t worry about it. Just make sure the next three days you stick to your routine. If you find it hard to stick to your morning routine 7 days a week, consider a different routine for weekdays and for the weekend.
