For years now I have been tinkering with my morning routine. I tried the 5am club, I tried an exercise bike for 30 minutes, I tried slowly getting up and having a glass of water immediately and much more besides before settling on where I am right now and have been for the past three years.
Rpbin Sharmas’ 5am club worked brilliantly. 20 minutes of exercise, 20 minutes of journaling and 20 minutes of reading. I was super productive and felt like I was getting lots done. Up until I wasn’t. Rather than being productive throughout the day I was crashing and falling asleep by about 8pm each night.
The shift was too much.
I started having a nap at lunchtime to compensate but eventually it just seemed rediculous and I binned the idea.
Some of the elements of it stuck really well though. The time to work on myself and nothing else was incredibly welcome, as was being up before everyone else so there were no distractions. The timings were just all out of sync with family life however.
So I had a long look at what I really needed –
- Exercise
- Mindfulness
- Reflection
- Reading time to keep up with current news in the spheres I work in
- A time that did not impact on the rest of my day or my family interactions
After mapping out needs and possibilities I came up with a 30 minute routine that I have been going through for the past three years and have felt huge benefit from.
- The alarm (vibrating Garmin watch so others are not distured) goes off at 6am.
- I get straight up and go to a space where I wont disturb anyone.
- I start up my tablet and load the fantastic Down Dog Yoga app – https://www.downdogapp.com/ This runs me through a 10 minute ‘wake up’ yoga session that works out all the kinks and gets the body ready for the day. At the end of the morning session I do 50 leg raises and 50 press ups to keep the stomach from slackening and to get the core warmed up.
- Once complete I put a fleece on to keep the warmth in the body and noise cancelling headphones to start the next step.
- 8 minutes of meditation using the Down Dog Meditation app. I have started to envisage a beautiful bit of scenery that my mind goes to in each meditation so I can clear the head and think of nothing but how I breathe for a few moments.
- When I finish I open Obsidian and complete my morning journal capturing thoughts, goals and priorities for the day. It is enough for the day to get the mind focused and ready.
- Following on from this I open a news reader and go through the latest stories from the areas I am interested in, either reading them straight away or saving them for later.
At that point I close everything down and start my day fully stepping out of my own time and into that where I try to provide for others but having had that little selfish half hour where no one else can disturb me for the day.
It is not a scientific morning routine but it has worked well for the last 3 years and kept me fit, flexible and healthy as I head to nearly half a century in years.
30 minutes of time to make for yourself each morning is not a lot to carve out but pays back in huge sums for the yoga alone. Add in the meditation and the reading and it is an easy set of wins to enjoy. My favourite times are weekends where I have a little longer so will get into the reading section a lot further and even do a lot more planning and writing on ocassion as well.
I am not some guru, just someone who has tried a lot of morning routines and come up with something that works for me, your mileage will vary but starting the day in a positive way can’t be a bad thing.