Today was quite uneventful so I thought I would bring my focus back to my morning routine, as I've noticed since not doing it, I am far less productive and just drudging through the day. I wanted to re-assert my commitment to myself to start doing it again.
Woke up this morning at 5:30am and even though that's still early I was still frustrated with myself for not just making the effort to get up at 5am. I have my routine now in my head and so losing half an hour off that really throws me, so I end up just winging it instead. So I made a commitment mentally to start my routine again properly from tomorrow. None of this procrastinating and saying "I'll start Monday" cos that's just a cop-out. Monday is no better day than any other day to make changes, it's all about mindset. So if you are thinking of changing stuff in your life, just decide to start as soon as you think about it. Even if that's part way through a week it doesn't matter, it's starting that's the important thing.
So as from tomorrow, this is what my morning routine will go back to:-
5am - 6am Wake up.
Make Bed (this is an important step as it's a mental TICK, off your
to-do list and so means you have already achieved something so your brain
naturally gathers momentum to do the next thing on the list). Plus it's great
to come home to a tidy made bed.
Let the dogs out for a wee.
Jump in the shower.
Do my skincare routine.
Take any supplements.
No phone for this hour.
Do any household jobs that need doing, like putting a wash on, tidy an area of
the house, have an espresso coffee (I don't have a large one so I'm not
swishing around with fluid when I do the 7:30 step)
6am - 7am Now I have set the tone for the day.
Feed the dogs - This stops them following me around all morning waiting to
be fed. So the sooner I do this after getting up the better.
Water Plants
Action new emails. (this is always easier if you are in front of the day
anything bad doesn't have the power to affect your day so much.
Publish blog from the previous day (this is quite therapeutic to reflect and
put your feelings and thoughts down and get everything out of your head). It
also let's you start the day from a better place after reflection on what you
could have done differently
Also - My blog isn't about how many people read it or anything like that, it's
just for my benefit. It's a nice way to capture memories etc and leave
something behind so I'm not just forgotten.
7am - 7:30am Yoga - This has gone off the boil because Layla hasn't been doing it so I've
used that as an excuse not to do it, biut that's just that - an excuse! So from
tomorrow I will get my matt out in the lounge and do one of Adrienne's, yoga
sessions on Youtube.
7:30am - 8am Take dogs for a walk. This is a great way to not only get my activity and step
up for the day, but also a great way to get out into nature and get some fresh
air and have some quiet thinking time. I again avoid my phone for this half an
hour so that I can appreciate the things around me and take things in that I
would otherwise not notice with my head in my device.
8am - 8:30am Breakfast !
From this point on the day varies depending on when I have appointments
etc but in general...
Get dressed into my work clothes. I find if you stay in PJ's or sloppy clothes
then that tends to be the tone for the day and you struggle to get out of it
and are less productive.
On a regular day I start packing anything I need into the car and then set off
to my first appointment.
If it's an admin day (like tomorrow), I grab anything I need and head up to
my home office.
I know getting up at 5am might seem crazy to some people but I find I am so much more productive in the mornings. Instead of staying up until midnight watching TV I go to bed at 10pm and then still have 7 hours sleep and give myself those two hours back when I can do something better with them.
It might seem a bit anal having everything allocated to time slots and at first I thought it a bit much to even think about allocating times to my morning, but I find it stops me sitting in bed looking at Tiktoks when I wake up and easily losing an hour to nothing.
I have definitely felt more in control since doing a morning routine and it's absolutely help with my mental health.
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