The basics of finding a ‘Good Morning Routine’. What I discovered standing waist deep in water.
I didn't know I needed it, until I saw someone else standing next to me living it.
I went for a dip at 5.45 am the other day in the ocean with the kids off Cottesloe Beach. We are away for a mini-break. Standing waist-deep in the 'warmer-than-Tasmanian' water, a chap waded by me, with a big smile, said, ‘Good Morning’, then dived under a wave. After a few minutes of bobbing around, we got chatting, and he said he comes down here at 6 am for 10 minutes every day after he does 40 minutes at the gym. After the ocean, he goes back up home, takes a shower, eats breakfast with his kids, packs his lunch, before taking them to school. We chatted about morning routines and water. But my ears picked up when he said, things changed for him after a health scare, and he read a book called 'Atomic Habits’.
Gosh, I already love that book. It’s always been in my top 5 books ever to read. But standing there in the water after he got out and made his way up the beach made me contemplate my own wellness life routine, which frankly isn’t much. I do things, lots of things, but I don’t automate them or work out what they should be. So this post is about looking at really simple good practices, from people's ideas, saved posts from Insta, and just good foundational research. Tiny tweaks towards a better-functioning, healthy, long-term, & productive me. It’s the foundation of getting my Glitterlist sorted. (My 100 life ‘bucket list’ I worked out for the next 25 years a few months back) so I need to start dealing with this.
Make my Bed: 2 minutes
According to the survey, 62 percent of sleepers feel that resting in a tidy, organised bedroom helps them feel more relaxed and sleep better throughout the night1
Morning Stretch: 5 minutes
Start your day with a full-body stretch. Reach your arms above your head, stretch your legs, and take a deep breath. When I first met Sarah, and discovered that she had trained in India as a yoga teacher - she taught me via the video how to do the yoga stretch ( How To Do A Sun Salutation ) which I could never remember the name and for years called the ‘Sun Santana Stretch’. I’ll do 3 sessions of that. Thats 5 minutes roughly + achievable.
Morning Walk: 45 minutes
45 minutes walking reconnects with nature, get everything moving and exposure vitamin D. Poppy is a Labrador and is a food sneak. Shes fat and needs walking. So do we. Going for a longer walk, or an hill/incline or going faster will be a better choice. But just working towards nailing the 45 min is a start.
Hydration Habit: anytime
Drink a glass of water immediately upon waking to kickstart my hydration goals for the day. This cleanses your mind/body and increases your early morning energy. According to Brita A healthy adult needs around 35 ml of water each day per kilogram of body weight . At least according to the general guidelines from scientific organisations. So based on that with my 88kg (ugh) I need just over 3 litres of water. I certainly don’t drink anywhere near that. One glass of water before each meal, every time I go to the bathroom.I wake up & go to bed. And by eating Eat more salads/fruits. Cucumber, celery, lettuce, berries, watermelon, cauliflower etc all have 90% or more water.
Gratitude Moment: 2 minutes
Work in Progress. A daily practice of gratitude first thing in the morning been shown in studies to improve your physical and mental health. I’m writing down three to five things on a post it note and moving on to the day. I have my first coffee in the morning while I do this.
Avoid the News: Anytime
I’ve not followed it for 5 years now. I’ll keep doing this. It kills creativity, wastes time & is bit like a drug. Here’s a pile of other reasons why avoiding it is good by the The Guardian
Plan breakfast & dinner. 5 -15 minutes
Make sure I choose a good breakfast. I soak porridge overnight or will take a poached egg usually. Then I look in the fridge and make all or some of the dinner between morning jobs. I find organising dinner early not only frees up time but also eliminates end-of-day stress, saves money, ensures preparedness for required for the meal, and helps maintain a consistent family eating routine.
Write down my ideas. 5 minutes
I have lots of ideas. I need to write them down. Get into the daily practise of doing this. James Saltucher believes in his article of How to be the Luckiest Guy on the Planet, that doing this daily practise can flip your life around for good.
Read/listen every day at least 20 page. 15 minutes
This is towards my glitter list or deeper understanding of learning. I wash the dishes in the morning and listen to the daily update of Commsec. Forget the news/scrolling/gossip, work towards your 20 hrs of learning something - Josh Kaufman discovered it only takes roughly 20 hours. TED TALK ‘The first 20 hours - how to learn everything’ . Currently want get better at understanding finance.
Get into a practise of ‘deep work’ for 2 hrs after breakfast. 0-2hrs
Once everything is done then it’s about diving into this. If Im not working somewhere else. Morning time is when I feel freshest, theres no distractions and its quiet as I get always a few hours before everyone else. I’m currently on about 15 minutes of block concentration at the moment, working towards the 2 hrs.
This little morning list is a start for me. Most of these points are largely attainable and a good beginning. Reflecting on what is effective and works is the step. This next phase, involves working the ideas, making adjustments, automating then expanding them, and then repeating the cycle daily.
Well thats the plan.
And before I sign off for this week, here’s a insta post I stumbled upon that I saved- alittle bit of thought reflecting gold below to remind me what the big picture is.
Ha, yes the old “nothing works till you do the work” couldn’t be truer:) nice to be reminded though, ta x
That all makes plenty of sense Jo! And I do love the Insta 5 lines of wisdom, how very true:)