Morning Routine for Busy People
Nowadays, everybody knows the impact a good morning routine can have on our lives. However, most people will be confused about what activities to include in their morning routines. “All activities are equal, but some are more equal than others”, as they say in politics. Often, our commitments prevent us from establishing new habits that end up being forgotten, thrown into the "I don't have time" bin. In this article, I want to elaborate on Hal Elrod's suggestions in his book "The Miracle Morning" (which I highly recommend) to outline some useful activities to complete in the morning, whose positive effect on your well-being could provide you with the necessary motivation to embed them into your habits. I will also include some advices on how to incorporate these components to your morning routine if you have very little time in the morning.
Hal Elrod mentions that there are six components to a perfect morning routine, from which the acronym "SAVERS" derives: silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing. A note regarding the terminology: as the name suggests, a morning routine is supposed to be followed in the morning, however, work life varies for everyone. If someone works nights, it won’t be technically possible for them to establish a morning routine. This is why the morning routine should be renamed the "wake-up routine". In other words, it doesn't matter if we wake up at 6 am or 5 pm, we can still establish a routine for immediately upon waking. But let’s analyse each of the SAVERS in more detail.
silence
The first component is silence. Hal Elrod suggests that in the morning we should practice silence in the form of meditation, whose benefits for several aspects of psychological well-being are scientifically unanimous. For some people, it is easy to meditate for 10, 20 or 30 minutes. However, not everyone has the time to do that in the morning. If you’re one of these people, then even a 1 to 3 minutes meditation, which you can easily find on YouTube could be helpful. You could also just focus on your breath for a few seconds just before getting out of bed. The time to dedicate to meditation varies based on individual sensitivities. But pure meditation is not the only way to implement the silence component of a morning routine. We can practice silence by mindfully taking a shower, or drinking our morning coffee, paying the utmost attention to the present experience by focusing on our physical sensations during these activities.
Affirmations
Positive affirmations are short statements that can help brighten your outlook on the world when you say them to yourself regularly. Studies have shown that positive affirmations can lead to increased self-esteem and life satisfaction. Some people may find it embarrassing or strange to repeat things to themselves in the mirror. Besides, for some people it may be difficult to incorporate this activity in the morning. However, some studies found that the effects of positive affirmations remain the same even when the task is done digitally. Therefore, you could download apps such as “motivation”: that allows you to put a widget or receive a notification on your phone with a new positive affirmation everyday. Music with positive and motivating lyrics could also be a powerful way to incorporate affirmations to your morning routine. For example, the YouTuber Tam Kaur created a playlist called “affirmations” full of motivational songs that could well act as positive affirmations.
Visualisation
The third component boils down to one of the greatest characteristics that distinguish humans from other living beings, abstract-mediated planning, or, in other words: visualisation. Through visualization, it's possible to create very strong mental images of the future. It is important to focus on something specific, such as an event, person, or goal that you want to achieve, and imagine it becoming reality. In this way, it's possible to project ourselves into multiple possible futures, calculate the necessary moves to reach that desired position, and finally act upon them.
Visualisation pairs very well with meditation, so you can complete this activity whilst meditating, if that is something you do in the morning. Otherwise, another useful technique that I recommend is creating a vision board, which create visual stimuli embodying your goals. You can then look at your vision board in the morning upon waking (instead of scrolling), or whilst getting ready for your other commitments.
Exercise
Yep. You knew this was coming. Unfortunately for us, there is no escape from this one. Physical exercise is crucial not only for physical well-being but also for mental well-being, helping with sleep, energy levels, productivity, and so on. The good news is that physical exercise is available in an almost infinite variety. Each of us can engage in physical activity that we are most suited for or that we enjoy the most. Furthermore, it doesn't necessarily require hours of training every day. Simply walking is exercise in itself. A short 5-minute stretching session or a quick 15 minutes no-equipment workout in the morning can change the course of our day.
Reading
Filling our minds with inspiring ideas first thing in the morning could help us start the day with the right foot. I do appreciate that not everyone has the time to read in the morning. But, even flip though a couple of pages of a motivational reading such as a personal development book or a religious textbook could help us set a positive tone for the day. You could also bring a book on public transports whilst commuting to work or school. If you don’t have the opportunity to do that, you could also listen to audiobooks instead.
Scribing
The sixth and final component is “scribing”, or “writing” if we would. This process encourages us to get to know ourselves, release emotions, make sense of important present and past situations, organize our thoughts, articulate insights, and regulates emotions. The question arises spontaneously: what should I write about? The right answer is that you should choose what to write about. Just keep one thing in mind: this activity is for you and no one else. However, it's quite normal to struggle at the beginning with the choice of prompts. Personally, I use a journal that presents me with a different question every morning, which has helped me a lot in training this curiosity about myself. The important thing is to start. Open the notes app on your computer, record from your phone, or write on paper. The how doesn't matter much.
This is the journal I use https://theinspiredstories.com/collections/journals/products/today-3-year-reflection-journal-1
In conclusion, having a mornig routine is extremely helpful to set us in the right direction toward achieving our goals and improve our overall well-being. As I have shown, there are some activities which, if incorporaed first thing in the morning, can be particulalry effective. If you don’t have time for them in the morning, that’s fine; just make sure to be creative and find a way to incorporate them that woks for you.
References:
the importance of a morning routine https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/e...
benefits of a morning routine in intensive care units https://www.researchgate.net/profile/...
effects of meditations in the morning vs evenings https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com...
impact of digital positive affirmations on self-esteem and life satisfaction positive affirmaitons on self-esteem and life satisfaction digital https://scholar.dominican.edu/psychol...
impact of visualisation on depression and anxiety https://link.springer.com/article/10....
benefits of exercising in the morning https://www.healthline.com/health/exe...
benefits of journaling https://www.researchgate.net/profile/...