Morning routines can be hard to start, but they can be a game-changer in your life. With a great morning routine, you will find yourself being significantly more productive than you were before. Although they can be powerful, morning routines also come with pitfalls. These common morning routine mistakes, and how to fix them, will be explored further in this post.
Having an established and effective morning routine is a great way to increase your productivity significantly. Unfortunately, developing that great morning routine can be challenging.
Some common mistakes include things like skipping breakfast, snoozing your alarm too much, and not having a solid morning plan. These mistakes and how to solve them will be covered a little later on.
This post is all about morning routine mistakes and why you need to fix them today!
Common Morning Routine Mistakes and How to Fix Them
The Importance of a Morning Routine
You might ask yourself, “Why do I need a morning routine? What’s the point?” Those questions are completely fair when you are just getting started. It is tough to make the choice to get up a little earlier and get stuff done instead of sleeping in. I am here to tell you that it is absolutely worth it. For example, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of two people trying to get a workout in tomorrow – one with a morning routine and one without.
- Person #1: This person has a solid morning routine. When Person #1 wakes up at 5 AM, they let their bodies wake up for a few minutes and then launch into the day ahead. Last night Person #1 laid out their gym clothes, so they quickly change and head out for a workout. By 6:30 AM they are home and fire up breakfast before leaving for work by 7:30 AM.
- Person #2: This person does not have a morning routine and figures each day as it comes. Person #2 sets an alarm for 6 AM in hopes of getting a quick workout in but snoozes the alarm until 7 AM. They wake up in a panic and realize they are going to be late. As a result, Person #2 skips breakfast and heads to the office at 7:30. The lack of breakfast leads to a slow, groggy day for Person #2. Upon finishing the day and heading home, they feel too tired to go to the gym and stay home instead.
Having a morning routine guarantees that you will end up like Person #1 instead of #2. Person #2 struggles through the day without an effective morning routine and commits many of the most common morning routine mistakes.
The importance of a morning routine is that you end up as a productive Person #1 instead of a flailing Person #2. Continue reading to learn more!
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Why Morning Routines Can Be Tough
There are a few reasons why morning routines can be a challenge:
- First of all, morning routines are not really the easiest thing to start. For most of us, waking up is tough. It is way too easy to snooze that alarm, roll over, and sleep another 30-60 minutes. Getting over that first hurdle is tough, but the good news is that it is the hardest step you have to make! Once you do get into the habit of getting up earlier, starting your morning routine gets much easier.
- Next, starting a morning routine can be a big life shift for many people. Many of us, including my past self, are much more interested in sleeping in later and doing our activities in the evening after work. This sounds good in principle, but can very easily go wrong. All it takes is a longer day at the office or a need to go grocery shopping to derail your entire plan. Making a life shift to start doing things in the morning can be tough, but it is worth it!
As you work to get through these challenges, you will learn more and more about what it takes to develop a great morning routine. One of the things you will learn is that there are many easy morning routine mistakes that you can make! These mistakes are very normal and are part of the journey. In the next section, we will look into some of these and will talk about how to solve them.
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6 Morning Routine Mistakes
Many of these morning routine mistakes are incredibly easy to make. You will find that they are common missteps that you might make every day. I know I did when I started my morning routine, and I am still trying to fix them all! Knowing what mistakes to look out for and how to fix them is a huge step as you develop your morning routine.
1. Snoozing your alarm too many times
When your alarm goes off first thing in the morning, it is way too easy to hit the snooze button and roll over. 7 minutes later, you may do the same thing. Another 7 minutes and it happens again. We have all been there, and you are lying if you say you haven’t! The main issue is that by snoozing your alarm, your body tries to start another sleep cycle. Obviously, you cannot finish that cycle by the time your alarm goes off again (and if you do you are going to be incredibly late!).
Starting but not finishing your cycle is not great for your body since it is just getting confused by the constant starting and stopping. This will lead to you feeling groggy during the day.
There are a couple of tips for how to stop snoozing. First, you can try to put your alarm on the other side of the room. This will lead to you having to physically get up and track it down, which will make sure you are awake! Next, you can try to give yourself something to do right when you wake up. For example, set out a book turned to a page that you want to read first thing in the morning. This will give you a task to complete instead of sleeping and could be the difference maker!
2. Staying up too late
Staying up too late is never a good thing. First of all, it will lead to you being sleepy and unproductive all day long. Obviously, you won’t get much done in a state like that!
This is a morning routine mistake because oftentimes we are trying to stay up in order to make our mornings easier. You might be trying to finish up some work stuff or cleaning your house so that it is clean for the next day. While these are not bad ideas, the timing is off. It is rarely worth it to stay up extra late to get extra tasks done.
In the evenings, you will often feel tired from the day and like you need to head to sleep early. This makes it hard to get motivated to get your work done and thereby much less efficient. If you shift that work to the morning, your morning routine may get more filled up, but your work will get done in a more efficient manner!
3. Not making your bed
This is one of the simplest things you should do every morning, but it is also a major morning routine mistake. Making your bed is quick and easy and will give you your first “win” of the day! And it only takes a few minutes! This will set you up feeling more accomplished, organized, and in control.
By skipping this easy task, you are depriving yourself of those things. Yes, you may still feel those same emotions without making your bed, but why skip such an easy thing to do? Believe me, it is very worth it to spend those extra few minutes. You’ll thank me later!
4. Sleeping in too late
At the other end of the “staying up too late” battle is sleeping in too late. Our bodies love consistency, and by sleeping in you are killing that consistency. Every day, including weekends, you should be striving to wake up at a generally consistent time (within an hour or so. Without that consistency, your body will not be able to develop a routine, and you will be left with inconsistent energy.
You may think that every once in a while it is good to sleep in to catch up on sleep, thereby improving your morning routine since you will be more well-rested and energized. In reality, the opposite is true. Our bodies cannot really catch up on sleep, at least not in one weekend, so all that happens by sleeping in extra is that you ruin your body’s routine.
5. Not having a morning plan
This is one of the biggest morning routine mistakes you can make. Imagine you wake up in the morning at 5 AM and think about what needs to get done. You did not plan out your morning, so in your half-asleep state, you are somehow expected to make decisions about your day. It is far too easy to say, “screw it,” and just go back to sleep instead.
Without a plan for your morning, you will have a hard time getting your morning routine started off in the right way. At the bare minimum, you should decide what you want to do, and make a plan to do it. This might be planning out your hiking route for the next morning, or setting out your gym clothes. Whatever it is, let the more awake you make decisions before the sleepy you make a less productive decision!
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6. Skipping breakfast
This is probably the most common morning routine mistake I have seen and experienced. When you are late to a morning obligation, the easiest thing to cut out is breakfast. It takes time to cook, eat, and clean your dishes. While it is also not cool to be late, you should always try to eat breakfast. Without that first meal of the day, you will find yourself lacking energy, motivation, and brainpower.
I understand wanting to skip it if you are going to be incredibly late, but you should try to avoid putting yourself in that position! Skipping breakfast will only lead to negative outcomes, so make sure that you always enjoy your first meal of the day.
Developing a morning routine can be tough, and full of mistakes, but it is worth it! If you find yourself making any of these mistakes, hopefully, this post will help you find solutions and make your mornings more successful and efficient. Leave a comment below or send an email to us at ourteam@wellroundedyou.com if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks for reading!
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