The Power of a Morning Routine

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” Buddha

We have all heard a person on the internet explain their morning routine. Usually, it is something along the lines of – I wake up at 5 A.M, go to the gym, meditate, write a book, read a book and then make a 5-course breakfast. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit. Nevertheless, I have to say that most of that type of content usually sets absurdly high standards for a morning. The reason I bring up this topic is that I have taken the idea of a productive morning routine too seriously in the past.

This was especially the case last year when I had just started living alone. I wanted to do everything simultaneously, go for a run, do some writing or brainstorming and also eat something. This made my mornings stressful and messy. I usually ended up trying to inhale food in the span of 5 minutes after my run. In a way going for that morning run gave me an energy boost so when going to school I did feel good. It is only looking back that I can criticise the structure of that routine.

This year I have started my school days with the Five Tibetans Rites. These rites consist of five stretching/muscle activation exercises. To put it simply it is yoga. The thing I enjoy personally about this is how little time it takes. I do every exercise ten times and the whole process takes about five minutes. This means that within 15 minutes of waking up (considering that hygiene takes up to 10 minutes) I am ready to start my day and already have that energy boost from morning exercise.

It is also this school year that I realised that the early morning is not my most productive nor my most creative time of the day. Through that, I came to the conclusion that my morning routine is essential not because of what I can get done, but because it is a way for me to set up the rest of the day. I believe that this is even more important than actually getting drowsy work in at ungodly hours. Ironically enough on the day of writing this, I woke up at 5 A.M and studied from 6 to 8, but this is an exception to the norm.

Let's talk about you now. Maybe you have tried different morning routines or maybe the idea of a morning routine is completely new to you. Either way, I have one leading thought on how to create your own personal morning routine– start simple and build up. The worst you can do is overcrowd your morning and start dreading the alarm clock even more. The best way to go about it is to start with one activity to do every morning. After a week or two, you can add another and see where it takes you. Play around with it! The best way to get to know ourselves is through trial and error.

This Week's Suggestions:

🎶 Roger Bong with Jinmoo [VINYL SESSIONS]:

Let me set the scene – you get home after a long Monday in autumn. It was a good day at work but now it is time to get home and wind down. It is already dark outside. You light a candle or two and proceed to set up a chill vibe. For that moody music is needed. This mix is THE mix to snug up to during an autumn evening. It is two dudes just jamming in the form of a mellow vinyl session.

🎥 AMELIA DIMOLDENBERG: Sundae Conversation with Caleb Pressley:

Have you ever seen a situation so uncomfortable it is hilarious? Well, both Amelia Dimoldenberg and Caleb Pressley are the epitome of creating such situations. In this video, they are together which means the trouble is indeed double. It is a hilarious 5 minutes which I think is very much worth a watch.

Any thoughts and feedback are welcome in the comment section below!

Thanks for being here today!