7 Steps to Help You With a Stress Free Morning Routine!

A critical step towards enabling a stress-free morning routine is preparation and planning ahead. This may be basic but is often overlooked resulting in a never-ending cycle of crammed routines that induce stress. The solution lies in simple steps that make a significant difference to how your morning pans out paving the way for a highly productive day. The key lies in mundane details!

Picture this- You toss and turn at night and have a very restless sleep!

You decide to wake up for a midnight snack and end up browsing your phone or switching on the TV. It takes away from precious hours of sleep your body needs.

When morning comes, you hit the snooze button too often and eventually force yourself to wake up to yet another harrowing day. You perhaps walk into a messy kitchen and open the fridge and stare at it for hours undecided on what to cook for the day.

Halfway through, you realize it is getting late for the kids, spend time waking them up and shouting reminders to them every 5 mins on getting ready.

You know you haven’t ironed out their uniforms and rush to it while the breakfast starts to burn in the kitchen. The morning gets delayed by another ten minutes.

Finally, after some chaotic madness, you and the kids rush out the door, only for you to rush back as you forgot where you kept your keys and another five precious minutes are lost. Your kids are late for school, and you are late for work.

It is just another usual morning for you. When you sit back and wonder why this is - one crucial factor glares right back at you.

The fact that there is no preparation for the day. No plan in place in a chaotic, disorganized space. So how do we tackle this? One aspect at a time, of course!

Before embarking on a new goal, prepare! In this article’s context, waking up to a productive morning routine is a goal. So what are the obstacles to making this goal a habit?

1. Inconsistent Sleep-wake patterns
2. Stifling sense of lethargy
3. A cluttered and disorganized environment
4. Absence of a weekly food and nutrition plan
5. No activity list or plan for the day

Imbalance in sleeping and waking hours

If you need to wake early, it is obvious you need to hit the bed early first and, of course, fall right to sleep. What prevents this? You might keep remembering to get a dozen things done as soon as your head rests on the pillow. Control the impulse.

You might want to listen to some soothing music or an audio recording or a podcast or read a history book that might lull you to sleep as your mind calms down, and sleep function starts to kick in at the end of a tiring day.

Tasks completed early in the morning benefit from a fresh and alert mind. Also, you will find your body clock working to its circadian rhythm soon, and an alarm clock becomes unnecessary.

Just tell yourself that you need to wake up at a specific time, giving your body around 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Your subconscious mind will be your alarm clock!

Sense of lethargy

Do take a few minutes to wake up from your sleep mode. You might want a cuppa and may feel the need to sip it slowly. Use that time to enjoy the quiet.

However, a quick tip to start your day on a high productive note is to include a 20 - 30 min fitness routine, which could range from a quick run in the neighborhood or a fast walk at home to pushups or yoga.

Whatever suits your style, jot it down as part of your morning routine. You will find that sense of lethargy being replaced by a burst of enthusiasm, which will keep you going well into the afternoon.

A disorganized closet

If you or the kids need specific clothes, have them ironed and ready for the coming week. Choose the required attire and have it ready to wear the day before. An organized, clean closet is super essential for this.

The only way to achieve this is to throw away clothes you don’t use and store the clothes you may need seasonally or for special occasions in a separate cupboard or shelf.

Keep things you need weekly handy and well organized with nothing else in that space. It will certainly help ease any sense of tension in the early morning buzz.

No fresh stocks in the fridge and no meal plan prep

Getting groceries for the week or up to 3 days in advance is crucial to ensure a healthy meal plan.

Prepping your ingredients will ensure that you are quick to finish your cooking in a calm state of mind instead of it becoming a frenzied, frustrating activity.

Plan your weekly menu card or at least a menu for three days ahead. Prep the vegetables for a week, and freeze them or you can prep them the day before. Make the sauces or cooking pastes needed as well.

Keeping your pots, pans, and cutlery in their designated spaces will help in a peaceful cooking environment.

With all prep work done, all you have to do on a busy weekday morning is to chuck it all in and cook up simple nutrient-dense meals that have the right balance of protein, complex carbs, and vegetables.

No activity list

It is essential to plan a routine for your weekdays and weekends and stick to it religiously as all the tasks tend to be generally interconnected to ensure a smooth flow of productivity.

Keep tabs on essential appointments and set reminders well in advance to ensure you are on time and do not miss them.

Choose an accessible spot for last-minute necessities

Find a place near the door for all the things you need before you leave the house like keys, umbrella, raincoats, bags, etc.

Arrange these essentials in specific spaces. Then it becomes routine for you to grab them before you walk out of the door.

It will ensure that you remember your car keys on most occasions, if not every time!

If you find incorporating all these seven steps immediately, start with baby steps like getting up 15 minutes earlier than usual and going earlier to bed by half an hour. Add on to this the next week until you are happy with the schedule.

Once you establish a specific bedtime schedule, your body takes over and naturally wakes up. You will be amazed to notice how fresh and energetic you feel, with this small change.

Do the same with every step - start with a few pushups or a 10 minute run, for example, or organize one shelf per day till you complete all of them.

It will help you get started and not get overwhelmed by the enormity of the changes needed! Have a fabulous 2020.