3 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Morning Routine
“Morning rituals” is the new buzzword in the self-help industry, where everyone from gurus to grandmothers talks about how important it is to get up early.
People are now led to believe that if they want to be successful, they need to wake up at ungodly hours like 4:30 a.m.
The opposite couldn’t be more true.
In the end, it doesn’t matter what time you wake up.
What matters most is what you do with your time.
Let’s look at some of the most common mistakes in the morning routine.
Getting up early when you like to stay up late
We’re all different from one another.
Some people are like larks and wake up easily in the morning, but these larks have trouble staying up late.
Their internal body clock and genes make them more likely to wake up early.
People who wake up around 10 a.m. or later are on the other end of the spectrum.
They have trouble getting up early, but they can stay up all night without any trouble.
Even though it’s 3 a.m., they’re wide awake.
The biggest mistake someone can make is trying to force themselves to wake up early when that’s not what their circadian rhythm tells them to do.
If you find that you work best late at night, just change your schedule so you can do your best work while everyone else is sleeping.
When this happens, your “morning” routine will happen later in the day or even in the afternoon because you wake up at different times.
Still, the idea of a routine is the same.
If you don’t have trouble getting up early, it won’t be hard to train yourself to get up earlier than usual.
But you can forget about working all night like Hunter S. Thompson.
Work in the best way for you.
You don’t have to wake up at the same time as a CEO just because someone on social media told you to.
Putting unimportant things first
Another mistake that people often make with their morning routines is that they do other things before they do the most important things.
Some people get up at 5 a.m. and start meditating, writing in a journal, doing yoga, going for a long walk, and eating a healthy breakfast.
Everything looks good, but by the time they’re ready to start working, it’s already 9.30 a.m., and four and a half hours have passed without any real work being done.
Even though the other things can be good, they can all wait until later in the day.
After you wake up and get ready for the day, the best time to start on your most important tasks is right away.
Always keep the most important thing the most important thing, and work on things that make a difference while you’re still fresh.
You’ll need a break after 4 to 5 hours of hard work.
You can now keep a gratitude journal, meditate, and do other things that keep you sane.
Trying too hard at the gym
Exercise is great, but how hard you work out will affect your day at work.
If you’re the kind of person who does supersets and a lot of reps until you can’t do any more, you’ll be tired after your workout.
People who do high-intensity interval training are in the same boat.
Walking, swimming, or cycling first thing in the morning can make you feel energized, but CrossFit, heavy resistance training, and other workouts can make you feel like you have no energy left.
So, depending on what kind of workout you want to do, you might want to do it in the afternoon after you’ve finished your important work.
If you worked out hard in the morning, you might not have the mental energy to focus on more difficult tasks later in the day.
In the end, you’ll have to try different things for a few weeks before you find the best way to start your day.
Always think about how the routine makes you feel and if it’s good for you and helps you get things done.
Once you have your routine set, all you have to do is stick to it every day.
No matter what you do, whether it’s a weekday or a weekend, you should always wake up at the same time every day so that you don’t mess up your circadian clock.
Start your routine first thing in the morning.
“The morning is the most important part of the day.” – Tim Ferris
