Beauty and Bentley

I've always wanted to be one of those people who wake up super early and get loads done in the morning but unfortunately, my love for my bed and sleep usually takes over and I end up hitting snooze way too many times before eventually dragging myself out of bed. At least that's how I had been living for many years until 2020 hit and the Covid-19 virus forced the world into lockdown and I decided this was as good a time as any to finally make some changes in my life, I read The Morning Miracle by Hal Elrod and it really helped motivate me and change my mindset and for the last 18 days I've woken up without issue at 6:30am! I'm still surprised that this is something I've actually been able to do and stick to, so I thought I would share some habits that I highly recommend implementing in the mornings to start your day off right.

Most of us have something (or a list of things) that we wish we could do if we just had more time in the day, well there's a simple solution, wake up earlier and you will have more time in the day. How much earlier you wake up is totally up to yourself, maybe you just want an extra ten minutes to enjoy a cup of tea in peace before the rest of your household wakes up or maybe you want to start creating your own business and need at least an hour. Just remember that waking up in the morning shouldn't be a chore when you're telling yourself every morning that you're tired or you don't want to get up yet or you just need another five minutes in bed you're telling your subconscious that you aren't excited about living your life, it's all about mindset.

It can be difficult but try to stop hitting snooze every morning you just make things more difficult on yourself and will feel sluggish when you finally do get up. When your alarm goes off, get up, you can make this easier by placing your phone/alarm away from your bed so you physically need to get out of bed to switch it off. Another good idea is to try and wake naturally with the sun by leaving your curtains or blinds slightly open or buy an alarm clock with a wake-up light (I'm definitely going to invest in one of these for the winter).

This one may seem silly but if you make your bed straight away when you wake up in the morning it makes you instantly feel like you've achieved something, it's that first tick on your daily to-do list and as a bonus, it makes it less tempting to crawl back into bed.

During the night as we're sleeping, we become slightly dehydrated so it's recommended you drink a big glass of water first thing in the morning before you reach for your usual tea or coffee. It's also great if, like myself, you struggle to drink enough water in general, this way you've got that first glass out of the way before you've even started your day.

Do something every morning that lets you work on self-development or better yet do all of the above. This is going to be personal to yourself and your lifestyle but I highly recommend picking at least one thing that you really want to start doing and set aside 5-10 mins each morning for it. This is when you can really start to see some changes not only to your morning but your life in general, I've finally started working out every morning and I'm feeling so much better about myself and it leaves me feeling much more motivated for the rest of the day.

6. Avoid your phone/social media 

I think we're all aware that we spend too much time on our phones/social media and it can feel like an almost impossible habit to give up but I find it's easiest to do so in the morning when you're focusing on other tasks. Try even if just for 20-30 mins in the morning to set your phone aside and have that break, I also recommend that you avoid going straight on to social media as soon as you wake up, it's just not good for your mental health to instantly be scrolling through Instagram pictures the second you open your eyes.

This is one that I always struggled with, I don't like to eat first thing in the morning but of course, it's so important if you want to start your day off right. Ideally, you want to have something healthy but making sure you at least eat something will stop you having an energy crash and loss of motivation before you hit lunchtime.

So there you have it seven simple habits to implement now to start your day off right, I hope that you enjoyed this post and consider trying out a few of these tips tomorrow to have a more enjoyable and productive morning.