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In this lesson, we will talk about what not to do in the mornings. There is a caveat, that what not to do is not going to be a universal thing. These come from my own experience throughout the years and are my personal recommendations. What works for me will be different than what works for you.
What Not to Do
- Going to sleep too late the night before. Have a good bedtime and a bedtime reminder.
- No phone or laptop in bed. That is about blue light signaling to your brain that you should be awake. Even if you have night shift for your phone, it is better to just leave the phone alone. Putting the phone across the room made a huge difference for me.
- When the alarm goes off, do not hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. Move your alarm farther away from the bed so you have to physically get up to turn it off.
- Have a next step. What is your next step? Use the bathroom, drink some water, go into meditation or yoga? Have a plan to what you will do right after you turn off the alarm. Make a default action.
- Don’t start checking your phone, emails, and social media. Most people I know, get in that habit. It is easy to get pulled into and is a common habit to form. Getting on your laptop early is a no-no unless you are doing work or are planning on writing in the morning. If so, close all other browsers the night before except for your writing. Be conscious and deliberate about your laptop.
- Plan out your next day the night before. Figure out your to-do’s the night before. If you wait until the morning, it distracts you from getting started and your mind goes all over trying to plan. If your work requires you to check email because you are putting out fires or waiting on a big client, only allow yourself about 5 minutes to dip in to check and then get out. Don’t allow yourself to get caught up processing all the emails first thing in the morning. Give it just a quick check and go back to your most important task and morning routine.
- Don’t eat a big, hearty, greasy, sweet breakfast first thing in the morning. That’s just me, but I find it weighs you down and makes you feel lethargic. I prefer to eat later in the morning. Some people do well with a smoothie or orange juice that is light and gets the energy going. But I don’t recommend a big breakfast with sausage, bacon, potatoes, and eggs, which is all pretty heavy.
- Light exercise in the morning. If you are not used to exercising in the morning, I recommend a light, gentle exercise. I do not recommend a long, exhausting workout before you have gotten to your most important task, if the most important task is not exercise. Depleting all of your energy is a no-no for those who have not been in the habit of doing this for months or years already.
- Do not be rushed. It is easy to say you need to knock things off the list and go to the next task. Rushing through your mornings is not a way to create powerful mornings. A little bit of stillness, a little bit of quietness and slowness is a good way to go through your morning. Take your time. Fully be there. Try to enjoy yourself in the middle of your activity.
Give all of these activities some thought and try them out. This is always about experimenting and about experimenting the one which is you. I am giving you my experiments but they don’t necessarily hold true for everyone who is taking this course. See the results.
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