Master The Morning

Whether you’re a morning person or not, the fact is, mornings are inevitable.

The sun will rise, the alarm will go off, the day will begin again. Day, after day, till the end of time. 

So if mornings are inevitable, then why not just accept that fact and make up your mind to take them on. 

Now, before you hit the snooze button and roll back over, hear us out. If you learn how to be the master of your morning, then you’ll also become the master of your day. And who wouldn’t want to have a better, more productive day? 

To get you started, we’ve compiled four tips that will help you wake up, get going, and master the morning so that you can conquer your day, every day. 

To master the morning, you first need to become a master of sleep. 

Sorry, it doesn’t matter how good that show on Netflix is, you’re going to have to start displaying some self-imposed discipline. Put down the remote, you’re not going to be watching the next episode. Because one episode leads to another and before you know it, it's 1 AM and you have to be up by 6 AM for work. 

You’ve heard it before, you’ll hear it again: you need at least seven to eight hours of sleep. Especially if you’re working out regularly. 

So if you’re not getting enough sleep currently, it’s time to disrupt your routine. Create a new ritual that actually allows your body to physically wind down and your brain to stop racing. 

When you establish a wind-down ritual, you get better quality sleep, which as a result improves your energy the next day.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that when push comes to shove in our day to day, the first thing that gets pushed down and eventually off the list is exercise. 

So, how do we make sure that doesn’t happen. Easy, move it to first on your list. 

Getting your workout in first thing in the morning not only ensures you’re getting your fitness in, but it also has some great benefits when it comes to mastering your morning. 

For one thing, morning exercise gets the blood pumping which gets the brain primed and your energy levels up, so you’re able to conquer the day with sharper focus. Also, morning exercise has been shown to give a better boost to your metabolism than exercise does any other time of day. 

The good news is, it doesn’t even have to be a full-fledged workout either. Take a walk around the block. Take a morning yoga class. Just do something to get up and get moving.

Yes, you should eat breakfast. 

How getting a good night’s sleep is vital, so is starting your day off with a healthy, balanced breakfast. Doing so helps kickstart your body, including your metabolism, for the day. Whereas not eating in the morning often leads to a sluggish metabolism throughout the day. That’s something we all want to avoid. 

If you’re one of those people who the thought of eating anything in the morning makes you nauseous, then stick to something light and easy, like a meal replacement shake or fresh fruit. That way you’re not eating anything that’s hard on the stomach and you’re giving your body what it needs.

If you wake up and immediately begin listing off all the things you have to get done that day, then the idea of trying to sit quietly for even a minute, let alone five or ten, probably doesn’t sound appealing. 

When in reality, because you wake up that way is exactly why you should be meditating in the morning. 

Most people get the idea of mediation wrong. You aren’t expected to just sit down and find that suddenly your brain is silent, all thoughts cease, and you’re in a state of calm. That’s not how it works. Far from it actually.

The idea behind mediation is to learn to just focus, say on your breath, and learn how to just be there, in that moment, and observe your thoughts for what they are without going into fight-or-flight mode or judging them.

When it comes to meditation, it’s important to remember that practice does not make perfect. There’s no such thing as the perfect meditation. It’s something you simply do. 

If you have no clue how to even start meditating, don’t worry; there are plenty of free apps out there with guided meditations beginners.

Before you know it, you’ll become a true master of the morning.