When you head to Google for tips on how to orchestrate the perfect productive morning, you become swamped with so many, sometimes contradictory recommendations. Unfortunately, developing a morning routine is all about trial and error.
What works for you may not work for others for many reasons, one of them being that you may be a Bear chronotype and the next person may be a Dolphin. If you're thinking "WTF does that mean?" – you should check out our blog all about sleep types and productivity to find out.
The Lexicon team consists of a Bear and Wolf chronotypes [long story short, we don't wake up super duper early with energy], so we’ve put together a list of our go-to’s to create the best morning routine for us!
Create a kick-ass morning routine
1. Make tomorrow morning you, thank last night you
The key to success is preparation.
Now preparation doesn’t need to be a two-hour fiasco, it can be the small activities (or what we call 'small wins') that make a world of difference. Here are some small, easy to achieve tasks that make us thank ourselves in the morning:
- Give your space a spot clean, emphasise on the ‘spot’, not a deep clean. Get rid of your clutter, wipe down your surfaces, close those tabs and give that sad looking plant some water; tomorrow is a clean and fresh slate.
- Get the spread ready! Organise your outfit for the next day, everything you need for that first coffee in the morning or all the items in your morning skincare regime. That way you can coast on autopilot once that alarm goes off, making your morning that little bit easier.
- Make a list. Preparing a list of the go to things that you need to get done in the morning can help you in things into action for the day! Especially by sharing your list on your IG story for example, it helps to keep you accountable! This is one of our tricks at Lexicon, find us at @thelexicon on Instagram to see what’s on our to do list.
However…
2. Keep the screen off!
It’s hard not to be sucked into the endless thumb scroll; you end up turning your alarm off, seeing the notifications and off you go down the rabbit hole. Being plugged into socials from the moment we wake up can actually make us feel stressed and overwhelmed.
Rather than waking up with a sense of opportunity and enthusiasm to seize the day, we wake up and are met with all the things we’ve missed while we slept (feeling this inevitable guilt that we need to catch up with others). Leave those notifications for another hour until you’re ready or even better yet, turn the notifications off (personally I only have my text message/call notifications on). Which leads us to our next tip...
3. Make time for you
Prioritise yourself in the AM – I know, you might not feel like you have ANY time for some solace but we know it's the little things that make up our day.
Making time for yourself in the morning, even just 5 minutes, can set you up for a positive and productive day.
You can’t pour from an empty glass, right?
Filling your morning with small wins, like making time for yourself, not only motivates you, but can help to put yourself in an uplifting mood and help prevent burnout (which we dive into in our latest podcast episode).
Here are some of our favourite things we do for ourselves:
- Find a skin care routine (and stick to it) throwing a sheet mask into the mix is great pick-me-up that's quick and easy! One of our faves in the Hydroboost by Neutrogena. We also love a little Gua Sha action during the week, which is a calming stone that helps you massage the face and stimulate blood flow.
- Get a stretch in – whether it's a little bit of Yoga flow in the AM, hopping on the foam roller [we hate it too but it's worth it], or just trying to touch your toes.
- It's all about the Vitamin D! Go for a walk, put on the tunes, pick up your morning coffee. This is the biggest thing that helps me liven up and focus for the day ahead.
- If we're strapped for time, the one thing that settles us into the day is really savouring that morning coffee moment – don't gulp down that bean juice in a hurry, take every sip with purpose to help ground down for the rushed day ahead!
4. Be your biggest hype up
You're the hype WOman here – get that spring in your step in the morning by finding something for you to look forward to in your morning routine!
One of our favourite things in the morning is coming into the kitchen post-skincare routine; it's a fresh AF feeling when you've got hydrated skin and open up the blinds to welcome in the morning sun.
You can be your biggest hype gal by
- Putting on your favourite playlist that feels like it's RnB Fridays every day [or whatever floats your boat]
- Read affirmations that make you feel like you can take on the world – because you WILL!
- Avoid saying something negative about yourself, whether it's about appearance, clothes or worth
- Look in the mirror and think about 1 thing you love about yourself [it's hard, but it works a treat for your brain when done regularly]
- Pretend like you're in a Nora Ephron movie; make each detail purposeful whether it's pouring your coffee into your favourite mug, checking your indoor plants, packing your bag for the day – you're the main character in your life!
5. Prioritise your sleep schedule
I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but you’re going to hear it again:
Sleep. Is. Important!
We’re not talking about the importance of beauty sleep, or how a bad night’s sleep can put you in a bad mood – having a shit sleep will impact your decision-making skills, alertness, memory, all which affects productivity.
Now, perfecting a sleep routine isn't easy to master – yeah we know the struggle is REAL girl.
You know you *need* to sleep by 10pm in order to wake up fresh AF at 6, but your mind keeps ticking and you keep checking your phone to see all the minutes passing you by. Thinking about sleep is actually preventing you from falling asleep.
If you have a love-hate relationship with your snooze button, we recommend you having a read of our previous article about your sleep chronotype and productivity! You may be a wolf, and we dive into how you can really seize the day- and night.
There's no copy-and-paste fool proof morning routine to help you master the morning and get shit done every single day – it’s about trial and error and what works best for you! Do what makes you feel good and avoid what drains your energy. You got this!
