My Productive Morning Routine
Are you feeling productive today? I find that mornings are essential when it comes to setting the tone to your day, so I’ve decided to share my morning productivity routine with you!
1. Coffee
Because it’s the liquid of Gods! Yes, I might be addicted and I’m proudly embracing that fact. Everything about coffee is just so delicious and cozy, and I have to have it in my morning routine. That smell alone puts me in a good mood and makes me want to conquer the day 🙂
I’m also a bit of a coffee snob: I need to make sure that I grind my beans fresh and I’m picky about the brewing method. I’ve had a stovetop espresso maker for a while and now am discovering a whole new world of pour over coffee with the OXO Pour-Over Coffee Maker, which is awesome. I’ll tell you more about my snobby coffee making process below!
2. Meditation
I find that meditation helps to put things into perspective and therefore prioritize. As an entrepreneur with new ideas constantly floating into my head I find that this grounding exercise helps me see through the clutter, come back to reality and ultimately makes me more productive. Try this 5 minutes mindfulness meditation exercise!
It’s sometimes difficult to get back into it, but I try to stay consistent and I use an app to both: meditate and track my progress. I normally do a 5-10 minute meditation, which involves a body scan and a potential visualisation (these days I’m visualising liquid sunlight relieving me of stress as part of the in-app 30-day destressing course).
3. Visualisation
Meditation is normally followed by a few minutes of visualisation of a successful day ahead or projects that I have going on right now. I’m still working on this one as I can get easily distracted visualising too many details – but I know this technique is great for your confidence especially if you have an important event coming up.
4. Affirmations
I have developed 5 affirmations that I’ve been saying out loud every day – while standing in a superwoman pose and looking over Denver through a window. They are an essential part of my morning routine! They’re addressing areas where I’m not super confident and would like a little boost, for example, my achievements or self-image.
These affirmations will evolve depending on what’s happening in my life, in fact, I’m ready to rewrite some of them already. But I’m pretty happy with 2 affirmations which I might end up sharing here on my blog. So stay tuned! 🙂
5. Journalling
A lot of people talk about journaling and its benefits on your mental health, so I’ve started getting what I have in my head onto paper as well. Some days it’s easier, while some I don’t know what to write about. There are quite a lot of journaling techniques. Some websites/blogs will send you prompts (questions or topics to think through) and you write everything that comes to mind. One great thing to journal about is what you’re grateful for. I have a great post on practicing gratitude here!
As part of my self-discovery project in 2019, I think I might experiment with those and I’ll let you know how it goes! Do you journal? Or write morning pages?
Photo by Hannah Olinger for Unsplash
6. Healthy Breakfast
Oatmeal with almond milk, ground linseed, chia seeds, bananas and homemade almond butter have become my favourite everyday breakfast! Super simple while being nutritious and filling. What’s your favourite healthy breakfast?
As I’ve mentioned above, I’ve recently started using the OXO Pour-Over Coffee Maker in my morning routine, which works by itself and lets me do my thing – meditate and do the other exercises! It’s awesome because I can multitask without compromising on the taste or quality of my coffee. Here’s how it works:
The process starts with heating up your kettle, then measuring the right amount of beans (the Pour-Over Maker comes with a handy table for that) and grinding them. You need to grind them on a medium setting for best results in a pour over coffee maker.
Once those two components are ready, place a filter into the pour over dripper and add coffee grounds. The water tank has handy measurements to help you pour just the right amount of water for the amount of beans you have – so pour the hot water in, close the lid and go start your morning. The water tank makes sure that the brewing process takes 2-3 minutes (so that you can taste all of the beautiful notes of your coffee), so I normally have my coffee ready as soon as I’m done meditating! Just that idea makes it easier to focus on my meditation 🙂
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