Rise and Shine and Do Something

April 9, 2009 7:49 AM

How can I establish a morning ritual?

OK. College student here who wants to re-establish more order in my life (the semester is almost over and then I'll be working this summer, but I want to start something to carry through the summer and into the fall).

I would like to improve my self-discipline and outlook on my day by establishing a morning ritual. Ideally, it would include:
1. Prayer
2. Short Bible Reading
3. Meditation
4. Some yoga (basic stuff, sun salutations and the like)
5. Either a) some sort of bodyweight routine like pushups and sittups and the like or b) jetting off into a run/walk interval session outside.
[I see steps 1-4 as interchangeable in order but it makes sense to do the workout last.]

Here's the trouble. Typically, when I get up, my first thought it "ugh all I want to do is check my email, read blogs, and find something to eat." Then I feel crappy for not following through with my plan. I've tried things like leaving out my running clothes on my chair or my exercise index cards out where I will see them, but then I end up shoving them aside.

Other data points: I generally go to bed in the 11-12 range, get up around 7:30-8:00 with an alarm. I have coffee or black tea sometimes in the morning but not anything past one cup of coffee or one teapot of black tea, and no caffeine the rest of the day (just water or herbal teas). I do have drinks with friends sometimes but typically only during the weekend.

How can I get into a more steady morning routine that works? What other elements are good to work into a morning routine? I would really appreciate any personal anecdotes, whether tips on how to get things rolling or in specific morning practices that get you going for the day.

posted by fantine to Health & Fitness (18 answers total)

This may just be me, but weirdly, drinking a large glass of water, completely, the moment I wake up seems to make an incredibly weird degree of difference to everything that follows next. I hate drinking the glass of water, but the effect is instantaneous. Your mileage may vary.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 7:58 AM on April 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

Not to oversimplify, but just do it. Consider moving the yoga up to number 1.
posted by jgirl at 7:58 AM on April 9, 2009

Best answer: Seconding jgirl's "just do it". Prove it to yourself. Drive yourself. Don't accept excuses. It's the only way I was able to start. Once you've done it for a few weeks, it'll be easier to not ignore it.
posted by alcoth at 8:00 AM on April 9, 2009

Also get up earlier, and if you have a good breakfast (fruits, oats of some kind, maybe in a protein shake with eggs/toast following) you'll have much more energy.
posted by alcoth at 8:02 AM on April 9, 2009

Going to bed earlier helps me. But I'm a morning person-my grouchy time is if it gets past 10pm!
posted by Pax at 8:10 AM on April 9, 2009

Best answer: Wash your face, or at least splash on some cold water. Then, resist the urge to turn on the computer and just start the routine. The hardest part is getting going. It will feel unnatural at first, but after awhile the routine will be second nature. Never ever skip a day no matter how you feel, because if you skip one day it makes it easier to skip the next one etc. And if you do skip one day, don't skip a second or you will really be starting over.
posted by rakaidan at 8:13 AM on April 9, 2009

For me, running, sun salutations, then push-ups work really well in that order.
posted by collocation at 8:17 AM on April 9, 2009

Best answer: Start slowly. It's very hard to work on lots of habits all at once, even when they're part of a "group" like you describe here. Pick one--maybe the hardest?--or maybe two that go together--prayer and Bible reading?--and do only that for one month (yes, 21 days makes a habit, but I've found that a month makes a habit stick far better). If you remember or feel like adding in the other elements, great, but only feel like you NEED to do the one you're working on this month. Some days, you might accomplish all the elements, and some days you might not. But only grade yourself on the particular element that you are focusing on.

The next month, continue doing what you did the first month, and add another element to the mix. And so on and so forth--it usually gets easier towards the end.

This is what Flylady calls baby-stepping. (Her site is mostly focused on housework, but routines and how to build them are a major part of her philosophy). It worked very well for me, although I was focused on an evening routine rather than a morning one. I do the dishes and figure out what I'm going to pack for lunch. I lay out my clothes for the next day and pack what I need to take with me (gym clothes, library books, etc). I floss. I moisturize. I usually have time to read for a bit. All of these things are instinctive now, but I started with just one--laying out my clothes--and then added another--washing the dishes--and then added a third--packing my bag and figuring out what was for lunch--and then I started doing all the personal care things at once and then all of a sudden I didn't even have to think about it. It took a few months, but these habits have stuck for years now.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 8:19 AM on April 9, 2009 [6 favorites]

I like to start my tea or coffee and then reward myself with it after I've exercised. My routine:

1. water
2. start caffeinated beverage boiling/steeping
3. yoga/weights/whatever
4. caffeine/blogs/metafilter/webcomics/email

I get up at 7:30 too. I set my alarm, but I always wake up before it. If I don't, I find that I'm really tired.

I, too, am a morning person, though. I also usually don't have to be anywhere until 9:30, at the earliest, and my commute is a whopping 10 minutes, so I have the luxury of taking it slowly.
posted by nosila at 8:29 AM on April 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

This is going to be a totally YMMV situation, where what works for me might not work for you and vice versa.

That said, for me the most important part is going to bed early enough that I don't need an alarm clock to wake up. If I'm jolted out of bed too early, tired, by an alarm, there's no possible way that I will have a relaxed and mindful morning -- everything feels rushed and too early.

In other words, my first suggestion for fixing your mornings is to get your evenings in order. That might mean going to be earlier, or it might mean accepting that staying up until a certain hour means that you will need to start your mornings later.

Secondly, what I've found to be key in establishing and enjoying my own morning routines (much more secular and less yoga-filled than yours) is in doing it long enough -- usually about two weeks is enough -- that it feels normal, and a morning without those routines feels wrong. It feels wrong and off-kilter for the first week or so, but then it starts feeling natural.

Here's where we get deep into YMMV territory, but for me, having different morning routines on weekdays compared to weekends just doesn't work. A lot of my friends are the opposite, and they really enjoy having very different patterns on weekend mornings, as a way of marking and enjoying the weekend. The point being, figure out what works for you, rather than feeling the need to copy your friends or random people on the internet.

Lastly, don't treat this as a one-time fix, to cement your mornings in a rigid order forever. Instead, treat it as an exercise in mindfulness, an ongoing experiment that you will be altering and re-exploring for the rest of your life, as your situation and your needs change.
posted by Forktine at 8:35 AM on April 9, 2009

Best answer: Treat it as the most important part of the day. Your energy, your attitude and your productivity all stems from how well you execute these morning rituals. Your problem may be that you are looking at these things as luxuries - things you'd like to do if you had the time - make them mandatory. I used to feel guilty during the time I spent exercising in the middle of the day because I was neglecting my work - but then I paid attention to the positive effects the exercise had on my work for the rest of the day and it truly did give me more focus, energy and a positive attitude that just wasn't there on the days I didn't make the time. We all too often consider the mind and the body as isolated animals in our daily routine but if one is starved the other always suffers accordingly.
posted by any major dude at 8:55 AM on April 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Seconding peanut: I used Flylady to learn how to build routines implementing one small change at a time. Once that change became habit, I added another.

Before using this method, my "crash and burn" approach was to try major changes all at once, inevitably mess up, and then abandon the whole plan.

Also seconding game warden: oddly enough, I also find that if I drink a large glass of water first thing, it makes a world of difference.

And I don't turn on the TV or go online unless I want to get sucked into the void. Music OTOH helps me get moving.

Good luck!
posted by Majorita at 9:38 AM on April 9, 2009

Best answer: I found an effective way of achieving an objective in the morning, is to remove the internet from your grasp. I am a grad student, with an extremely flexible schedule and had a similar difficulty. I nearly always leave my laptop in my office on campus so when I get up, I do roughly what I planned. It doesn't always work, but it helps.

I found that checking my email/metafilter/news first thing in the morning to be a time sink of an hour or more. And usually I'm a bit groggy so you don't even notice the time go by.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 11:05 AM on April 9, 2009

Response by poster: Excellent advice folks! I really appreciate all the input.

On the water front, I do make sure my Nalgene is full before I go to bed, so I do tend to reach for it first (and I'm a pretty well-hydrated person during the day). It's just that I reach for it in conjuction with internet info overload.

Looks like a good plan going forward will be just doing it and avoiding the internet first thing in the morning.

Keep the good ideas coming!
posted by fantine at 11:27 AM on April 9, 2009

Consider combining some of the items on your to-do list. Yoga is meant to be a form of meditation. Are you're prayers more formal or are they free form? If you recite a specific prayer, for example, maybe incorporate it into your sun salutations. Or, if you read your Bible verse first, then you've got something to contemplate while you are practicing your yoga meditations. Next I suggest eating something light and healthy, a piece of fruit or some yogurt and granola, before you do your workout/jog.
posted by purpletangerine at 11:33 AM on April 9, 2009

I put a post-it note over the power button on my computer to remind me that I'm not allowed to turn it on until I've done my routine.
posted by hermitosis at 1:35 PM on April 9, 2009

Hm, are you normally a night owl? I have to ask because if you are, this may be a hard slog to do.

Mainly the problem I see here is that you're freaking tired when you get up still. Because your schedule isn't that far off from mine and that's all I feel like doing when I wake up too :) Heck, reading the blogs helps wake me up some. Also, you have a loooooooooong list of stuff you want to do in the morning. I'm thinking it'd take 2 hours to do everything you want.

My suggestions would be:
(a) go to bed by something crazy like 9-10, if you can fall asleep that early. Go look up whatever threads on Ask MeFi there are about how to wake up early and like it.
(b) wake up crazy early, like 5 or 6 a.m. and give yourself an hour of time to do this stuff.
(c) don't do everything on your list every day. Pare it down or alternate what you do. Maybe work out every other day and do yoga/meditation on the other ones, read the Bible while you eat, stuff like that.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:46 PM on April 9, 2009

In addition to all the great suggestions above, there is one thing that has worked quite well for me. It sounds a little ridiculous but I put a kitchen timer by my laptop. It was just to easy for me to lie in my warm, comfy bed and read blogs for hours. So I set the timer for 20 minutes, I quickly check my email, facebook, ect. When the timer goes off I go about my morning. This can be done on your cell phone, or on your computer itself, but I prefer a timer with a good, hearty ring to it. This requires self-discipline, because really, who is going to know if you don’t listen to your timer? But if you are tired of finding your morning has been wasted away in the blogoshpere, then you will do it. Also, you might want to do your morning prayer and Bible reading online, through a devotional website or the like, it might save you time, then again it might not. Good luck!
posted by toni_jean at 5:15 PM on April 9, 2009