LIFESTYLE
3 Strong Reasons Why Practicing a Morning Routine Is Easier Than You Think
This lifestyle change is the best gift you’ll give to yourself.
I fought with my boss [ on Slack ] about missing the 10 pm meetings because I am a morning person. I don’t work there anymore. This is not one of the reasons, if you’re wondering.
I gave the argument a shot because I was working with a US-based client. That means if I want to do a 9 am meeting, it’ll be 8:30 pm for them ( San Francisco ), which is way better than me drying my eyes at the computer at 10 pm ( or later ). That’s because I am asleep by 9. The only way to attend the 10 pm stand-up is in my dreams. And you don’t want to hear what I do in my dreams ( no, not that! ) .
Become proactive about the forces evading your personal space
Why did I reason with my superiors to change my timings when all my other coworkers were fine with 10 pm timings? Because, unlike some people, I am not a pushover.
I went to my boss because after following a morning routine for one month — which became second nature later — I saw some benefits that being a night-owl never provides.
I’ve been both — a night-rider and an early bird. Changing your lifestyle is a personal choice that involves a shift in the mindset. It took me 3 months to perfect my schedule because I was determined.
Now, I am not sure every reader will become a morning person after reading this article. But if you’ve reached here, you must have considered giving the morning schedule a chance.
And if you’re looking for reasons why it’ll be easier than being complacent in the current routine, here are three interesting pointers.
#1. No one CAN disturb you.
The more you grow up, the more you realise the importance of privacy. You start blocking people who disturb you from having some me-time. That doesn’t happen in the morning.
What kind of morning person wakes up only to fool around? Barely anyone.
When you wake up in the morning, you might not have many friends following the same routine with you. But those who will follow will be doing it out of their own desire to become a better person.
Whoever wakes up early in the morning does so because they have put aside some time to focus on themselves at the starting of the day.
Having someone to follow the routine with you gives you another boost of having an accountability partner. And a partner is not a distraction here. They are a motivator. They’ll check up on you if you don’t show up.
Having a community gives you a sense of belonging that you’re doing the right thing with the right tribe.
#2. Your body is already PROGRAMMED for a morning routine.
Wait before you nuke me for calling you “programmed”. If you went to a normal school ( or had normal parents ), you would typically wake up in the morning, right? Well, this pattern must have followed for almost 10 years, until now.
If you have done an activity for 10 years, your body clock is set to work with it in future also.
My school attendance was full because I was (read: had to be ) a morning person. My grades were outstanding because of it.
Then college happened. It made me realise how badly I missed being an early riser. I spent the second half of my college life recreating a morning schedule.
The scientific term for the body clock is circadian rhythm. It means your body clock repeats after every 24 hours based on the exposure to light ( sunlight, to be more specific ).
It does so by regulating stress hormones and sleeping hormones. Cortisol — the stress hormone — releases more in the morning, which prepares you for activity.
Melatonin — also called the “sleep hormone”— increases in the evening because your brain interprets its time to sleep. That’s why you yawn every day when your bedtime is near.
If you follow these cues, your hormones will help you become a morning person by signalling active time and wind-down time.
#3. The BEST use of mental power.
You already knew about this part. But it’s importance highlights because of a mental activity called decision fatigue.
If you wake up and haven’t planned your day, you will waste your first few important hours.
By planning your morning, you’ll get the important tasks done first. That means you’ll have an almost full day to do the less-essential and even mundane activities.
Once I learned about decision fatigue, I planned the first 2 hours of my day. When you plan for your morning hours, you’re more likely to follow along because of human nature to romanticise certainty. If everything goes according to your plan, do you even need a stronger reason?
Final words
Once I messed up my college lifestyle and started sleeping at 2 am every day, I desperately wanted to become a morning person. But there was no effective trigger—none until I trashed the first half of my college life.
In the second half, I became career focussed. That means showing up every day for a long term goal with as few distractions as possible.
I couldn’t choose the evening time because most hangouts happen in the evening. Your energy is also low by that time to tackle a mentally demanding task.
Once I shifted to being a morning person, I never looked back. It took just one month for me at my first job to realise why it is easier to follow a morning routine.
If you’re committing for a long enough time ( say 1 month ), you’ll also never second-guess yourself because of the benefits it provides that the night schedule can’t.
If your lifestyle allows it or you’re willing to change, give it a shot at becoming a morning person. You’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in 24 hours by making the best use of the first few hours.
If you want time to be your friend, the morning routine will prime you for that. You’ll forget the phrase “I don’t have time”.
Sanjeev is a mentor at Udacity who writes about mental health, productivity, writing and lifestyle in his off-work time. When he is not clearing students’ doubts or grading projects, he is sweating either in a workout or playing badminton.
