Morning Routine in College
College is a time of exploration, personal development, and responsibility. There are many tasks to complete each day that may be difficult for college students to balance.
Starting your mornings on the right foot can be essential for determining the outcomes of the entire day. If you create a morning routine that leads to a productive morning, the chances of being productive throughout the entire day have a more positive outlook. In other words, if instead of having a productive morning, you have a bad morning - then what do you assume your chances of having a good and productive day will be?
So organizing your mornings by building and executing a good morning routine is of utter importance for having productive days regularly, even more so if you are an athlete in college looking to stand up to daily physical challenges as well as mental ones.
Taking a few minutes every day to execute a morning routine that matches your daily challenges and prepares you for them is a good practice that will assist you in achieving higher and better results in everyday tasks.
To help you out, we’ve put together some tips for various morning routines that can help you create a perfect morning routine for a perfect day! A day in which all your daily tasks are completed and on their best side as well.
So what precisely is a morning routine?
What is a morning routine?
A morning routine is a set of tasks that you complete first thing after you wake up and before doing anything else. It forces you to organize your time, boosts your energy, can boost happiness, and helps you stay focused for the rest of the day. It enables you to get ready for the day and prepares the essential functions of your mind and body for having a productive morning and, from there, a productive day.
Of course, having a daily morning routine is an important task for everyone. But it is vital for college students and athletes who must complete multiple tasks each day, some of which they are tested on.
Although creating and following a morning routine can be problematic initially, you should remember that it gets easier over time until it eventually becomes a habit. Strong willpower, persistence, balance, and time management are critical factors in this game and are part of the desire for self-care and self-improvement.
It is well-advised to take a few extra moments to compile a to-do list specifically for this purpose. There are quite a few great morning routine ideas out there to get you ready for the day ahead, but not all will necessarily work out for you. So you might need some experimenting first to find out the best morning routine that works best for you and then stick with it. Writing your tasks on paper brings a sense of commitment to the issue and enables you to track your performance and follow up on your progress regularly.
Quality sleep comes first!
It doesn’t make sense to discuss any morning routines if you’ve only had a couple of hours of sleep the night before. So, having a good night’s sleep (as much as it might take out the fun of college life) is crucial for your mind and body to function correctly the next day and for being able to execute any morning routine.
Ideally, it would be best to get between seven to nine hours of sleep every night, the amount of sleeping time that best suits most people’s body clocks.
Suppose you are finding it difficult to get enough sleep at night. In that case, you can try things such as avoiding caffeine and other stimulants late in the day, establishing a regular bedtime routine (and yes, this means getting into bed earlier), and making sure your sleeping environment is dark, quiet, and comfortable.
If you don’t sleep properly, you can forget about the perfect morning routine, having a productive morning, and surely about having a productive day.
Lastly, but no less critical, take a few moments each night before you sleep and ask yourself what level of quality you want your performance to be the next day. Do you want average performance with average results or top-notch performance with top-notch results!?
Successful people and athletes always spend time planning their day ahead and consider not only what their tasks are the next day but also how well they wish to perform them and prepare themselves accordingly.
Building the perfect morning routine
So whether you love waking up early in the morning or you’re one of the night owls fighting each day to get out of bed, here are some essential morning habits you can use to create a morning routine that will kick start your day:
1) Wake up early
One of the most important things for having a productive morning and day is waking up early. Although hard for some people to adjust to, waking up early is vital for establishing a good morning routine. It allows you to complete some tasks before your day gets too hectic or you lose steam.
After all, you first need to create a time window to execute your morning routine, especially if you have never done so before or wish to add a new morning routine to existing ones. If you don’t create the appropriate time window for following a good morning routine, you won’t be able to perform any of the rituals below.
Tip - if you are not one of the natural-born morning people or just hit the snooze button on your alarm clock too quickly, at night, try placing your alarm clock away from your bed and out of your reach so you will need to wake up and get out of bed to turn it off. If that isn’t enough, turn on snooze, so you’ll need to get out of bed to hit the snooze button each time it goes on.
2) Drink a glass of water
Drinking plenty of water as soon as you wake up and get out of bed is the best way to start your day in is an essential part of maintaining a healthy routine as well. It will help refresh your body and mind after hours of rest, during which the body is deprived of fluids. Drinking water in the morning also helps flush out toxins from your system, aids with digestion, helps reduce bloating, and supports your overall mental health. All great things for starting your day fresh!
Tip- try to drink lemon water which many people attest to having a more positive and energetic effect on their body and mind when taken first thing in the morning. Add some fresh mint leaves or slices of cucumber for extra refreshing properties.
3) Have a healthy breakfast
Treat yourself to a good breakfast within the first hour of waking up and getting out of bed. Breakfast provides your body with the necessary energy to function properly and helps improve focus and concentration, which are essential abilities for having a productive day. Skipping breakfast and providing nutrition and energy to your body will make it ‘run’ on an empty tank and can quickly make you tired and unfocused during the day.
There is no need to expand on the importance of breakfast as it is standard wellness advice you’ve probably very well familiar with and have been hearing since childhood. However, be aware of what you eat and always prefer a healthy breakfast. It can make a big difference in the body and mind’s daily function, especially for athletes, if the food that supplies various nutrients is regularly consumed, especially at the start of the day. It can support your overall well-being over time.
4) Morning workout
Morning exercise is another essential part of creating and maintaining a healthy morning routine. It helps burn calories and sets the tone for the rest of your day by getting your blood flowing and metabolism going. Not only does it get your body moving after being static for several hours, but it may also increase blood flow, release endorphins that make you feel good, reduce stress, and improve your overall mood.
Remember that the morning exercise is meant to get your body ready and functioning during the day. It is not the primary training in the day or close to that. So it only makes sense to avoid any laborious or lengthy exercise. Instead, choose moderate activities that stimulate and energize the body and mix up your routine by doing different exercises each day. This way, you will not get bored and keep seeing results.
If you’re not used to exercising in the mornings, then start slow and grow little by little through time. In the long run, balance and consistency are more critical than high periodical efforts that burn you out and leave you on the sidelines. You don’t want to show up every other day to your’ job’. You want to show up every day, every week, every month, each year for as many years as you can and at your best.
Tip - try to include breathing exercises in your morning exercise routine. You might be surprised how much good injecting oxygen into your body and mind early in the morning can do you well, balance stress levels, and improve your mental state. And no, sleeping in your gym clothes will not motivate your morning. So better to avoid that.
Other means to assist you in establishing a healthy morning routine
Although the above morning rituals are the most basic and essential to execute in the morning and possess the highest chances of keeping you at top-notch level performance for the rest of the day. Still, there are a few other new habits you may adopt that will assist in your daily morning routine and the day ahead:
1) Natural light
Open curtains and let the natural light flood your room and soul. Whether you’re a morning person or not, getting some sunlight in your system first thing in the day will help set the tone for the rest of your day and brighten up your day.
2) Fresh air
Open windows in your room to let fresh air into your lungs, even for a few minutes if the weather is cold. Take some deep breaths and let your body realize it is time for action from now on and not just relaxation. So take advantage of it in the morning and get your oxygen flowing and heart rate up. Besides that, it will refresh your room from odors accumulated during night sleep.
3) Cold shower
Take a cold shower if you wake up from your sleep feeling only you need more rest. A cold water shower can stimulate and increase blood flow immediately and provide you with more energy.
4) Caffeine
Drink a cup of coffee or tea with some honey if you don’t like that much caffeine. Try to avoid sugar and milk in your drink, as they will only make it harder for you to stay awake through classes.
5) Podcasts
Listen to a podcast on a subject that interests you to engage your brain and get it going. Podcasts are suitable for students compared with other media as they tend to be short and can be listened to while doing morning chores and other morning activities.
6) Review and plan
Spend time reviewing your daily goals and plan your day ahead. Remember, successful people, take their mornings seriously as any other part of the day or even more so, as mornings, whether good or bad ones, may control the outcome of their entire day.
7) Find a partner
Whether with your roommate, a family member, or a friend, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to find someone who can join your daily morning routine. Besides having more fun while practicing your morning routine, you can motivate and provide each other positive affirmations if someone has trouble executing his tasks on any specific morning.
Final Thoughts
Establishing a morning routine and consistently executing it is no easy task. Nevertheless, it is crucial if succeeding in what you do is essential in your life. It is a vital part of the day which you should not overlook and which can quickly determine the outcomes of your entire day. There are no free gifts in life, and it is all about self-care and determination. The sooner you decide to take care of yourself seriously and gain control over your life’s daily actions, the sooner you will see results and achieve your life’s goals.
By this, we hope we motivated you to find a way to establish a daily routine for your mornings which matches you the most and which will transform every day in your life into - a winning day. Not just this week, but in each week that follows for years to come.