Morning Routine for Mindful Day of a Full-time Athlete
I am not a morning person, so, even more, is a good morning routine important for me to create a great day, a positive mood, and a sharp mind.
I want my mind to be crystal clear like an ocean where you would go scuba diving. Not like a forgotten aquarium that you cannot see through, trying to remember if you ever had any fish in there (probably dead).
Before I even open my eyes, my head is buzzing with thoughts and to-dos, worries, and questions. My morning routine helps me to have the day in my own hands so I can work on being the best athlete and human I possibly can be.
I am only a human, and I suppose you are too (select all images with traffic lights). It would be contra-productive to stress over a morning routine. So as much as I highlight it,
don’t put pressure on yourself for not being perfect. This is my ideal morning, and not all mornings are ideal.
Here we go:
1. Breathe
I start the day with a simple exercise. My mind gets very busy right before I wake up. It is like opening a door to a very loud room, and you are like “Omg, what’s happening?!”. To calm my thoughts down and ground myself, I focus on having five big breaths. One, two, three, four, five. I am present.
2. Don’t Be a Slave
Strictly no phone and especially no social media for at least the first 30 minutes. I don’t want someone else to decide my mood for the day. If I scroll through the feed, I may not even notice it, but it will affect me. I don’t want to give my power away! I am in charge here.
3. Hydrate With Electrolytes
Drink a glass of water, they say. I would rather not, I say. If I drink a glass of water before I eat, my stomach will hate me! However, water with electrolytes is amazing. It replenishes my minerals, and it tastes good. I don’t feel like I am just filling up my belly with emptiness. I usually have a bottle ready in the fridge. The less my zombie morning self needs to prepare, the better.
4. Sunlight, sunlight, sunlight
Ready to get outside moving, or shall I just pee inside? That’s Taco, my corgi. He oversees a highly important task: Getting outside to the sunlight as soon as possible (with the usage of the right threats). Sunlight helps both with waking up and falling asleep better at night.
Even now, I leave my phone at home. Unless I want to take a picture of Taco. But still, no scrolling!
5. Breakfast and coffee tea
Here I allow myself to check my phone. I have my black tea with milk, which finally puts an end to the zombie land. For breakfast, it is always lots of fruit, eggs and maybe some bread. To my fellow Europeans: More fruit and less bread than you’re thinking right now.
6. Two Pages of a Book / Journal
Sometimes I panic-open my work email here. I need to remind myself that morning is my “me time”, and I should not rush just yet. I need to pour into my own cup first. I read two pages from a book, or I journal a bit. I heard, morning is for output and evening is for input. Ha, doesn’t work on me. It is midnight as I am writing this. In the morning, I would be like “WhUt aRe woRdS?!”. So, I usually also journal before bed.
7. Breath Work / Meditation
Hear me out! I believe this is a crucial thing for mental health and tidying up the head space. It doesn’t mean crossed legs and Om unless you want to. My goal is to feel safe, calm, and good. Like everything is just perfect on track. Sometimes, I meditate. Sometimes, I only do some breathwork. If I have a fight coming up, I meditate much more. The same goes for when life gets rough. I feel like I need to ground myself. But otherwise, it does not matter if you follow Zen school, or if you do a ten minutes session from Headspace (I love those honestly). If the next day you feel like you want to do that again, you are doing it right. I like to think of this as giving a hug to myself.
8. Check Planner for Daily/Weekly Goals
The last thing I do before starting my work or leaving for a training session is checking my planner. Every Sunday I write down goals for my week (separated for work, training, and personal) and every evening I write down goals and schedule for the next day.
I may just quickly glimpse at it to remind myself of the focus.
This whole thing takes me one hour. Yeah, I could just brush my teeth, have a banana, and walk Taco, in like 20 minutes. But the main point is to pour into my cup first. For me, a longer morning where I align my goals and focus means in fact faster and more productive day.
Feel free to use this list, change the order, or rewrite it. I also make changes as I develop or find a better way.
So, what’s your morning routine? I may steal a point or two…
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