We have all experienced those mornings where everything is going wrong! Whether that is getting ready for school, work or making sure the kids are ready, there are ways that you can make your mornings less stressful!
Here are some of our TOP TIPS to ensuring you start your day the right way:
1. Prep everything the night before!
A great way to reduce the stresses of that early morning wake up, is by organising and prepping things the night before. A great place to start is by laying your clothes and bag out the night before. This allows you to start your morning without having to think about what you need to find, as it is all laid out already for you. Next, make yourself a packed lunch the night before as well. If you have kids, it is also a good idea to pack their lunch and bags the night before. The smaller tasks like finding your car keys can also be stressful when you are in a hurry, so laying them out the night before with your bags, can help to ease yourself into the day!
2. Wake up earlier than you need to….
There is nothing worse than the alarm clock going off and knowing that if you don’t get up within a few seconds, you are already behind schedule! By setting that alarm around 10 minutes earlier, you allow your body and mind to wake up slower, reducing your stress. Dare we say you may even enjoy the process of getting out of bed! Or maybe not... !
3. This leads us to our next top tip: don’t hit the snooze button. We are all guilty of this, however those extra minutes asleep, doesn’t actually make you feel any better! By snoozing, you are telling your body that you don’t want to get up, starting your day in an unmotivated and stressful way!
4. Think about tidying your space up and decluttering!
What’s better than walking into a clean kitchen in the morning? By making sure you leave your space in a decluttered, clean way, you
wake up to no extra tasks to do! If you wake up, knowing you still have to tidy the kitchen before you leave for work, no wonder you hit the snooze and are left stressed for the rest of the morning! Take control of how you start your day!
5. That’s enough talk about the tidying and alarm clocks, there are a few small habits you can do to increase enjoyment of your mornings, which will lead to less stress!
Why not try practising gratitude and daily affirmations?
By doing both of these small exercises, you can change your whole perception and make you appreciate the small things! By seeing things in a more positive way in the morning, it is clear how this can set you up for the rest of the day! We would suggest starting with something nice and simple like “today is going to be a good day!”. Everyone has their own ways of doing this, if you want to try a notebook to write your affirmations down, you could try our ‘Goal Planner’ notebook- here!
6. As well as affirmations, a great way to stay organised is by writing a To Do List! This keeps all your tasks in one place and offloading all of your thoughts into a notebook instead of inside your head. Check out the Nu: To Do Pad here.
7. Our next top tip is to do something that makes you feel happy!
This could be texting a parent, child or friend and wishing them a great day!
Or maybe go for a 10-minute walk with your headphones on before you leave for work. A great chance to get outside and listen to your favourite music. Or maybe you like to post on social media – posting a picture of your breakfast to your friends, starting your day in a social way and also encourages you to make an effort with your breakfast!
8. Talking of breakfast, make sure you eat a healthy breakfast, ensuring it fills you up until lunch. We’ve heard the saying “Have you had your Weetabix?”. You can’t expect you body and mind to fully focus without fuelling first! Maybe that isn’t Weetabix, but make sure you are ready to take on the day with whatever you love to eat for breakfast!
Try these top tips out next time you know you will be having a busy day or stressful morning and let us know if it helps!