Here are five ways I hacked my morning habits to get up and get closer to my goals.
I layered my habits onto my partner’s schedule. My partner has to be up at 6 am to make it to work - so I tacked myself onto his schedule even though I work from home and don’t have to work until 9 am. His alarm goes off, and he gets up, and I get up shortly after instead of continuing to be in snooze town. I’m incentivized to say bye and get the morning dopamine in the form of a hug and kiss that invigorates my day.
I put my cat on a feeding schedule.
Have you ever had a cat with an empty bowl in your home? If you don't know, let me enlighten you. A cat will never forget a routine that involves feeding and treats. I made it a habit to move my cat's feeding time from the afternoon to the morning - 7 am, to be exact. So every morning now, at 6:30 am, like clockwork, she comes into my room meowing as loudly and incessantly as possible to ‘remind’ me to get out of the bathroom and follow her to the kitchen to make breakfast. I may forget this is my routine, but she never will, and now I have to hold up my end of this bargain forever.
I use my sense of smell as a trigger.
After my morning shower, I spray myself with a particular scent. On days when I want to focus on writing and being creative - I spray myself with Daisy by Marc Jacobs. On days when I want to focus on filming - I spray myself with Chanel. On days when I need to edit and revise - I spray myself with Gucci. I don’t know if the particular scents do anything, but since I’ve attached the smell trigger with the action, I think it gets my brain in the mood for the specific task I will tackle. Does anyone know if there is any science to back up this hack? Comment below.
I use music as a trigger as well.
I also have a playlist for each mood or task I need to get done. If it’s a day of filming or presenting, I am hyping myself up with some Hip Hop or RnB Pop music for confidence. If I need to buckle down and get some brain dumping or writing done - I’m Yacht Rocking it with Toto, George Benson, The Eagles. If I need to get something routine or handle mundane and ordinary admin work or Salsa, Bachata, and Reggaeton, Kizomba so my brain can absorb the other languages. I used to listen to Hamilton daily to inspire me, but I have successfully freed myself from that habit.
I motivate myself to move in levels.
When I started working out in the mornings, I planned a full hour for riding and strength training, giving it everything I had to exhaust myself and earn my calorie deficit. It worked sometimes, but when I was resting or less motivated, I felt horrible not reaching my goal or skipping on my routine and habit-building. Now, I hack the habit by turning it into a commitment to move for an hour daily. The hack is that I have a low-hanging fruit exercise routine for when I just don’t feel like it - walking around my block listening to a Peloton walk workout. It’s way easier to say, ok, I don’t feel like working out and saying I’ll just go for a walk instead. I usually end up walking and running and it makes me feel accomplished when I thought I was not motivated to do anything.
Here you have five ways to hack your morning routine hopefully!
Here’s to the journey!
Yael
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