There are trillions of books, articles and videos out there on what you must do the first thing when you wake up, how you must spend your morning and what is the golden hour to wake up.
There is a tonne of advice to tell you the logic and health benefits of waking at 4 am to drinking lukewarm water first thing after waking up.
But do you know the things that you must not do at any cost when you wake up?
Keep reading to know the routines that you should stop doing after waking up.
1. Don’t put your alarm on snooze
In a sleep deficient world where fewer sleeping hours are glorified, Why we sleep written by Matthew Walker is a highly recommended book.
You are tempted to put your alarm on snooze and return to the warm embrace of your blanket. Your body cannot complete the sleep cycle essential for the healthy function of the brain, and you wake up more exhausted than fresh and awake.
Observe how many hours of sleep your body needs and go to sleep early and not sacrifice your sleep for work or studies or the marathons of Netflix.
Try to wake up naturally rather than an alarm.
Your body is your most precious treasure.
The only person responsible for protecting it is you.
2. Stay there, convincing yourself to sleep longer
Dil to bacha hai Ji. Convincing your inner child to sleep for 5 more minutes which extends to 15 mins results in you leaving the house in a rush with half a shoe in.
You will be more productive if you just wake up and start your morning routine. There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting to work on time.
Yes, you are completely capable of getting to your work on time.
As Mel Robbins suggests in The 5 second rule book, the moment you wake up, think of yourself as a rocket and launch yourself out of bed after the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown.
3. Dive in your device
I know I know the same old boring tip.
No matter how many times you read it, you disregard it, saying there is no harm in scrolling for 5 minutes.
In those few minutes you are hit with a truck of emotions varying from disturbing sad news to hilarious cute videos.
This results in your emotional energy depletion.
You have opened the media thinking it will entertain you and you will feel motivated to start the morning, but in contrast it has depleted your energy disabling you to have “mood” to do anything else but scroll on the social media again.
Exchange those 5 mins just staring out of your window, journalling or slowly counting your breath.
Watch the Netflix documentary called ‘The Social Dilemma’ for more insight on this, or read this article to learn more about the consequences of unhealthy consumption of media.
4. Having no idea what the day holds and what are the tasks to be done
Before sleeping, we promise to do all the things that we could not do the whole day or the whole week, the next day, as if we will get a superpower to get all things done.
You wake up without any memory of doing tasks and end up spending the day in a blur because you had no tasks in the first place written somewhere to remind you.
Have a scheduled day.
Make time blocks, i.e., give a task to a particular hour of the day and ensuring you don’t touch any other task unless it’s crucial.
If you feel constricted by that and need a more flexible schedule, write 3 tasks that you must do that day and do those tasks to get an episode of that series or any gift to yourself.
Make Time: How to focus on what matters every day is a perfect workbook, I must say, rather than a book that guides you through experiments to see what works for you.
5. Rush to do all the chores but sacrifice exercise and food
Try to sleep a little early to wake a little earlier than usual.
Do a little stretching or cardio or gym or Zumba.
Make sure you do any workout of your choice. There are a gazillion options to give your body a little exercise now.
If nothing, then just go for a walk to get fresh air.
Prepare your breakfast the day before. Even if it is as simple as some dry fruits to something heavy like aloo paratha.
Choose you menu according to how your body handles breakfast but make sure to fuel your body with some food to “break” the “fast”.
6. Not saying good morning to your people
You wake up and realize that you’re late, thanks to the snooze.
Fast forward to leaving for work hastily or sitting for work without getting up again for the rest of the day.
Do you realize that all you have done after waking up is stare at a screen without saying a simple good morning to yourself, your people, the sky, the sun, and plants?
Just acknowledging their presence can make you feel so grateful for their presence in your life. Sit with them for just a minute, if not more.
You will be surprised how many beautiful moments you were missing.
Be grateful
7. Leave your bed without making it
Last but most definitely not least, the one thing you must not do after waking up is to leave your bed without folding blankets and find it the same way when you come to sleep.
I apologize if I sound rude here, but it is just irresponsible and unhygienic.
People, it doesn’t even take a minute to fold your blankets and clean your bed.
Doing this one task can make you feel like you have accomplished this one humongous task and are ready to triumph the day.
This is the most common mistake, the most difficult mental task yet the easiest routine you can start doing every morning from this moment.
So make sure you make your bed as soon as you wake up.
Doing this one task can make you feel like you have accomplished this one humungous task and are ready to triumph the day.
So my dear reader, what is the one thing you are ready not to do first when you wake up in the morning?
Let me know in the comments how you felt about this article. Are there any more habits you consider unproductive but are set as default in this era?
Until then, embrace your flaws and
Know you are loved