Morning routines have become very popular these days. Every other YouTuber or blogger, especially the one who creates content on personal development, has made a video or written about morning routines.
A while ago, I had posted an article about why waking up early will change your life. In that post, I have briefly shared my morning routine as well. But my intention was not to share it in a follow-this-morning-routine kind of way. My purpose was to make the readers aware of the importance of waking up early.
A routine is an organized set of activities. Waking up early is a part of a routine. I have not said that you have to follow a particular morning routine in that post.
Morning Routines are Overrated
Okay, let’s get straight to the point. The topic of morning routine only sounds suitable for a video or a blog post. In reality, morning routines are overrated.
Morning routine contents are attractive to most people because they assume that they will become successful by following a specific routine. The content creators present their videos or articles so that people have no choice but to consume them.
How many times have you seen videos or read articles with titles like these:
- The Morning Routine of Millionaires
- My Insanely Productive Morning Routine
- The Miracle Morning Routine
- The Morning Routine of Billionaire Jeff Bezos
- Morning Routine For a Productive Day
- The Morning Routine of Extremely Successful People
We often see content with titles like these. The title makes it seem like a good piece of content. But is the content of any real value to the viewers or readers?
The Typical Morning Routine
The things we find in such typical morning-routine content are usually the same. They typically consist of the following items in common (not particularly in this order).
- Wake up early
- Exercise
- Meditate
- Read
- Write a journal or a to-do list
- Don’t use your phone
- Eat breakfast
We all know that waking up early is good for us. We also know that exercising, meditating, reading, and eating breakfast is good.
Why do people prioritize the morning time so much? Sure, there might be scientific facts behind why the morning time is good for us. But it is not for everybody.
Now I might have caused some confusion here – I wrote this article on why waking up early will change your life, and now I am saying that you should not prioritize your morning time. Let me clear that out for you.
In my article, I said that waking up early will allow you to have more time. You can do a lot of things in that extra time you have. But I did not say that you can only do the items in the morning. In that article, I have also expressed that I sleep early. Now, what if you are a night person and most productive at night? That’s great. You can do your things at night and get all the sleep you need in the morning.
Focus On Time Management
You need to shift your focus on time management rather than follow a specific morning routine. We all live different lives. We have different jobs, live in different places, have different priorities, and have a different nature.
How can a specific morning routine apply to all of us if we are different?
The answer is that you need not follow a specific morning routine. Instead, focus on time management.
Make a routine that is suitable for you. Prioritize your time according to your needs. Some of the factors to consider while managing your time are your work, school, family, hobbies, health, so on and so forth.
Your Morning, Day, and Night Routines
You don’t have to watch some other person’s video on having a good morning. That other person indeed has a different life than you. Make your morning routine according to your lifestyle. If you want to sleep till 8 am, do it as long as you are also being productive and doing everything that needs to be done.
The only thing that matters is your effectiveness of the day. If you woke up at 8 am, and you had a wonderful day, that’s okay. If you go to the gym at 6 pm instead of 7 am, that’s okay too.
The things I listed before as the typical morning routine are essential. For example, exercise is critical to us. Similarly, meditation, reading, journaling, using less of your phone, and eating are equally important. As long as you do them, that’s okay. Take your time during the day, whichever is suitable for you, and do these things. If Jeff Bezos wakes up at 6 am and reads a book, for example, you don’t have to do that too. And, even if you try to do all the things that Jeff Bezos does during the day, you still won’t be a billionaire just by doing those things.
My point here is that you have to know yourself. Only you know what your life is like, and only you can make it better by managing your time correctly.
In Conclusion
I stopped watching videos on morning routines as soon as I realized that I was a different person than the one making the video. Instead, I made my morning routine – the one that works for me. I focus on time management according to what I have to do during the day. As I said, things like exercise, meditation, reading are all essential. So I make sure to include them in my day. But, I do all of them in my own time.
Measure your day by its effectiveness. Again, make sure you are productive and doing what needs to be done. Manage your time accordingly.
Also, remember to do more of what makes you feel good. If you are feeling good, you naturally will have a good day. So make your daily routines and follow them. You don’t need a morning routine to do the things you love to do as long as you do them with great passion and enthusiasm.
