Happy As A Lark

10 Tips for A Morning Mindset Reset

A few months ago I decided to change my mindset regarding mornings. Anyone who knows me would never EVER describe me as a morning person. I’m more of an “ease into the day slowly until nearly the entire country I reside in is awake...roughly about 11 am or noon-ish” kinda gal. No, no I don’t get up at that time. I get up at about 7 am. It simply took me ages to officially greet the day.

My husband, definitely an early riser but again not necessarily a “morning person”, would remind me about how much time was wasting while I slept. This because he gets up around 5am. We’ve come to the mutual understanding or compromise that I will probably need more sleep than he does. According to HIS sleep doctor, I’m a long sleeper. Yeah, go figure it is a thing.

What IS a Morning Person Anyway?

Let’s look at what a morning person might be. A fun term to describe this person is “Lark”. A lark is a bird that starts its day off really really early! This is in direct opposition to “Owl”, someone who is a “night person” or “night owl” and is up most of the night and asleep most of the day. A morning person is perky, wide awake, raring to go, aka a Type-A personality. Not a description I would use to describe myself but I’d like to.

I began to become envious of other people’s morning activities. I decided it was time to make a change. Change isn’t often fun or something we look forward to but for me, in my life, it has always led to brighter and better things. After months of testing numerous things out, I’ve developed a different mindset on mornings. A positive one.

Tips for Tip Top Morning!

Here are some things I have done to get myself into the morning mindset!

  1. I stopped stressing about what time I needed to get to bed. I learned the ideal number of hours that make me feel rested and this is one of the few times I pull my math skills out and calculate when would be the best time to get to bed based on the time I want to be up. For me 10:30 pm is my sweet spot to wake up at 7am - 8.5 hours. If I make it by 10:30 great, if not, I move on to the next steps I’ve found helpful.
  2. To condition my body to automatically wake up around 7 am, I set an alarm on my smart watch. It took awhile to “Pavlov dog” (I have coined this term) my body. I’m not sure exactly how long it took. Eventually it did take and now I don’t even need the alarm. It may work for you, I think it is more about wanting it to happen and it does.
  3. Before I even open my eyes, I go over a few things I’m grateful for. It overrides the annoying crazy maker voice that tells me “it’s too early to wake up, too early to function, too early for anything”. Listing a few things I’m grateful for puts a smile on my energy.
  4. A lot of experts recommend removing your phone from your room. I don’t do this. I simply put it on do not disturb. My family can still reach me. Being available for someone I love to reach me in an emergency allows me peace of mind to actually fall asleep. The phone does not keep me up nor ruin my sleep. If it does for you, don’t put it in your room.
  5. If I am struggling to feel motivated to simply get out of bed, yes, this does happen every so often still, I play a song. One of the songs I love to wake up to is Andy Grammer’s “Good to be Alive or Give Love”. There are a ton of fabulous songs that can raise your vibration quickly and get you excited about what is to come.
  6. “Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod - this was my new guidebook for tackling mornings but more importantly my mindset. There are many many versions of this book. Start with the original. It is pretty straight forward.
  7. The other part of my mornings that I had gotten away from was Morning Pages (I learned about this from a fabulous book called “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron). Getting up and just brain dumping whatever I want has always been a great way to kick off the day. It also helped me move out of my “writer’s block”.
  8. Before I eat, I go through my yoga-chi practice. Something of a melding of Tai Chi, Qigong and Yoga moves which leads into meditation for a few minutes. If I can keep one or both of my dogs from licking my face while in corpse pose.
  9. I eat a lean protein based breakfast with some complex carbs added in to remain feeling full longer. A morning meal high in lean protein raises your brain's tyrosine levels which helps the brain produce neurotransmitters called norepinephrine and dopamine. This increases energy and gets you that perky awake feeling!
  10. Another thing that allows for a great morning is a good night’s sleep. Meditation helps immensely for this. Even if I meditate during the day, I feel relaxed when it comes to bedtime. If I’m struggling to sleep, I practice a progressive relaxation. It really helps!

Thoughts?

If you’re interested in shifting your morning mindset, test out some of these and see if they work for you. Let me know about your experiences.

Would you consider yourself a “morning person” or “night owl”? Are you interested in changing your morning mindset? What tools work for you? Do you have a morning wake up song?