Mental health is a key matter for you and you are always seeking ways to protect and improve it.
You are reading books, listening to podcasts, thinking to yourself, searching the web.
Your day to day is intense, busy, cluttered. Living in a fast pace and noisy environment, full of destructions and temptations.
The amount of information we process each day, from the moment we wake up till we hit the pillow again is enormous.
And here's is the key! You found it! Enormous amount of information from the moment we wake up.
There are things that we control and others that we don't. Whilst in the office, you can't really control how many presentations you need to prepare. How many calls you need to attend. How many emails you will receive, read, respond and follow up.
But there are things you can control. And gain the so called 'small wins'.
I love Small Wins. They make you feel accomplished in such a quick and easy way.
A small step towards your big goal. Not always easy. At least not easy to commit to it in the long term. But let's start, one step at a time.
We will build the habit subsequently (more to come on this)
Let's control the flow of information once we open our eyes. How? Do not touch your phone first thing in the morning. I know, you are dreading now. What is he even talking about!?
Trust me, it's easier than you think. Start your day by skipping one step. Alarm goes off, don't think twice, get off the bed, continue with your morning routine.
Visit the bathroom, drink water (I hope you do), switch the coffee machine on, open the windows, let some light and fresh air energise you.
Well done, you just gained 5 to 10 minutes of peace. 20-25 if you walk your dog on top of those. This time is crucial for your mind and how you set yourself up for the rest of the day.
You did the massive step of avoiding bombarding yourself with thousand of information, news, images, chats as soon as your brain switched on in the morning. Congrats for your own Little Win!
You were kind enough to allow yourself some time to gradually and wake up, soak in the day without destructions and give your brain space to moderate it's workload at the first minutes of its own working day.
It's early morning, save yourself from spending unnecessary time in bed, scrolling through your feeds and mailboxes. We know there will be plenty opportunities during the day to do this. There are two quick tips to support you on this:
Leave your phone in another room. That is the best thing you can do. Hopefully you will have an alarm clock or you do not need one to wake you up. If not,
Leave in in Airplane Mode, and do not remove it till you are happy that you morning routine has progressed without disruptions.
I do both 1 and 2 and remove Airplane mode after I have drunk my favourite cup of coffee, just little before I start my working day at home, or leave for the office.
Might sound meaningless, useless or total nonsense. However, allowing this time to adapt and set the right tone for your day, will really have a great impact.
Give it a try and please do reach out to let me know how it went and how you feel about it.
Till the next hack!
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