I woke up this morning and lay in bed thinking about the day ahead. A never ending to-do list was rolling endlessly on my mind, I’ve been very stressed lately about my thesis work and finding the time to work out. As I lay under the warm covers with my head resting on the most heavenliest of pillows it hit me – what I really need is a burst of energy and some motivation. I am a master of procrastination and pushing things off to the side until the last minute, but No More!
It was time to grab the bull by its horns, bite the bullet and get shit done.

…But how-what-where could I find the motivation this morning? So I tried all sorts of tricks I found online on slapping some morning motivation into me. I couldn’t find anything too helpful so I worked up a Morning Motivation recipe of my own instead- and BOY does it work!

1.

Set 2 alarms. For example one at 8:00 and the other one at 8:10. After the first one rings spend 10 minutes in bed stretching your body. Lift your legs up in turns and stretch out your arms. After the 10 minutes your second alarm will ring and you will feel much more awake.

2.

Have a morning feel good playlist ready. Music can be very motivating and inspirational. My favorite morning feel good playlists on Spotify are Wake Up Happy, Sunny Side Up and Who Run The World? Girls. I pop on a playlist and go about my morning routines with a smile on my face.

3.

Have a glass of water. Its weird but I’m not really a fan of plain water, instead I add a little twist to it. Brightening up a plain glass of water with some lemon or cucumber slices can really brighten your morning up. Its just a bit of fun to lighten up your day. You can also have a jug of water ready in the fridge. Add some berries or cinnamon sticks to your water jug to flavor it throughout the night.

4.

A crazy tip I once read online said you should sleep in your workout clothes to help motivate you for a morning work out. Now I think that’s absolutely ridiculous because in my opinion that would only stress you and distract you from having deep peaceful sleep. Instead a good idea would be to have your training gear laid out ready for you in the morning so you can easily change into them. This tip also works for work clothes. Have your outfit laid out ready for you in the morning to avoid the whole ”what should I wear, I have nothing to put on” fiasco – which is pretty much a morning ritual for me hahaa!

5.

Choreograph a short 5 minute morning work out to pump you up. Personally I do 15 squats, 20 jumping jacks, 20 crunches, 20 bicycles, 5 push ups and a 20-30 second plank. This will get your blood running and set your body into GO gear.

6.

Have a breakfast planned out so you don’t spend your morning thinking of what to eat. I always have a bag of smoothie berries in the freezer ready to go for a morning smoothie. During the weekends I make sure to have cherry tomatoes, ham and baby spinach leaves in the fridge for a light and fluffy omelette. I always have fresh eggs that I picked up from the nearby farms hen-house in my fridge. This is my trick to a perfect fluffy omelette and it helps support local farmers. You can also be sure the eggs are 100% natural and super fresh!

7.

Make a list of the things you want to achieve today – NOT a to-do list!!! A to-do list is a list of things you should do today, its a list that often only causes stress and pressure. Instead write up a list of things you’d like to achieve today. By making a list of things you wish to achieve it doesn’t feel so heavy and unpleasant, but its more of a personal motivation list. A good tip is to add things like: ’compliment a stranger’, ’open the door for someone’ or ’call up an old friend or relative’ in between your list of things to achieve today to help motivate you.
All the things on a to-do list are so gloomy. Achieving goals is motivating, set some easy to achieve goals in between your own daily goals by adding these pleasant, but also very meaningful things to your list. Once you achieve them you will feel much more motivated to carry on with your own list.

These are my tips for finding morning motivation and keeping it going throughout the day. I hope you got some good ideas for cooking up your own morning motivational rituals. They are definitely worth a try!

Now its a beautiful day, the sun is shining and the air is brisk. I’m going to strap on my jogging gear and enjoy the fresh Nordic air.

Sending smiles your way -H-