As you transition back to working in the office, you need a consistent morning routine.
In the past year, many people have worked from home and are now starting to transition to the office in some form. Many offices are flexible and workers are coming in a few days a week instead of daily. Personally, I love the flexibility but there is a drawback.
Working remotely some days and in the office others gets confusing. The world of work is ever changing and shows no signs of slowing. We need to have a plan to stay productive, healthy and in control of our time.
With constant change and shifting schedules, a regular daily morning routine can be a constant in our lives.
When we use a morning routine, we know at least one thing will remain the same – our first 30-minutes of the day. While you may not have control over much during your day, you can make your first half hour your own.
When you:
- start with stretching and a short strength/core workout, you feel better physically.
- add in spiritual reflection and study, you start your day in the right mindset.
- focus on what’s important for the day and prepare to take action on your important goals, you progress.
Your morning routine matters.
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Stop and think about it, what is your life? It’s not yesterday. It’s not tomorrow. It’s today. This very day.
Your day is your life. Make the most of it!
Make your day better with a morning routine (especially if you are back to the office.)
This is a time of considerable change, add a solid routine to start your day the same way every single day. Office day or home day – start your day with the same morning routine. In fact, I do my morning routine six days a week.
Routines are proven to have enormous benefits for productivity, physical and mental health. According to Northwestern School of Medicine, many people who don’t have routines suffer from stress, poor sleep, unhealthy diets, poor physical condition and ineffective use of time. A daily morning routine can improve each of those conditions.
Highly successful people create morning routines tailored to their needs and goals.
A writer may have a different routine than an entrepreneur, a retiree or a stay-at-home parent. According to Business Insider, businessman John Paul DeJoria, starts his day with 5 minutes of quiet reflection. Scott Adams, the artist behind the cartoon Dilbert, starts his day exactly the same way for the first 20 minutes to free his brain for creativity.
Check out my blog post on 7 Morning Routine Ideas on UpYourGameGirl.com.
Here are five morning routine tips for transitioning back to the office:
Keep your weeknight schedule consistent.
One advantage of working remotely is you don’t have the commute time. My “commute” is one minute when I work from home as I walk down 14 stairs to my home office. This saves me 45 minutes to an hour every morning and evening.
Knowing I don’t have to get up early can be a trap. A weeknight can feel like a weekend when we don’t have that early morning commute. Later nights can lead to bad habits and mental gymnastics.
Instead of staying up late watching shows knowing you can sleep later on home office days, go to bed at the same time every night. Wake up at the same time daily, too, so your commute days don’t feel like punishment. At my house, we jokingly say, “It’s a school night” as a throwback to when we were kids.
Have a consistent sleep schedule.
Backed by research, having a regular bedtime sleep routine helps to train our brains to get restful sleep. Humans as well as other animals respond to a circadian rhythm of a 24-hour clock. It is tied to some master-clock wired in our brains. If we have a regular routine, our bodies just work better.
Send a signal to your brain — Hey’s, let’s get a good night’s sleep – with a regular bedtime and wake up time routine. With the changing routine of work place/work-at-home, keeping the circadian clock set seems like a really good idea.
Frame your commute time as “extra” when going back to the office.
On days when you don’t commute, use that extra time to work on your special goals. Take a long walk in the morning. Jump on the Peloton for a longer ride. Write in your journal. Study something important to you.
On your commute days, frame the commute in your head as the normal chore of life. Obviously you can use that time too in a productive way. Listen to an audio book. Safely call a friend using hands free technology and catch up. Carpool and connect with neighbors.
Take advantage of the benefits of commuting to your office.
After begin on lockdown, we can all appreciate the simple pleasure of being around people, connecting with city life and office culture. When you are on your way home, run a few errands. Pick up take out to support a local business. There are a plethora of ways to use your commute time even if it’s just unplugging and transitioning from work to home.
Get a productive start.
Doing just a 10 minute core and stretching routine can reshape your body and reduce injuries. Connecting with yourself and listening to your intuition can help you stay true to your personal values. Writing out your most important action for the day can help keep you focused on what is important.
Keep the morning routine short so you do it consistently. I do three 10 minute blocks with grabbing coffee and washing my face in between. Since it is only 30 minutes, I can do it everyday (except I skip Sundays.)
After the 10 minute core routine, I add 10 minutes of spiritual reading, prayer and contemplation and 10 minutes of focused journaling. Some days when I am tired or I over sleep, I’ll do just one or two of my blocks.
Being flexible with the routine helps to stick to it.
You have extra time, you can always add on to the 30-minute block. Do you love to workout? Put your workout block last and keep going. It’s no big deal.
The big deal is sticking to it to start your day with good habits. And having a tight core is nice when tucking in your shirt, getting up off the floor or playing sports! There are benefits to consistency.