Good Morning Sunshine...

I don’t know about you but 2020 has created a whole new set of routines and timings in my house. I say 2020 but really I mean the Coronavirus lockdown! Normally 8.30am would see me getting the kids in the car to take them to school – however, since lockdown 8.30am sees me on my daily hours walk before going home for another hour of exercise with the family. Although I get up early and work from 6am, I don’t start my normal ‘day’ until 10am when the kids are settled with their school work.

I’ve experimented with different timings but these are the ones that work for us and whilst I can do a few bits and pieces throughout the day, my main working hours are either first thing in the morning or more likely late afternoon into early evening… sometimes into the late evening. Id don’t actually mind too much, I like the focus when the kids are occupied and I’d rather be able to help them when they need me.

However, it does mean that my working day is starting a lot later and frankly I’m a bit scared of life getting back to ‘normal’ and having to get back to the old routine because, well, firstly I’m going to miss my exercise routine (yes, I know I could get up at 5am but then I’d be super grumpy and no one wants that) and I don’t know where I’m going to find my get up and go!

As such I thought I’d share a few tips to get your morning motivation levels high and engines raring asap…

1.       Get Moving – Tempting thought it is to lay in bed it really won’t help. Ideally, get up and do some exercise but if not, just get up, shower and get dressed!

2.       Get Prepared – Spend the first 15 minutes of the day getting organised so you know what the day is going to bring

3.       Get Flexible – Although plans are important you need to build in flex for emergencies or changes, there is nothing worse than the stress that a derailed plan can create

4.       Get You – Take a few minutes to do a few things for yourself, if you ignore the things you enjoy doing you’ll be thinking about them all day, so take a cup of coffee and a book and read a chapter but set limits and make sure you’re using that time to centre and calm yourself but cracking on with the day.

Just a few thoughts to get your started. How do you get motivated first thing?