8 Morning Routine Tips for Designers
Everyone’s talking about the importance of having a morning routine. Get up early, drink a glass of water, exercise, … feel accomplished and happy through the rest of the day. Sounds good, right?
But waking up is hard! And by the time I reach work I am frustrated with traffic, my hair is a mess and the only thing I want is coffee.
My assumption is that office morning routine can make mornings tolerable and inspire me for the rest of the day. Here are a couple of practices I am testing and find inspiring.
Feel free pick and mix them in with your favorite morning activities.
1.Take a picture
Time: 1 minute
I do this on my way to work as a mindfulness practice. The challenge is to take an Instagram worthy shot each morning, while the goal is to observe. Some days it’s easy, and some days I have to change my normal route to find something special.
2. Find a quote for the day
Time: 5 minutes
Find it in your Twitter feed or search the web for motivational quotes. Print it out or put it as a background on your phone. Don’t like quotes? — find a song!
3. Clean your workspace
Time: 2 minutes
Take a quick look at your desk from the user’s perspective. Go grab sticky notes if you need them, sort the pile of sketches from a week ago or do whatever makes you feel better about your workspace. If your desk is perfectly empty — skip this step.
4. Review the plan: choose your One Big Thing
Time: 5 minutes
If you have an evening office routine, you likely already have a list sitting on your desk. I try to create a TODO list for tomorrow every evening before going home.
Your evening ritual determines the success of your morning routine.
— Thomas Oppong
What is the goal you will focus on today? The more goals you set for the day, the bigger is the risk to not reach any of them. That’s why I use One Big Thing method (some also call it the 1–3–5 rule). It is a simple way to prioritize and define what’s important.
5. Read an article and choose resources for the day
Time: 10 minutes
I have a bad habit of opening a dozen tabs with interesting articles. And then I pin them … until I close them altogether not having any time to read.
If you can, try to dedicate 10 minutes of your morning time to read one article. Then, Choose a couple articles or videos you’d really like to go through today. I normally go with 3. This way, If I have a coffee break, feel tired or procrastinate I can feel better about it. Continuous learning is your everyday investment. 👩🏫
6. Work on motivation
Time: 10 minutes
There are multiple ways to increase motivation. I normally watch TED videos. They don’t make me feel like I’m wasting my time, are short, cover different topics and boost my motivation immediately. But If your motivation increases after watching a recipe video and planning your dinner — that’s also a great way!
7. Do something for your personal goal
Time: 15–20 minutes
Hundreds of crazy ideas run through my mind every day (“Wouldn’t it be cool to have an app for…” — you know what I mean). Not long ago I started writing down all those ideas. So now I can keep myself busy — I have projects to design.
You may have a completely different goal (learn a new tool, finally create a portfolio..) but it likely can be split into multiple manageable chunks. Be one step closer to your goal every day. Something as simple as a social media post, or a quick research will move you towards your goal.
8. Get up and talk to someone
Time: 10 minutes
No matter how attached you are to your computer, get up and say hi to someone. Learn from others, tell a story, go outside to buy coffee. You might not have time to have a chat with a colleague during the day, but mornings are great for this!
May your mornings bring you joy!
Don’t feel like you have to do it all — having breakfast with a friend is a good reason to skip the routine altogether.
If you decide to follow each step, choose some you can do on your way to work. The whole routine should not take you more than an hour in the morning.
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I will be excited to read responses about your morning routine and things that inspire you!
