Almost any job in the world comes with a certain level of stress. Though sometimes it might be motivational – depending on each individual, the overall effects of stress over time are negative. Regardless of what your current job is, whether you’re a CEO or a developer, high levels of stress will undoubtedly affect your productivity, as well as your physical and mental health. This is a proven fact that no one can argue with. We must learn to accept it in order to start fixing it.
After many years of working in stressful environments, I recently accepted the hard truth that I’m not invincible, and if I don’t start taking better care of myself, both my professional and my personal life will be affected. Stress made me less productive at my job over time, and disturbed my health as well, sometimes even leading to depression. My motivation was low most of the times, I never got enough sleep, and I got to a point where I wasn’t even making any efforts to be sociable anymore. My general mood was sort of a weird combination between anger and indifference. I knew that something had to be changed.
First step: acceptance
After some research, probably similar to the one you are doing right now, my conclusion was that this whole feeling might be stress-related. I dug a little deeper and I identified a few changes that were not very difficult to make, but could still have a significant impact. I generally get a lot of positive energy from good conferences and trainings, so I made sure to attend a similar event to start the whole process on a high note. Lucky for me there was a TED conference close-by, just a week away.
First thing that I changed was my morning routine, and that’s what I will be describing next, because the start of your day can generally dictate what follows next. I used to wake up about 30 minutes before leaving for work, eat nothing, watch a TV show while I got dressed, and have a sip of coffee on my way out, maybe even bite into a doughnut. When I arrived at work, I was actually still waking up. If you can relate, then read on.
The big secret for a better start is to get your body and your mind in the desired mood. That might differ depending on your job. The right mood for me (as a manager) is to be relaxed, but still with high levels of energy. My morning routine is both an energy build-up, as well as a stress-reliever.
Here’s exactly how I start my usual day:
7:25 – 7:30 AM: Wake up (without snooze). I never was a morning person. I like sleeping too much, therefore snooze was part of my every alarm. I enjoyed the feeling of having an extra 15 minutes to sleep, but even if I got enough hours of good sleep, I still felt sleepy throughout the day. Studies have shown that by snoozing, you actually fragment the remaining time of your sleep, and start a new sleep cycle that you won’t finish, which makes you sleepy through the rest of the day.
7:30 – 8:10 AM: Yoga and a fast jogging session. I usually keep by my bed a glass of water with a lemon squeeze in it that I drink immediately after I wake up. After the usual splash of cold water on my face, I get immediately into my starting lotus pose. My routine revolves around relaxing and stretching core exercises, nothing too heavy. It evolved from this workout, which is an excellent starting point, both for stress relief and weight-loss. The entire exercise adds up to about 18 minutes, and I found it extremely useful at the start of the day, as well as after work.
If the weather is favorable, my morning continues with a quick jogging session of about 10 minutes of 2/4s and 3/4s (4/4 would mean your best sprint). Since I don’t want to spend too much time jogging, I increase and decrease my running intensity each 50 meters or so – 50 meters I run at 3/4 speed, and the next 50 meters at 2/4 speed. The relaxing wake-up workout adds up to about 40 minutes, including showering.
8:10 – 8:40 AM: Healthy food. I replaced coffee with green tea for some time now, and to be honest, I feel much healthier. I’m not implying that coffee is necessarily bad for you, it’s just a piece of advice that I wanted to try out, and so far I’m happy I made the switch. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it should be treated as such because it fuels your day. Furthermore, having a good breakfast each day, will decrease your appetite in the evening, when you should be eating lighter food anyway. My breakfast is usually rich in green vegetables – salads mostly, tomatoes – or whichever vegetable is in season, 2-egg omelet (or scrambled), and a small amount of light cheese and light beacon (like pancetta) or chicken pastrami. There are many healthy breakfast meals that will improve the start of your day, and my example should not be considered as the only possible option.
8:40 – 8:50 AM: Healthy information. In some ways, your brain reacts to information just like your body reacts to food. If you consume too much junk information, your brain will suffer. The information you consume in the morning will most likely impact your mood and productivity for the rest of the day, so choose carefully. I usually use the last 10 minutes before leaving for work to read something that will inspire me through the day. Sometimes I just continue whichever book I’m reading, but usually I look for an article that either teaches me something new, or motivates me.
The total invested time in my morning routine adds up to about 1 hour and 20 minutes. This might seem like much, but it actually saves me time because I am more productive during the day, therefore I rarely have to put in extra hours at work, and some of my evening activities take less time as well (dinner and workout). I strongly recommend you start taking stress seriously, and start acting on it. Just a few changes can make a huge difference, and if you get your morning routine right, everything else will flow naturally, so that you can become the best possible version of yourself.
