Freshly woken up young woman enjoying the morning sun rays.
Freshly woken up young woman enjoying the morning sun rays.
When it comes to waking up on the wrong side of the bed, we have all had our fair share of rude awakenings and bad starts.
Your alarm failed to go off. Your coffee machine burnt your coffee. You messed porridge on your favourite tie. You missed the bus. It’sraining hailstorms. Can this day get any worse? More often that not ... it usually does.
But is there a failsafe solution to a good morning every morning?
The Herald chatted to mental performance coach David Niethe, who has helped athletes such as Lydia Ko, Israel Adesanya and Kai Kara-France get out of bed, onto the podium and put their best foot forward to achieve their goals. And what he had to say might surprise you ...
Start your day with a glass of water — the effects will amaze you. Photo / 123rf
Setting up your hydration station first thing is apparently key to an optimal day, and perhaps, an optimal life.
“First thing in the morning, before you have breakfast, before you have coffee, before you do anything, have a glass of water,” says Niethe.
“We tend to dehydrate and if we start [the day] with water, we start ourselves neurologically in the right place because we’ve given the body what it needs to be operative.”
Niethe adds, “It helps with just allowing you to be a little bit more focused.”
We have all been privy to the morning craze, the AM dash and the chaos that seems to detonate in the kitchen at 8am. Niethe says the key to a good day is minimising that household stress as much as possible.
For Niethe, that stress is relieved by quality time with his wife.
“We are an amazing team and so every morning we spend time together to discuss the week’s affairs, what’s required, etc”, says Niethe.
“Having really good, quiet time with the people we love is really important.”
Mental performance coach David Niethe.
Plan your day
“The most important resource for all of us, I think, is time,” says Niethe.
Planning your day to get optimal use out of your time and energy is a crucial factor when starting your day, not only to feel on top of your work but to get the most out of your 24 hours.
“In fact,” he says, “spending 10 to 15 minutes planning your day will give you an extra hour.”
What’s more, just taking a few minutes in the morning to work out your calendar could be the difference between smooth sailing and a choppy sea. And if we’re sticking with ocean metaphors, it could see you have the best boat day yet.
“Time goes very quickly. Time is not something you can get back. So it’s about having a strategy to maximise time,” he adds.
Big no-nos
Scrolling is wasting time. And if you’re wasting time first thing in the morning then it becomes habitual. Photo / Getty Images
For all you screen-scrollers — me included — who can’t fully open their eyes without the blue light of their mobile phones burning through their sockets, sadly, it’s time to put down the device.
Niethe says starting your day with a clear purpose is of the utmost importance. Scrolling on social media is a hard, firm no.
“Scrolling is wasting time,” he says. “And if you’re wasting time first thing in the morning then it becomes habitual. You are generating and creating habitual behaviours that are incongruent with being fulfilled in life.
“I think that it sets a foundation,” he affirms. “Because if you’re scrolling in the morning, I’ll guarantee you, you’re consistently scrolling through other parts of the day.”
Our lack of sleep affects the way we deal with the stress we can’t avoid. Photo / Getty Images
Slacking on your sleep
How important is catching some Zs? “It’s foundational,” says Niethe. “It’s not negotiable.”
As Niethe said earlier, waking up the right way should all be about minimising the amount of stress in our lives. Our lack of sleep affects the way we deal with the stress we can’t avoid.
“There’s always going to be a certain amount of stress and anxiety in life”, says Niethe. “It’s all about having better strategies to support the individual to be able to navigate their way through those challenges.
“Now, if you’re well rested, then I would suggest to you that your ability to deal with some of the challenges throughout your day will be a lot easier to deal with.
Setting an alarm
This one might raise some eyebrows but Niethe swears by it — and has for years.
“One thing I’ve enjoyed is I’ve never ever in 30 years had to be woken up by an alarm clock,” says Niethe.
“Waking up to an alarm is quite stressful” — which is, as we know, a big no in Niethe’s guidebook to a good morning.
“All we’re simply doing, the underlying thing we have to appreciate, is how we minimise the stress and anxiety in our lives,” he says.
Another perspective
Live by design, not by default. Photo / Getty Images
Perhaps another way of looking at daily structures is this: instead of contemplating the best morning routine to have a great day, question how to have a great day to make those mornings a little better.
A concept Niethe lives by is: “life by design, not by default”.
Taking your life into your own hands might be the perfect way to start your day best and is something that will not only set the tone for your day, but set the vision for your life.
“I think there’s something really refreshing in creating a sense of curiosity,” he says.
“Nietzsche talked about this, he said we can all be part of the herd or we can take responsibility to be an individual. And I think when you go back to what I was saying earlier about life by design, that’s a wonderful way to navigate your way through this world because you have a sense of purpose.
“Unfortunately, most people just wake up and suffer another day.”
“I’ll be constantly looking at my personal development in the sense of, you know, what are some of my limiting beliefs? Where are some of my fears? How do I overcome them? That’s a life lived,” he adds.
Niethe concluded with a statement that really hit the message home — and will stick with you throughout breakfast.
“You are the most magnificent project you’ll ever work on. How cool is that?”
And if those aren’t words to get you out of bed in the morning, I don’t know what are.
