Great Routines

1. A good breakfast can still be fast and easy

This is a great idea which can help you get your morning routine going. If you find it hard to eat breakfast every day because it’s too much effort or takes too long, this one’s for you.
Preparing your breakfast the night before by getting out the dishes you’ll need or cutting up fruit pieces can save you time the next morning. You might want to opt for a simple meal like cereal to save time and effort as well.
If something more time-intensive like oatmeal is your thing, you can make breakfast for the whole week in 5 minutes – perfect for a Sunday night before your week starts.
Here are some other fast, easy breakfast recipes you could try:

• Dressed-up yogurt
• Oatmeal muffins
• Oatmeal breakfast bars
• Parfait
• Frozen fruit smoothie
• Omelette in a pita

Do you have another great breakfast recipe that’s easy to make? Share it in the comments below!

2. An alarm to wake you up might not be enough – have one to tell you to go to sleep

Most of us have alarms to wake us up in the mornings but we all-too-easily stay up later than we plan to. Having an alarm to remind us when it’s bedtime can be a great help in sticking to a regular routine for sleep. Setting an alarm to tell him when to go to bed is even more effective than one to get you up in the mornings.
To get you ready to wake up fresh and rested the next day, try simulating natural sleeping patterns as much as possible. An alarm clock like this that simulates sunrise, or even a gentle alarm sound like birds chirping can help you wake up more gently in the morning. Making your bedroom pitch-black and keeping the temperature low (and consistent) can also help with a more restful sleep.

3. Switch yourself off at night to sleep better

A nightly wind-down routine is one we pay particular attention to. Many of us have found that this makes a big difference to how much—and how well—we sleep.

Disengage: An activity to allow total disengagement from the day’s work. For me, this is going for a 20 minute walk every evening at 9:30pm. I think about the greater challenges, gradually stop thinking about work and reach a state of tiredness.

Avoid re-engaging: After the activity, go straight to bed. Be sure that all electronics are in a separate room to the one you sleep (volume off). Once in bed, if you have to sleep with the TV on, like me, do so. :)

You might want to try a walk, or some quiet reading time. Some more great wind-down activities are meditation, drinking tea, sitting quietly, stretching and taking a bath.

4. Develop a morning routine that you keep on weekends too

I think that allowing imperfection and some laziness during the weekend is important, but I personally made the mistake of having a weekend wake up time which was too divergent from my week day wake up time. Just go to bed early Sunday night

 I’m prone to have big sleep-ins and late nights on weekends, which can make my morning routine much harder to get into on a Monday morning.

5. Take note of  your habits to understand yourself better

It takes time and effort to track everything you do over a day. I recently started tracking my weekday activities and noticed that remembering to track each activity is the hardest part for me.

Having said that, if you can put in the effort for a few days, you might find the insights you need to improve your daily routine. Understanding how you live right now can help you to work towards how you want to live.
With habits especially, it’s good to follow Richard Branson’s advice and start something before you feel ready. It’s one of the most powerful things that has helped him succeed.