The routine changing my daily outlook

More and more, I’m aware of the sentiment that the longer you spend on your phone from the minute you wake up, the more likely you are to dull your energy and spirit for the rest of the day. With this mind, I wanted to run an experiment on myself to see what effect looking at my phone immediately after waking up was having on me. 

It’s no secret that I have been experimenting with my online consumption and habitual behaviours within that, specific to my phone usage. I reflect on the fact that I open my phone immediately after waking up (snoozing a couple of alarms in the process). Once it’s open, for some strange reason my brain wants to press all the shiny buttons illuminating the screen. 

If I was to have to explain to you the necessity behind opening those apps at 5am, I couldn’t. I can’t justify needing to use certain apps straight away and yet my mind dictates that I should. There are exceptions; I might be meeting a friend for a ride or a run and maybe I need to remind myself of the meeting spot or check they didn’t cancel. Fair enough.

However, click the wrong addictive little icon at your peril. Once you’re into an app that you didn’t need to be in, there are incredibly sophisticated forces to keep you in that app for as long as possible; notifications that aren’t really important, carefully crafted content to create fear and anxiety, and fleeting exchanges from people we don’t know that well. Then you come to.

You come out of this daze of autopiloted, zombied nothingness, to realise you are absolutely knackered, not that stoked about the day ahead and 10 minutes behind where you wanted to be. Now this hasn’t been every morning for me, but many have started in this way and I’m kind of sick a tired of it to be honest. I’ve got some big goals I want to hit in my lifetime and some meaningful work I want to do, so I decided that I’m not going to settle for this and I’m going to slowly change that behaviour.

In the last two weeks, here’s an example of what that change looks like. I wake up, stop the alarm, walk out of my bedroom to my kit that’s already laid out the night before. I get a drink, I put my clothes on, even do some squats or strap my glass ankle before my run. I switch up my running hat for a coherent outfit, tie my laces with intention and think about the session ahead; where will I be running? Who’ll be there? How far should I run in order to support my weekly distance goal? I’m done, I’m ready and I’m excited. Before stepping out though, I should check my phone. The running group is on WhatsApp; no messages? No worries! We are on. 

I’m out the door in good time, I run at a manageable pace to the meeting point (rather than madly time trialling with enormous tunes pumping in my ears to blast my body into action). Very importantly, when I get there I am very level; there was nothing I saw this morning that derailed my mood or even made me feel remotely negative… I just got out of bed and ran here. Revolutionary right? 

So you may be asking yourself what is so remarkable about this whole thing? Well, I’m obviously not looking at my phone when I’m running and then at post run coffees, we’re into some endorphin filled chatter. By the time I’m back and getting ready for work, I’ve literally had the most incredible start to my day; I ran with my mates, saw the sun rise, laughed, felt their wins (and their concerns and challenges), and I feel bloody good. In this process, I started my day on my own terms. I decided what entered my mind and shaped my world. I didn’t let the algorithm do that for me.

So the rule is; no apps until after my session.

Maybe your thing on a morning isn’t a training session. Maybe you do a gym class or walk a pup. Maybe you just wake up and go to work! Try making your own rule based on your routine where you control the reality of your day and let me know how you go!