The first 10 minutes: why breaking your morning routine can ruin your day
Duration: 10 minutes.
Appearance: The surest sign that you're about to have a terrible day.
Ten minutes doesn't seem very long. Apparently that's all it takes. A new study has concluded that 37% of us can work out whether we're going to have a good day or a bad day, based on what happens during the first 10 minutes after we wake up.
Really? But isn't everyone too busy journalling, meditating and sipping room temperature lemon water? God, you're annoying sometimes.
Still, you can't determine anything in 10 minutes. I disagree. This morning I slept through my alarm, realised too late that I'd run out of toilet roll and then pulled the handle off my kitchen drawer.
On purpose? No, of course not, but it does explain why I'm having such a terrible day.
How so? It takes us about 25 minutes to properly wake up, which is why we usually have a set sequence of events we like to follow. The disruption of that sequence – maybe forgetting to brush your teeth or make coffee or exercise – can have a knock-on effect that reverberates throughout the rest of the day.
Wait, everyone has a routine? Almost everyone, yes. Yours might be pretty simple – go to the toilet, make a drink, do some stretching – but other people have slightly more elaborate ones.
Such as? Well, Anna Wintour famously likes to have played an hour of tennis before her 6am blow-dry. Mark Wahlberg wakes up at 3.30am and then spends time praying. More recently, the influencer Ashton Hall shared that he wakes up at 3.52am and immediately starts plunging his face into various ice baths.
Yes, me too. Oh really? Either way, these people use their routines to set the foundation of their day. I'm sure that if you sneaked into Ashton Hall's house and stole his ice baths, he'd have a terrible day.
I'm not getting up that early. Fine then, do what Cindy Crawford does instead.
Which is what? She likes to watch the sunrise from the hot tub of her Malibu mansion every morning.
Relatable. Even so, an easily repeatable morning routine is the best way to ensure a good day. It helps to streamline it, too. If your first 10 minutes involve making a cup of coffee, you'll have a better day if you make sure that all your mugs are clean before you go to bed. If they involve going to the toilet, make sure you've got plenty of toilet paper, so you won't end up stuck there until someone kindly brings you some.
Was that one just for you? No, let's pretend it happens to everyone.
Do say: 'For a better life, start your day with a routine.'
Don't say: 'Can that routine involve waking up, panicking for half an hour, then doomscrolling until you're running late for work?'
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