The Lagos Morning Reset: How to Build an Energizing Routine Despite the Traffic

“Obalende, all passengers.” The conductor shouted, for everyone on the bus to alight as it came to a halt. It was my first day, resuming at my new job on Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi. I still had to take a bus to Falomo, before a short walk to the office. As everyone scrambled to get down from the bus, I glanced at my powder blue shirt, soaked with sweat. We’d been stuck on third mainland bridge for the past 2 hours, despite leaving home at 5 a.m. It was how normal the chaos looked. People scurried along, rushing for the next bus to their destination, not minding the unpacked debris from the canal.
Lagos traffic doesn’t care about your ambitions or energy levels. By the time you crawl from Sango Ota to Lekki or sit trapped on Third Mainland Bridge, your morning motivation has evaporated. But what if you stopped fighting the traffic and built a routine that works around it instead?

Wake Up Before the City Does

While most Lagosians already do this, a closed bridge, road, or accident can derail your plans. We already lose our mornings to rushed showers, skipped breakfast, and frantic dashes to beat nonexistent gaps in traffic. But there’s an approach guarantees you start every day already stressed.

Set your alarm 90 minutes earlier than you think you need. Yes, it sounds brutal. But those quiet hours before Lagos fully wakes give you control over at least one part of your day. Use the first 30 minutes for yourself, not your phone. Stretch, meditate, or sit quietly with your thoughts. Cynthia, a banker in VI, started doing simple yoga stretches at 4:30 AM. Within two weeks, she noticed she handled office chaos better because her day started calmly instead of chaotically.

The next 30 minutes go to hygiene and getting dressed. Move deliberately, not frantically. Play music you actually enjoy, not just whatever auto-plays. When you rush through your morning routine, you train your nervous system to stay in panic mode all day.

Save the final 30 minutes for breakfast and mental preparation when you get to work. While you may not be able to eat that early. You can pack your meal or order from your favourite kitchen once you get close to work. Eat something substantial. Bread and tea might not sustain you through Lagos hustle. Your brain needs fuel to function, especially when you’re about to spend most of your day at work and in traffic.

Turn Your Commute into Learning Time

Traffic steals hours you’ll never get back. Stop treating it like dead time and convert it into personal development.

Download audiobooks or podcasts before you leave home. Apps like Audible, Spotify, or YouTube let you learn skills, understand industries, or explore topics you never have time for otherwise. That daily crawl from Ikorodu to CMS could teach you personal finance, or a new language, over several months. John, an entry level HR personnel in Ikeja, used his commute to listen to HR podcasts. Eight months later, ideas from those shows helped him ace his Associate Professional in Human Resources (aPHRi) exams. He turned traffic time into MBA-level education without paying fees.

For drivers, audiobooks work perfectly. For those in buses or on the BRT, reading works too. Keep a book or tablet loaded with material that interests you. Even 20 minutes daily compounds into serious knowledge over a year.

Avoid mindless scrolling through Twitter or Instagram unless it genuinely relaxes you. Social media during commutes usually increases stress because you’re seeing everyone else’s highlight reel while you’re stuck in traffic.

Prepare Everything the Night Before

Morning chaos happens because you’re making too many decisions when your brain is still booting up. Shift those decisions to the evening.

Choose your outfit before bed. Lay it out completely, including shoes, accessories, and that belt you always forget. This saves 15 minutes of standing in front of your wardrobe feeling overwhelmed.

Pack your bag with everything you need: laptop, chargers, documents, snacks, and water. Check it twice. Nothing derails a morning like realizing you left critical items at home when you’re already in Surulere traffic.

Prep breakfast ingredients. If you’re making eggs, get the pan out. If it’s oats, measure portions into containers. Cook beans or stew on Sunday and portion them for the week. Reheating takes minutes. Cooking from scratch every morning guarantees you’ll skip meals.

Sade, a content creator in Yaba, spends Sunday evenings planning outfits and meals for the entire week. She reclaimed 45 minutes every morning and stopped arriving at work already exhausted from decision fatigue.

Build Physical Movement into Your Morning

Sitting in traffic for hours destroys your body slowly. Morning movement counteracts some of that damage and floods your system with energy.

You don’t need a gym membership or fancy equipment. Ten minutes of bodyweight exercises work. Pushups, squats, planks, and jumping jacks raise your heart rate and wake up muscles that would otherwise stay dormant until you finally stand up at the office.

If exercise feels impossible, just walk. Circle your compound a few times. Walk to the next bus stop instead of the closest one. Movement matters more than intensity when you’re starting.

Dancing works too. Put on Afrobeats and move for one song. You’ll feel ridiculous at first, but your body doesn’t care about looking cool. It just needs to move. A Lagos-based doctor started doing 15 minutes of stretching and light exercise every morning. Her chronic back pain from sitting in traffic reduced significantly within a month. Movement became medication.

Protect Your Mental Space

Lagos bombards you with noise, chaos, and stress before you even clock in. Protecting your mental energy in the morning determines how well you handle everything that comes later.

Stop checking work emails before you leave home. That urgent message will still be urgent when you get to the office, but now you’ve spent your commute anxious about something you can’t fix yet.

Limit news consumption in the morning. Nigerian news cycles thrive on bad news that spikes your cortisol. Save the doom-scrolling for later if you must do it at all.

Practice gratitude for three minutes. Think of three specific things going well in your life. Not vague statements like “I’m blessed” but concrete things like “my landlord didn’t increase rent” or “my siblings are healthy.” This small practice rewires your brain away from constant complaint mode.

A teacher in Surulere keeps a gratitude journal by her bed. Writing three things every morning shifted her entire outlook. She still deals with Lagos stress, but it doesn’t consume her the way it used to.

Make One Non-Negotiable Habit

Trying to overhaul your entire morning at once leads to burnout and quitting within days. Pick one practice from this list and commit to it for 30 days. Maybe it’s waking earlier or it’s eating a real breakfast. Perhaps it’s using commute time for learning. Choose what resonates most with your current struggles.

Track it simply. Mark an X on your calendar for each day you complete the habit. The chain of X marks becomes motivation to keep going.

After 30 days, the habit feels natural. Then add another one. Build gradually instead of attempting perfection immediately.

Will You Let Lagos Control Your Mornings Forever?

Traffic isn’t going anywhere. The stress won’t magically disappear. But you can choose whether Lagos chaos defines your entire day or just interrupts a few hours of it. The question isn’t whether you have time for a better morning routine. It’s whether you value yourself enough to create one despite the city fighting you at every turn.