Designing Your Morning Routine

Intentional, focused, goal-oriented living begins with a morning routine. This small window of time has the ability to influence the rest of your day. To quote Tim Ferris, "If you win the morning, you win the day." You are in control of the tone you set for your day. Your morning routine has the ability to impact everything - your work, your family, your inner peace. Set a positive tone and set yourself up for success.

To get started, make a list of everything you would like to get done in the morning. Take note of why you are including specific tasks in your morning routine. Also make a note of any tasks that can be more conveniently completed the night before.

Once you have a list of the tasks to include, take a realistic view of how much time you have in the morning. What time are you willing to wake up? Sure, it's nice to have a load of laundry done before leaving for work in the morning, but is it something you're willing to wake up early to accomplish? Be realistic. The key to a long-lasting morning routine is turning tasks into habits. A task you don't realistically have time to complete will never become a habit and can lead to you viewing the whole concept of a morning routine as ineffective.

When building my morning routine, I knew two facts: 1) I couldn't possibly start my day any earlier than 5:30 a.m. and 2) I needed to have everything in my morning routine complete by 10:00 a.m.

It's important that you know how long your routine will take so you give yourself adequate time. No need to feel rushed if you plan ahead. The goal of having a morning routine is to help you feel organized, relaxed, and "put together."

Let me share my morning routine with you:

• Wake up, moisturize my face, brush my teeth, and make my bed.
• 10-15 minute workout followed by a 10-20 minute morning yoga practice.
• 10-15 minute morning meditation
• Shower and dress for the day.
• Take vitamins (multi-vitamin, biotin, and extra vitamin C)
• Attend to my appearance: hair, makeup, jewelry, accessories, etc.
• Make breakfast (side note: if you can use breakfast time to connect with your partner and/or family, I highly encourage you to do so. Dan and I love our breakfast time together, whether it's freshly-baked cinnamon rolls on the back porch or coffee and toast around the kitchen table. It's just a wonderful way to enjoy the morning calm.)

• Pack lunches (I try to make sure this is done the night before, but if for some reason it didn't get done, it's part of my morning routine. Having adequate nutrition throughout the day is imperative for learning and productivity, so this is a priority.)
• Do dishes. I am a stickler on never leaving dirty dishes in the sink overnight, but the darnedest things happen in a houseful of teenagers. I don't like leaving for work with dirty dishes in the sink, so I will unload the dishwasher that I ran the night before, reload it with anything in the sink and wash whatever can't go in the dishwasher. The only thing I dislike more than waking up to dirty dishes is coming home after work to dirty dishes. Basically, I just don't like dirty dishes.
• Laundry. I like to throw a load of laundry in before work. Our schedules are flexible enough that it can be switched during the day and folded when we come home in the evening. Just makes life easier to get at least one load of laundry done every day.
• Clean bathrooms. I don't mean hands and knees, scrubbing tiles. I love the term "swish and swipe," which I picked up from FlyLady years ago. Basically, clean your mirror, your sink, your toilet and the floor around your toilet (especially if you have boys). When you're done, take out the trash. Deep cleaning can wait until the evening or the weekend, but these five small tasks will keep your bathroom tolerable and mostly un-stinky.
• Plan for your day. I am a planner junkie. I swear by it. After trying multiple different planners, including Erin Condren, Happy Planner, Panda Planner, and others, I found that what works best for me is just making my own from free printables found on pinterest or the web. Some of my favorite creators are Sheena of the Journal and the Scattered Squirrel.

Now, you may be wondering if my morning always works out exactly like this. Hahaha. No. I'll be honest, it usually does. I'm a pretty big believer in a morning routine and it's really important to me to follow it as much as possible. These things have become habit to me and they set a positive tone for my day.

That being said, be flexible. The order I laid out above works great for days I'm at home all day or don't have to be in the office until 10 a.m. But on days that I need to be at work by 7:30 or 8:00 a.m., a little flexibility is required. On those days, I tend to do everything on my list except my morning workout, yoga, meditation, and planning. I then grab my yoga mat on my way out of the door and take 30-45 minutes after getting to the office to complete those key components of my day. I may not always do everything in perfect order, but they almost always all get done.

Except when they don't. Days with no morning routine are few and far between for me. Even when traveling, these things are a priority. But there are still days when I just can't. And you will have those, too. Family emergencies, illness, even a last minute invite to morning coffee with a friend you haven't seen in ages. Don't be so rigid that you lose sight of your priorities. Your morning routine is designed to be a support tool, not a demanding stressor. That would completely defeat the purpose. If you find your morning routine is not working for you, is not setting the proper tone for your day, or worse, is making you feel negatively about yourself and your ability to accomplish tasks, please take a moment and re-evaluate what you have included.

You can always DM me and we can work on building an effective morning routine together!

If you already have a morning routine that works for you, please comment below and share any additional advice you have regarding creating and implementing a new routine. I would love to hear any additional pointers!