Having a morning routine can help you be more productive and accomplished throughout your day. Having a routine that you can look forward to each morning can help you sleep easy at night and can help you in other areas of your life. Here are my top tips for establishing a morning routine and keeping it.
I was born at 8:35 pm at night and I swear, most nights that time is when I’m activated. Being a night owl has some benefits to it, but honestly has mostly drawbacks. My husband goes to bed early because he wakes up at the crack of dawn every day and for awhile there, as much as I hate to admit this. I was going to bed when he was waking up. Insert embarrassed emoji here. This is turn messed up my hormones, changed my mental outlook, and I just wasn’t productive throughout the day. I knew something had to change and fast. So, I started a morning routine. I set my alarm for a certain time every day and then 15-minutes earlier each day, until I started waking up a the time I wanted too. I’m not quire at my goal time yet, but I’m making progress.
I enjoy working in the evenings though so this transition has been hard. My house is quiet in the evenings. My dogs are usually asleep, (well everyone except Lincoln because he sleeps when I sleep.) My phone ins’t constantly going off and there are no distractions at night. I turn on Chris Botti and it’s a lot more peaceful. So I’m trying to turn this nighttime routine into a morning routine. Here are the things I’ve started to do to help me with this transition.
First things first are I prep my coffee at night. Invest in a decent coffee make on Amazon and get one that has a self-timer so that you can set your coffee to be made a certain time in the morning. There is nothing like the smells of coffee percolating in the morning to gently wake you out of bed. I make bulletproof coffee nearly every morning so I also make sure my blender is cleaned and ready to go the night before. No thought process needed, just wake and drink from the coffee nectar gods.
Start the day with a gentle mindset. I like to start my day on a gentle note so the second thing I do is meditate. Meditating first thing in the morning helps me so much that I actually look forward waking up in the morning. I use a meditation app on my iPad and pick an easy 5-minute one. I literally meditate in bed, but you can also move to another space and do it. But I find meditating in bed before I’m actually out of it, helps me the most. Morning meditation is great because I can leave the creepy crawly’s behind from the night before and approach the day in a loose and light manner. Many times, I’ll also meditate with a mantra and that helps me focus in the morning. Each week it’s different and this week it’s: “You’ve done all you can do at this time.” That mantra helps alleviate a lot of pressure and simply breathe.
After I meditate, I stretch. Our bodies were meant to move and stretching first thing in the morning feels so good. From there, I brush my teeth and repeat helpful mantras to myself as I’m brushing away. Stating mantras while I’m doing something mindless helps me focus and start my day on the right foot.
From there, I feed the pups and make my bulletproof coffee. Then, I like to dive into a short yoga routine. I like to do short 15-minute morning yoga sequence. Moving and stretching first thing in the morning is so important and gives me a stable sense of calm. Ideally, I’d like to move my afternoon runs to the mornings, especially as we transition into fall, so next week I’ll start doing that. Yoga and then running is truly the perfect morning and helps the dog release a lot of energy too. That way, we all get our energy out on the trail before we tackle our day.
Let’s recap: Prepping your stuff in the evenings can help your mornings be easy breezy. If you drink coffee or tea, prep it the night before so you don’t have to worry about it as you’re waking up. Meditation can do wonders and help you not only have a productive day, but also keep up your morning routine. Clear mind, clear goals, and less stress help you more accurately take on the day. The other benefit to morning meditation is that if something prickly does come up in your day, you can quickly release it. Meditation does wonders with helping to cope with the day-to-day stressors. Stretching, yoga, and mini movements to get your blood and energy flowing. Notice how I have not mentioned using my phone. I stay away from it for as long as possible in the mornings. I honestly try not to even look at it or touch it before noon if I can help it. The text messages, phone calls, and emails will still be there so take your morning to yourself and really enjoy it.
My morning routine isn’t perfect yet, and it still needs some fine-tuning like me moving my runs to the am, but slowly I’m making progress and waking up earlier each day. I hope my tips help you establish a comfortable morning routine that is versatile and works for you.
Let’s morning on my friends.
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