You can make your days feel great with a morning routine that is designed to with your goals in mind.
What is a morning routine?
A morning routine is a set of tasks, habits or activities you do first thing in the morning to set yourself up for success.
What are the benefits of a morning routine?
A morning routine is what you make it. You can connect your morning routines to your big goals and watch as you start to get closer to living your dream life.
The benefits are:
- build confidence
- reduce stress
- build resilience
- improve your mental health
Do I need to wake up at 5 am?
No, you do not need to wake up at 5am to have a productive morning routine. Especially if you are not a morning person or you tend to go to bed later. Getting enough sleep is just as important as a morning routine. Your morning routine can start at whatever time you choose and can have as many – or little – tasks as you want.
Let’s build your morning routine!
Your morning routine starts the night before. If you go to bed angry, frustrated thinking morning you is going to just magically wake up and take action on your goals. And when she doesn’t, you throw the entire morning routine out the window.
Yeah, I have been there.
Your morning routine starts the night before. Preparing for your next day will set you up for success.
Night Before Routine That Sets Up Your Morning Routine
- Tidy your space.
- Pick outfit
- Set Alarms or turn alarms off.
- A calming activity like music, colouring or a slow, non screen hobby.
- Set Intentions for the day
Your Morning Routine is What you Make it:
- Alarm vs no alarm
- Journaling
- Affirmations
- Learning something new
- Creative session
- Workout
- Getting ready playlist
- Outfit of the day
- Big breakfast vs quick breakfast
- Commute vs No Commute
Alarm vs No Alarm
Your morning routine will start with how you want to wake up or how you need to wake up. I know there is that dream life moment where you never have to set an alarm, just wake up and go with the flow. If this is something you want to strive for as a creative person then building multiple revenue streams is what you need to focus on. A 9 – 5 career can be one of them but having wealth (and not greedy billionaire wealth) but have your basic needs met, never worry about bills and help your community kind of wealth is where it’s at.
Back to your morning routine! You can live a piece of this freedom on your weekends or during vacations to align your energies to that future version of you. However, many of us have places to be and need an alarm to wake us up right now. So that means you can utilize your alarm. Setting an alarm just 10 minutes earlier to start can give you more time to spend on your morning routine. Here is how you can use you alarm to make your morning routine successful:
- Make the alarm sound your favourite song.
- Have a real alarm clock across the room so you have to get out of bed to turn it off.
- Instead of the word “alarm” appearing on your screen, write an affirmation that you read first thing.
Journaling
Journaling is a great thing to do in the morning to get all those thoughts out of your head and onto the paper. It’s also a great tool to help you understand yourself, discover patterns, limiting beliefs and even celebrate your wins.
Affirmations
I view affirmations as a starting point. When I use to save pins or write out quotes in my journal it always felt fake or disingenuous to myself. I knew I wasn’t really believing the quote. Now that I am on the other side of it. I believe that is the whole point of an affirmation. You need to affirm your new belief, or wish or dream as often as possible until your entire being, brain and body also believe it. In the morning you can write your affirmations in your journal, speak them out loud as you get ready or simply think them while you make your coffee.
Learning something new
One of the biggest ways to build confidence is trying new things, being bad at it and then pushing yourself to grow. This teaches you that you can work at something until you improve (but remember that you don’t have be an expert at something the moment you start it). Think of everything as being find-out-able and you will never have an obstacle that you cannot face.
During your morning you can read a book, listen to a podcast or watch a youtube video on a topic you do not know much about. This can start your day off with new knowledge.
Creative session
This is really my favourite thing to do in the mornings. Something creative. Whether writing, poetry, crochet or something without screen preferably. It slows your morning do, letting you just focus on the task in front of you. Set ten to 20 minutes or more if you have it to do something creative each morning.
Workout
Moving your body first thing is beneficial for your overall well being but it can also wake you up for the day. You also feel accomplished first thing in the morning. Your workout also does not need to be high intensity and sweaty. You an do alternate between dance workouts, stretching workouts, yoga, pilates and more. It is all about moving your body and setting time aside to workout.
Getting ready playlist
Music is a such a good tool for your mood. You can listen to sad songs when you are feeling meh and listen to happy, fun songs when you need a mood booster. Create a playlist filled with five of your favourite songs that will get you into a good mood. Listen to these while you are getting ready, the shower, making your coffee and see how you mood improves the more you do it.
Outfit of the day
This is where previous night you can make a difference. Pick out an outfit that you would like to wear the night before, something that makes you feel comfy and or confident. Preparing the night before can reduce your stress in finding an outfit or searching for socks before you leave the house.
Breakfast vs No Breakfast
Many people either love having breakfast or others do not. Neither is the “right” way to do things. As long as you are satisfied you choose how to make breakfast in the morning. Make time to be in the moment while you cook a full breakfast or grab overnight oats out of your fridge for a 10 am breakfast.
Commute vs No Commute
Lastly, your commute to work is essential to your morning routine. Mainly, how you think about your commute. The minute you get in the car are you angry and on edge with the anticipation of traffic. How can you reframe this? Can you enjoy the 30 minutes to an hour with an audio book, podcast, another feel good playlist? You could even do you affirmations while you are driving to focus you energy on what you working towards that day.
On the other side, if you work from home and have no commute. How do you transition from your morning routine into work? Make sure to carve out a designated space for your work from home self in order to differentiate from home time to work time.
What makes a successful productive morning routine?
You get to define what productivity means for you and determine what you want to get done each morning. You might have a longer morning routine and shorter routine depending on your week or menstrual cycle. The only thing you have to keep in mind is your morning routine should set you up for success and make you feel good.
Now you can use these 10 things to build your own morning routine that suites your life and you can add somethings and remove others as you work towards building your dream life.