Why I love a morning routine
My morning routine
Morning routines for me are the difference between starting the day clear headed and going into the day feeling hazy, grumpy and stressed.
It doesn’t take me long but I definitely notice the difference on the days where I skip it completely!
How my mornings used to look
Once upon a time my morning routine was very regimented. It looked something like this:
Wake up 5am. Get ready and have breakfast by 5.30am then catch the 6am train to the city centre. Go to the gym for 6.45 until 8am then shower and get dressed for work and start work at 9.30am after a healthy breakfast.
Fast forward to post pandemic life and my routine doesn’t look the same at all. I work from home 3 days a week and go in to the office 2 days a week. It has definitely taken me time to experiment with what works as office days definitely consume a LOT of energy and I needed to factor that in.
My current morning routine:
This is what my morning routine looks like on the majority of my days now:
10-15 minutes of journaling,
15 minutes of reading.
10 minutes of planning time.
It’s important to note that when I’m looking through my planner, I’m looking to see what I have on my agenda for the day. The actual planning session itself happens at a separate stage either on a Thursday or Saturday in my weekly planning meeting with myself.
Notice I said the majority of my days. I don’t stick to it 100%. There are days when I shift things around or parts of the routine don’t happen and that is what I love about my morning routine. It’s flexible and works for me. It’s about doing what feels good to get my day started.
My challenge
Something I have been really wanting to implement is a regular workout routine and gone are the days of waking up 5am and heading to the gym. I work out at home using dumbbells and glute bands. I love it but creating a routine has been really tough. I experimented with working out first thing in my day or after journaling and whilst I loved the hit of endorphins in the morning the lack of sleep started to catch up with me. Especially on longer work days and office days. By 3pm I would be ready for bed! It was definitely not sustainable.
Now I experiment with a variety of options. On office days I set a step target and get outdoors for lunch. On work from home weekdays, I get in an afternoon Pilates session or weights session from my living room. Then on weekends I work out in the mornings before I spend time with family and friends. So far it seems to be working well but it has only been a few weeks. I will keep you posted on how it goes later in the year!
Morning routines were made to evolve as you do
Just because a morning routine once didn’t work for you doesn’t mean that it cant work for you now.
You may feel like you have zero time for a morning routine and that is where the beauty of a morning routine comes in. You can have one that lasts as little as 5 minutes or make it as long as a whole hour. You get to decide how long it is and what you do. The main thing is that is entirely for YOU.
It also doesn’t need to happen all in one chain or even straight after waking up. There are days when my morning sequence happens closer to midday, and it works for my life. Do what you feel works for you. It takes time to trial and error and really experiment to get to the sweet spot.
Tips to make morning routines fun
Take the pressure off. If you’re constantly putting pressure to tick things off in your morning routine it will quickly add to up a stressful part of the day.
Put something fun into your morning routine so that you wake up looking forward to having time to yourself. For me this means having a cup of coffee or a breakfast smoothie (peanut butter chocolate protein milkshake anyone??)
I also like to listen to my favorite music playlists on Spotify whilst I journal as it creates a mini retreat style vibe.
Find a favourite mug you like for your morning coffee, or a cute notebook and pen to use for journaling. These things will start to become anchors the more you use them and you will begin to associate them with starting your day off peacefully and on your terms.
Busy seasons of life
You may be in a season of life where morning routines feel like extra pressure and so you would rather have one anchor for the morning then get going. That is completely ok and just know what when you get to a more spacious season of life that you will be able to experiment with doing things for you. Typical examples of these kinds of seasons are in early parenthood and pregnancy and also during the grief period where nothing is predictable. What works one day my not work the next and so routines can feel like schedules instead of an anchor. Remember to be kind to yourself and that morning routines can be slowly phased in when you are ready.
When I’m in hectic seasons of life I find a timer block is my best friend. I set a timer for 5 minutes and do a 5 minute journaling session followed by 5 minutes of reading and then 5 minutes of movement. The benefits from such a short morning routine have proved to be absolutely amazing. It sounds non life changing but my gosh some of my best days have come after a streamlined morning routine. Then at the weekends I lean into a longer routine and make an experience of all the different steps. This works for my current season of life so remember do what works for YOU.
Building a morning routine from scratch
If you like the idea of a morning routine and want to build one I would start with brainstorming a list of things you enjoy doing and things you want to do in the morning. My only rule is that your morning needs to leave you feeling refreshed and ready for the day so don’t go a sweaty cardio work out if you absolutely hate them!
From there you can pick a few different things and try them out one at a time. So for example if you want to journal in the morning try adding in 5 minutes of it daily until you feel it become a habit. Then you can layer on the next thing such as reading or meditation or exercise and so on. The key is not to write a whole list of items and immediately start with the whole list tomorrow. You will put too much pressure on yourself and this can result in questioning the point of any morning routine at all!
What does your morning routine look like today?