Let’s talk morning routines. Having a few beneficial things you do first thing in the morning is a great way to set you up for a successful day. It’s also a great way to make sure that you do the few things that you identify as being most important to you. I’ve researched the morning routines of highly successful people and how to set up successful routines. I’ll talk about some morning routine ideas in a minute, but first I want to say that the “best” routine is going to be different for everyone. I also want to say that it shouldn’t be complicated or take hours to accomplish. Think about the things that are most important to you. Create a routine that you can actually do every day or almost every day. If you’re not doing it daily, it won’t become a habit and won’t be as helpful to you. The idea is that this is a small (probably under an hour) set of things that you do every morning no matter what else is going on. Of course exceptions will come up, but not very often. Here are some morning routine ideas. Feel free to choose things from different categories below or come up with your own ideas. If you want to live a healthier lifestyle Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning. It’s even better with some lemon squeezed into it. Besides aiding hydration, it improves skin quality, aids in digestion and has been shown to aid weight loss. Get moving. Some people put their exercise routine into their morning routine and if that works for you, great. If not, it’s beneficial to just get moving in some fashion even if it’s only for 5 min and then stretch. It increases your energy and improves your mood. Also, studies found that exercising on an empty stomach can burn as much as 20 percent more fat than when a meal is eaten first. Make a smoothie. Having a morning smoothie is a great way to make a habit out of packing nutrition into your morning. Eating a healthy breakfast also sets you up to eat healthier for the rest of the day and it improves mood and gives you energy. If you want to relax more Try meditation. 20 minutes is great, but even 10 minutes each morning will help. Meditation has so many benefits. Here are just a few: It reduces stress, lowers anxiety, improves sleep, lengthens attention span and reduces age related memory loss. Check out this article for more details. Headspace is a great meditation app for your phone and it has a number of meditations that are totally free. Also, Tara Brach is amazing and has many free guided meditations on her website. Avoid Tech. You may want to put your phone on airplane mode when you go to bed and leave it like that until after your morning routine is over. You will definitely be more focused and relaxed if you aren’t getting interrupted with texts and phone calls. Journal. Journaling can be a great way to work through your thoughts or be creative. You can journal about your To Do list (or Brain Dumps), your feelings or hopes and dreams. It’s up to you. It’s a great way to get what’s in your head out on paper and it’s also relaxing. This one gives you prompts or this one is blank. If you want to be more productive or organized Make Your Bed. This can simply be pulling the covers up and straightening them out. We’re not looking for perfection here. The simple act of making your bed first thing in the morning is a small accomplishment and psychologically, it puts you into a more productive mind set. It also makes your room look more orderly which is calming and has been shown to help with focus. Plan Your Day. It’s really beneficial to define about 3 tasks that you want to accomplish that day. I typically look at my “brain dump” list and decide what I need to get done that day. I like to use a physical planner for that, but you could also use a phone app. Spend 15 minutes sprucing. It’s tough to feel organized and be productive when your living space is a disaster. If this is you, it may be beneficial to spend about 15 minutes each morning just putting things away, decluttering or cleaning one area of the house. It can be whatever you need most and you’ll find that over time, it really does make a difference. If you want more positivity Gratitude Journal. Another twist on journaling is maintaining a gratitude journal. It can be as simple as writing out 3 things you’re grateful for that day or 3 things you are looking forward to. There are also free phone apps for this: Think Up, Happier, Gratitude. Making it stick If you’re like me and have a tough time sticking to things (like a morning routine), get an accountability partner or small group. You could text each other quick each morning to say, “I did it” after you finish your routine. It feels good and will keep you on track. Some people who journal have a page for their morning routine and each day, after they complete it, they get to put a big ol’ check in that box. Shop the post There are journals and books to help with your morning routine. One that I like is Morning Sidekick. It is a science based journal that gets you laser focused on your morning productivity/happiness in 3 minutes everyday. If you just want a place to schedule your days and weeks, I recommend the one below. It’s a 3-ring so you can move pages around if you need to, which I find convenient. Do you guys have a morning routine? If so, what does it look like? If not, I hope these morning routine ideas help you develop one. It’s a great way to get the important things done and it sets a positive tone for the day ahead.
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