I’m a fairly habitual person, when it comes to my routines, sometimes
to a fault. And while I’ve had my regular morning habits, I have to admit I’ve
always failed at keeping up with a good morning routine.
What’s a good morning routine?
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| An early morning sunrise on Maui |
A good morning routine, to me,
means the ability to get up early (or at least earlier), get your butt moving and accomplishing tasks (aka: helpful
habits) to help you start out your day on a positive note.
I failed at this miserably when I was at the day job, no
matter how many times I told myself to stop hitting the snooze button. It never
failed that I’d spring out of bed, rush to get ready and fly out the door
giving myself no cushion when it came to the half hour drive to the office. I
left for work in a hurry with the knowledge I was already running late, which
was a poor recipe for the beginning of a calm morning.
A year and a half ago I left the day job to focus on my writing
and at first my morning routine (or when I began the day) was impressive, at
least for me. I was out of bed and starting my day pretty early, at least early
for someone who’s working from home. But eventually, you settle into a more
relaxed routine when you work from home. Finally, I realized my so-called
morning routine was not only lacking, but was possibly contributing to my lack
of productivity, my stress over time management and opening the door for my
good friend, procrastination.
I tried different challenges to help in this department and
sometimes they worked, for awhile, but my old habit of starting the day late
without helpful habits seeped back in. A shorter day left me with plenty of
time to write, exercise, read, walk Jozee, and any number of other daily tasks,
but I wasn’t allowing the time necessary for daily preparation via morning
routines, setting intentions, using affirmations, or reflection on the day
along with an evening routine to help me prepare for the following day. My
business plan as well as weekly and monthly tracking were helping me stay on
task with my writing projects, but I needed more to help me stay focused and on
task throughout the day.
So, I started another challenge to form better habits by
using
The Morning Sidekick Journal,
and I last wrote about this
when I was on day 21 out of 66. I was feeling good
about my progress, although getting up early was still not that easy for me. I’ll
confess that part of the reason for my inability to get up early is because I
often have a difficult time staying asleep. If I wake up at 12a and can’t go
back to sleep until 3a or I wake at 3a and I’m still awake at 5a, it’s not easy
to give in and get out of bed at 5 and ignore the need to find those lost hours
of sleep. I’ve since decided that a 5a start time is probably always going to
be a stretch for me, but on nights when I sleep well enough, I enjoy starting
the day between 6a-6:30a.
Whether the day starts at 5, 6 or 7 a.m., part of
this process is not only learning what works, but what works for you.
When I first started tracking habits for a morning routine,
it seemed a little silly, especially when the instructions were to make them as
easy as possible. My habits included: drink water before coffee, make the bed,
eat breakfast (I don’t always), daily intentions, morning mantra, yoga (at
least sun salutations to work out the kinks), push-ups, and morning pages. Most
of these aren't difficult, or too time consuming, but what I discovered is that
without tracking them, it was extremely easy to just hop out of bed, shower and
move on with the day after making a cup of coffee. While my mornings are no
longer frantic like they were when I attempted to get to the office job on
time, there is something to be said about setting the tone, or the pace of the
day, with a regular morning routine.
A few things I learned about getting up early:
- repeat to yourself
the night before what time you want to get up – it’s a fun exercise, especially
when you eagerly roll over to look at the time to see how close you got;
- if you
use an alarm, don’t have it close to the bed so that you can snooze it; and
- once
you wake up, get up right away because snoozing just makes you feel groggy.
A few things I learned about sticking with morning habits:
- you start the day off with more energy;
- you start the day off on a positive note;
- you begin the day feeling accomplished when your morning habits are completed;
- already
feeling accomplished and pleased with your progress, you’re prepped to eat the
frog (complete the hardest task of the day first); and
- having completed the
hardest task, you can then look forward to having the rest of the day to complete
whatever other tasks are on your list.
Forming habits can be a challenge, especially if it’s difficult
to remove yourself from your normal routine and definitely if those new habits
take you out of your comfort zone. I was a prime candidate for this type of
challenge and I’m glad I stuck with it. It’s benefited me in more ways than I
expected and now that I’ve also added an evening routine, my day feels
well-rounded.
What about you? Do you have a morning routine that works? Have
you formed habits that help you start the day on a positive note? If so, I’d
love to hear how they work for you.
Until next time...
