The Morning Routine that changed my Life!

Mornings are my absolute favorite part of the day. They are peaceful and productive and can really set the tone for the rest of your day. But for the longest time, I didn’t really have a routine to my morning. Sometimes I would workout, sometimes I would watch the news, sometimes journal, but never anything consistent!

About 3 years ago, though I decided I really wanted to harness my mornings and use them to my advantage. I took a look at what I really wanted my morning to look like and started there.

How to Create your Morning Routine

Once I decided I wanted to create a consistent morning routine, I had to decide what that included! I researched and reflected and wrote done anything that peaked my interest. Honestly, I had a lot of ideas! But of course, I couldn’t fit everything in.

My next step was then to really look at this list and see what was most important and most practical. I also wrote down realistically how long each of these items would take. It’s important to remember that your routine won’t change overnight. If you wake up right now with just enough time to get out the door and to work on time. Don’t think tomorrow you can wake up and run a 10K, meditate for 30 minutes, clean the entire house, and write a blog post. It’s not going to happen!

Be realistic! Start off with waking up 30 minutes earlier and work from there. What can you accomplish in those extra 30 minutes? After a month or two, wake up another 30 minutes earlier and see what else you can fit it. It’s important to write down your ideal morning, but then scale back to what is actually possible right now. It’s better to start off small and accomplish that then to try to change everything overnight. In the words of Simon Sinek, “Dream big. Start small. But most of all start.”

My Morning Routine

I’ve built my morning routine over the years and added and subtracted things from it as it works for me! Your routine will look different and will probably change to fit your lifestyle over time.

Wake up!

Obviously this is my first step! I wake up at 5am every weekday morning. Research does say you should wake up at the same time every morning, but right now in my life, I just can’t seem to want to wake up at 5am on the weekends. Once I’m out of bed, I go to the bathroom, take the dog out and start my coffee. Then I start my Morning Pages.

Morning Pages

This is actually something my therapist suggested and I love it! The idea is from Julia’s Cameron’s book The Artist Way. The idea is to write stream-of-thought for 3 pages or 30 minutes with no breaks. I do about 1 page and set a timer for 10 minutes. Sometimes my pages are a prayer, sometimes a list of things I need to do, sometimes they probably don’t make sense at all! But that’s okay.

The point is to not stop writing and then to not look at the pages. Once you’re done, don’t go back and reread them. They’re to write and get things out of your heard and onto paper so you can clear your head. I love this practice and do it daily. It helps my process different situations and starts my morning off with a clear head.

Daily Devotional & Bible.

Once my times goes off for my morning pages, I read my daily devotional. There are so many devotionals to choose from, my current daily devotional is New Morning Mercies. I actually just switched to this one off a recommendation of a friend. For years, I had one by Joyce Meyer that I read that I enjoyed as well. I prefer ones that are short and relatable, but there are seriously so many to choose from – religious and non-religious.

Next I read one chapter of the Bible. I’m honestly not sure how this started, but I have read quite a bit! For me, one chapter is super reasonable, it doesn’t take much time, but I am learning things! Obviously, this practice could be applied to any religious book. Or non-religious book really!

Recently, I’ve also added in a Bible study that my church small group is doing called, The Answers to your Deepest Longings: 40 Days Through the Bible. I have really enjoyed it! It brings you into the Bible, but also applies those stories to real life today.

Review Planner

Next, I review my planner. I typically setup my planner on the weekend. So this is just my time to review it. What do I need to get done today, what appointments do I have, etc. I then can also cross things off I’ve already done, which I love! I also keep track of my sleep in my planner, so I can fill that in in the morning as well. I’ll add things too that have come up the previous day.

Exercise

At 6am, I have another alarm that goes off that tells me to get off the couch and get exercising! This is really my original reason for waking up early. I love getting in a workout in the morning! You are then done for the day, you don’t have to think about it! I’m not saying it’s easy, it’s not. But for me, it works the best.

Most days, I run in the morning. This is my preferred workout, but you could do whatever! I love getting outside and blaring my music and pushing myself. I’ve also very recently added in the Blogilates 21 Day Tone (which is a part of my January Goals). This has been difficult! But I’m hoping it will be rewarding!

Get Ready and Go to Work

After my workout, it’s business as usual! I jump in the shower (and usually listen to a podcast), do my makeup, get dressed, grab breakfast and get out the door! I use an alarm to make sure I’m getting ready and another alarm to make sure I’m getting out the door and to work on time.

Do What Works for YOU!

There you go! That’s my morning routine. My mornings are truly scared to me. I need to do these things to get into my best mindset and set myself up for the best day. I do want to note, that not everyone is a morning person and that’s okay! I think society and bloggers put a lot of pressure on people, but if that’s not what works best for you, that’s fine! Just find what does. I do think even if you’re not a morning person, you can set up your morning to get you on your best foot forward.

I hope this helped you get a start on your routine! Do you have any sacred morning practices that you do? Did I give you an ideas you’d like to integrate into your routine? I’d love to hear them! Let me know in the comments!

Much love,

Justina