Create a morning routine and your whole day will run better.
Dear Sister,
The snooze button and I have a love-hate relationship. Such a tempting little button offering nine more minutes of bliss. But it’s not real. You just prolong the pain and grogginess and then have to rush to get everything ready. So why is it so hard to end the cycle? Because
Lately, I’ve been thinking about little life tweaks that would have made school easier as a student. Things I know now, that I wish I could have known then. Over the next few weeks I’m going to share a few things that would have made me a better and happier student. One of those tweaks would have been to establish a morning routine.
I know that routines are beneficial. You may know that too if you’ve read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, by Sean Covey. I’ve tried to establish a morning routine for years, but often end up frustrated because I couldn’t consistently do it all. There’s my problem, trying to cram too much in each morning. So I had to ask. What is my goal? My goal is to have a peaceful morning that prepares me for a productive day.
I’ve learned a few things in my quest to create a morning routine that works.
What should I do in the morning before my day begins?
Stumbling out of bed and throwing clothes on as I rush out the door makes me feel behind the rest of the day. Before heading off to start my day, I want to make my bed, cook and eat a healthy breakfast, steam my clothes, exercise, shower, dress, style my hair, put on makeup, pack a lunch, read my bible, unload the dishwasher, write, and sip coffee leisurely on the back porch while my dog snuggles in my lap.
Okay, now you may be thinking, Mallary is ca-razy.
Believe me, I don’t do all of these things. But I see the value of getting things accomplished first thing so the rest of my day goes well.
So how do you decide what to do? For me, listing everything is eye opening. I can’t do all the things. Maybe you have a lot of time in the morning and you can do everything on your list, but if you’re like me, you have to pick and choose.
Start with what must get done. Shower? Check. Get dressed? Check. Unload the dishwasher? Uhhh maybe when I get home.
Consider if later works better.
Take each item that isn’t absolutely necessary and consider what works best for you. You’ll hear people say “Do it first thing before you get busy.” That’s great advice, but before long your morning is packed and stressful. Can I really fit in exercise, writing, and bible reading in the morning?
I wish I could start my day writing for an hour, knocking out a few hundred words first thing, but it’s just not practical for me since I’d have to set the alarm for 3:30. Yuck! So, I can skip some TV in the evening and relax by creating my own worlds. It might get tricky at times, but I need to fight for what’s important.
Exercise would be great in the morning. Get the dreaded task over with, am I right? Once, I decided I was just going to suck it up and go for a run at 5 am. Obviously not with my current job because that would be too late. That first morning I dragged myself out of bed, dressed in running clothes, and opened my door.
It. was. so. dark. and. creepy.
I imagined murderers in all the shadows. How do people run in the dark? Seriously?! I closed my door and never tried again. So, I still haven’t perfected the workout thing. But I have scratched it off my morning to-do list. I’ll have to find a less scary/more practical way of fitting this in.
On the other hand, I do want to read my bible in the morning. This is something I’m going to be working on this year. I’ve had periods in my life I’ve been really good about this and others where it’s been spotty. I know I need to do this for my spiritual and mental health. Even if I start with just ten minutes, I want to do this when I wake up, dwelling on what’s most important. In the past, when I’ve been very faithful, my anxiety and stress is lower.
What activity would help focus you in the morning and which can wait for later?
Do what you can the night before.
Doing what you can the night before is the secret to a productive morning. Steaming your clothing and packing lunches the night before is life-changing. I have to leave my house by 5:45 am during the week. So, if my clothes are ready and lunch already packed, it makes my morning go way better.
Some weeks I pack a week’s worth of lunches, others I pack food the night before. Either way, not having to deal with it in the morning is so much better.
What can you get out of the way the night before? Could you switch to evening showers? Chores in the evening?
Be flexible.
I used to feel like such a failure if I couldn’t get everything done in my morning routine. But that’s too much pressure. Flex and tweak your morning routine until you have one that works for you. My goal is to have a peaceful morning that sets me up for great day. So if something isn’t working feel free to figure something else out.
If something isn’t working for you, brainstorm how you can change it. Yeah, exercising is great in the morning, but maybe it isn’t great for you. Or maybe you like to write and getting up at 5 am and writing for an hour works best. Do it!
I wish when I was in my teens and early twenties, I had learned to prepare the night before, and understand what works for one person’s morning doesn’t necessarily work for me.
Here’s what I shoot for in my morning routine now:
I make my bed, read my bible for 10 minutes, put the coffee on, shower, dress, hair, makeup, grab my breakfast and packed lunch. I leisurely sip coffee and eat breakfast as I drive to work and listen to an audiobook. When I arrive at my classroom, I feel ready to conquer the day without sacrificing what’s important.
Do you need to establish routines for a better morning? Do you have a routine in place? Let me know in the comments.
Your big sister,
Mallary
XOXO