How To Create A Morning Routine

Believe it or not, I wasn’t always a morning person and it’s still a struggle.

In fact, I’m still hesitant to call myself a morning person at all as it implies that I look forward to getting up at the crack of dawn each morning. I used to sleep in until eleven back in my college days, but as work responsibilities started to request my presence before 11:00 am, I had to learn how to get up early.

One of the ways I simplify my morning is by creating a morning routine. This routine not only helps me wake up in the morning but also get ready for the day. Here is how you can create a successful morning routine.

What Does Your Ideal Morning Look Like?

The first step to creating your morning routine is getting an idea of how you would like your morning to look like.

This is where your starting point will be, but your actual morning routine may differ a bit from this plan. Think of all the activities you would like to do in your perfect morning and make a list of them.

Here is what my list consisted of:

• Exercise
• Get a load of laundry done
• Read my devotional
• Eat breakfast
• Quick tidy
• Get ready for work
• Work on my business

Narrow It Down

In most cases, it might not be plausible for you to do everything on your ideal morning list every morning unless you get up extremely early.

Start by putting a star next to the two or three things that are most important to you in your morning. After you’ve narrowed it down to two or three things, decide how much time you need to do them.

In my example, if you don’t want to work out each day, perhaps switch off days with reading and exercise.

How Much Time Will It Take?

Now that you know exactly what you are going to be doing in your morning routine, it’s time to decide the order and time of it.

If you have younger kids or other people you are responsible for, you may need to tweak your morning routine to include them.

Assign a number to each item for the order in which you will do this item, and a time next to it for how long you want to give yourself for each item. This will help you determine if you can reasonably accomplish everything in your morning routine.

If you have too many time-consuming tasks, you may need to rethink your priorities.

Create Your Morning Routine Schedule

The next big step in putting together your morning routine is by putting it all together into a schedule. This is how you are going to determine when you need to get up by.

Start by working backward with the time you need to leave by. If you don’t leave your home in the morning, your end time should be the time you want to be done with all of your morning routine activities.

Using the list you created with the time slots and order, work backward from your end time giving yourself plenty of space in between each activity. I like to add an extra five minutes to give myself some transition time, and in case something should come up in the morning. By the end of this activity, you should have a start time.

Deciding How Early To Wake Up

After setting your schedule, you should know what your minimum start time is for the day.

This means if you’re not someone who hops out of bed each morning, you may want to consider getting up a little earlier to make sure you don’t get behind.

If your start time appears to be too early for comfort, consider revising it so that way you can get up at a more appropriate time. This might mean you have to cut a few things from your list.

Don’t forget to create an evening routine to help you actually get to bed on time!

Getting up early doesn’t have to mean spending hours before you need to leave accomplishing your to-do list. Even just thirty minutes can still give you a head start on the day.

YOUR TURN: Do you have a morning routine? What helped you get started the most with your plan? Let me know in the comments below!

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