How To Establish Morning Routines and Why They Are Important

Why is establishing a morning routine important?

A morning routine is what helps you get a good and positive start to your day. Whether is it 15 mins, half an hour or an hour, it will surely help you get your day started right. This is why it is important to have a morning routine. If you don’t have one then it’s time to establish a simple routine. Start small, star with a 15 min routine and then build on it.

Before we get into how to establish a morning routine let me tell you a few benefits of having a morning routine.

BENEFITS

1. You start your day on a positive note. This sets your mindset for the day and reinforces motivation and self-success for the day.
2. You have more control over your day and especially your morning. This helps you not to run around in a hectic state, maybe not having time for breakfast or even a coffee.
3. No 2 brings us to less stress for the day since your morning will be smoother.
4. You become more productive since you have a routine in place that allows you to get stuff done without the stress of it all.

I would like to share with you what works for me when I’m setting up my morning routine but also to give you some insight to what I have learnt. One thing I learnt was that our morning routines need to change from time to time, depending of the phase of our life.

I also noticed that I have a winter morning routine and a summer morning routine which work well but during the change of season is a lot harder for me. It may take a little longer to tweak my routine when seasons change but that’s ok.

How can you can establish a simple 15 minute morning routine?

1. The first thing you need to do is to set up your alarm clock 15 mins earlier. However, you also need to go to bed 15 mins earlier. If you want to establish a longer morning routine then adapt the time to your desired morning routine time. ie. 20 mins or 30 mins etc.
2. Then you need to set out a plan of what you need to do once the alarm goes off. Most people reach for their phone to scroll on social media. This is a big no no.

Here is an idea for what your morning routine could look like:

1. Wake up with the alarm, don’t hit snooze but instead get up and out of bed.
2. If you think you are more likely to get back in bed then the next thing to do is make your bed. This way you don’t allow yourself the chance to get back into bed.
3. Then wash your face, teeth and get dressed for the day.
4. I like to then quickly put my lunch for work in my bag while also making a quick breakfast which is usually cereal and a coffee or toast and a coffee. I also make my coffee in my thermos as I know that I don’t drink it all before work and I end up taking it to work with me. Sometimes I take my thermos with me to work and make my coffee there. It all depends on my timing.
5. Then quickly put everything in the kitchen sink and off to work.

You may decide that you want to wash the dishes before you leave the house or maybe prepare your lunch from the night before. Some people like to journal in the morning or do exercise or yoga, whatever you like to do incorporate it into your plan for your morning routine.

OUTCOME

The main outcome of having a morning routine is that you become more productive and in-control of your life. I have started reading the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown and the way he puts it is that if you don’t take control of your own life, someone else will.

This is the extract from his book ‘“When we don’t purposely and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people—our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families—will choose for us, and before long we’ll have lost sight of everything that is meaningful and important.”

So, for a more productive day or life be more in-control of your life, don’t let life take over. Start making small changes to simplify your life and achieve a life of less stress and more space. Tomorrow is your day to start your own morning routine. Let me know how you get along with it.