How do I wake up at 7 am every day!? Honestly, I don't know, it's an act of God that I don't throw my phone across the room every morning when it goes off.
Of course, I'm exaggerating some but I do know that cultivating a solid morning routine has really helped me consistently wake up early. I know you're thinking why should I care about creating a Morning Routine, what's it going to do for me?
Here are some benefits:
Morning routines reduce stress. Having a routine will help you cultivate habits and get things done without thinking about it and when you're not thinking about it, you won't stress about it. Simple. Everything has a specific order and the more you do it, the more automated it will become and that will save you time while making sure that you're taking care of yourself. For example, whenever you're walking into work, you clock in without a second thought, but when you first started, you probably forgot... A LOT. But now you trust yourself and do without a second thought, especially since if you didn't you wouldn't be paid!
You will gain time and be able to sleep more. Having a routine is like having a schedule, you already know what's coming so you can move between things seamlessly. When I was in high school, they called the first week of school the grace week and that meant they excused all tardies ( when you're late to class). Why? Because they knew that none of the students knew where their classes were and figuring out where they had to go next would take some time. Life is the same way. Knowing what you're going to do next and making it into a routine will shave away a lot of wasted time. It may take a little bit but just like in high school, you'll eventually be able to walk to class with your eyes closed.
You'll be prepared. Have you ever woke up late for work, and rushed out the door? You've probably done that plenty right? And what else happens on those mornings usually? You forget something, your laptop, your planner, your wallet, whatever it was, it was at home or in the car and that's not where you needed it to be. So then you either have to drudge through the day suffering without it or you end up being even later because you have to go back for it. Creating a routine where you check and make sure that you have everything you need, makes sure you don't have those gross mornings anymore.
You will take care of yourself. The morning is when you prepare for the day. You brush your teeth, style your hair, put on your war paint ( that's what I call Makeup) get dressed and eat your first meal. But we rush through all those things because the kids have to go to school or we're trying to avoid traffic. Wouldn't you love to have to stop and pamper yourself? Of course! And you can, just waking up earlier and scheduling your routine to have some you time. In my morning routine, I listen to a podcast while I eat and make sure I have time to do my yoga and meditation. This is really important to me because I work from home and it's so easy to wake up and immediately start doing all the things to run my household and business but I can't do those things well if I don't take care of myself first.
You will get more done. Creating a morning routine will give you more time to get the things you really care about done. Every morning I take time to go over my goals/dreams for the week and then the month. I figure out what can I do today, to move the needle forward and gain some ground towards where and who I want to be. For me that that typically means blogging, planning shoots and reaching out on social media to potential clients. On top of that, the morning is the time of day when your brain is the most active and agile so taking on harder tasks will take less time than it would later in the day as we tend to slow down as the day goes on. Not only do we slow down, but we also become less motivated. Following your routine, every morning helps you cultivate discipline so when you lose your motivation (because let's be honest motivation is both fleeting and fickle) you'll still get things done even when you don't feel like it.
Becoming a morning person can be difficult, you'll hit hiccups and bumps along the way. Be patient with yourself but also commit. Show up for yourself. Every. Single. Day.
Understand that being a morning person is not a state of being, it's not permanent, it's a choice. You can change.
Comments