What’s Up! You want to start an early morning routine. Before we get into that I want to start off by saying the world moves so fast it creates an illusion that we are falling behind, but in reality you are exactly where you need to be.
Regardless of whatever reason you decided you would like to find extra time or whatever benefit it would be for you to start a morning routine. You found this post or this post found you because you are ready to take those steps.
You will find that starting a morning routine will eventually lead to:
- Happier and calmer days. Since you already took care of yourself first before anything else. You’re able to take care of the kids or clock in to work and not worry about things that aren’t checked off the list of “things to do for yourself”.
- More Energy throughout your day. You did all the busy work in the morning when your mind was Refreshed. Now you have energy to do all the “other” things.
- Less Stress. You’ve already taken care of yourself in the morning. You’ve filled your cup and now you are ready to pour into others (spouse, kids, family, work, etc.) You are ready and willing to give.
- Stress Free nights. You can go to sleep without a To Do list. You know you will have the time to work it all out in the morning.
- Distraction Free time to focus on all the things that are important to you.
- I’m just going to throw this in here as well. If you have kids it allows you to wake them up and not them waking you up. You will find yourself wanting to be needed instead of needing to be needed.
I chose to start waking up at 4:30 am. This time aligns the most with what I want to do and why I want to do it. I realized that my mind is refreshed in the morning.
Starting a blog requires a fresh mind as there are many outlining factors. Starting any business requires a fresh mind.
There are no distractions in the morning which allows me to focus solely on my blog. It allows me to be an even better Wife and Mother during the day. It also allows me to have time for myself where I’m not focusing on my blog or tending to my family.
Down below you will find 3 Strategies I implemented into my life to create a morning routine. Let’s hop to it!
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Find a Purpose
Finding a reason to want to even wake up earlier in the morning in the first place. As simple as it sounds it holds the most importance.
What is going to get you to roll out of bed?
- I wanted to find time to work on my blog.
- So I could stay home with my children
- So I could also help my husband by financially contributing to the household.
- Being independent while staying home is important to me. It was starting to take a toll on me mentally.
You need to dig deep and find what is driving you to start a morning routine.. Your purpose, that drives your motivation, to fuel your passion. What is your BECAUSE? Once you figure it out, put it at the very top of your list.
(By the way, my real bullet point list was much more than these 4 points, it was more like 20. I picked the most important ones to make a quick point.)
Digging deeper and finding my purpose allowed me to wake up when I wanted to. Not because I had to take the kids to school, my toddler was awake, or I’m clocking in for somebody.
I was literally waking up to immediately start my day with a purpose to do things for others. This did not make me want to roll out of bed let alone earlier.
It made me want to sleep in, stay up late and find time for ME anyway I could.
Doing things for others is not a bad thing at all, but how you do it is key. There is a balance between being selfless and self-fish. I always ask how can this benefit me and how will this affect others.
Once I determined my purpose to start a morning routine, it influenced my night routine to go to bed earlier. It all worked out for ME.
I want you to find YOUR purpose for starting a morning routine. It can be as simple as:
- You want to wake up early enough to work out before work.
- If you’re a homemaker(sahm, as myself) you want to wake up early to clear your mind before waking up the kids or to make breakfast.
- You want to take an hour long hot soothing bath before work every morning.
Whatever your purpose is I want you to dig deeper and find your because.
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Start Slowly
Waking up earlier improves aspects of your life. You don’t want to rush it. I was normally waking up around 7:20-7:30 am. Once I decided I DID want to wake up early and what time I wanted to start waking up, which for me was 4:30 am.
I immediately set my alarm for the next morning to 7:10am.
Only a 10-20 minute difference, it’s not a huge difference but it was very doable. I didn’t want to overwhelm myself by making an impulsive drastic change in my life. I also knew that I had to start somewhere, 10 minutes was my somewhere.
Then every couple of days I would set my alarm 15 min earlier. Soon enough I was waking up at 6 am. I decided to stay at 6:00am for 2 weeks since I considered it a milestone for me. That was my way of celebrating and getting in the groove of things!
I kept up with this morning routine until I made it to 4:30 am. Along the way I also gave myself grace while adjusting. Still to this day I give myself grace.
What I mean by this is if I went to bed a little later than usual or decided I’m going to stay in bed 15 more minutes in the morning. I didn’t beat myself up over it.
Did I do that often? No. I had made it to a point where I enjoyed waking up at 4:30 am and the routine I created. But, if I needed to I did so without guilt.
Figuring out what time you want to wake up, how much time you need, and slowly adjusting is the way to go.
Now, there are some people that can just flip a switch and go 0-100. Completely change their schedule and it will not affect them. To those individuals I say Go For It!
Routine
I honestly just allowed my body to speak to me on this one. I knew that I was creating this time in the morning to work on my blog. In the same sense I had no clue what to do.
The mornings were so quiet. Remind you I have 3 kids there is never a quiet moment. With it being this quiet it was very awkward.
( In case you’re wondering I have since become addicted to quite awkward mornings)
Not to mention I finally had clarity! Definitely soaked that up for 2 weeks and did absolutely nothing involving my blog.
I only focused on making it to my 6 am milestone. My body said “Relax,” and honey that’s what I did! Once I made it to 6am then I started incorporating working on my blog into the routine.
When I started waking up just 10 min earlier I was getting a cup of herbal tea and sitting on our couch with my eyes closed. Just being grateful for the silence.
Once I made it to 6:45 am I started taking a shower, throwing on some clothes, and then I would get my tea and sit. I slowly added more to my routine as I woke up earlier and earlier.
I’m so proud of what my morning routine looks like now:
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- Wake up at 4:30 am
- Head to the kitchen to steep my tea
- Hop in a hot shower and take my time
- Get ready! ( I don’t just throw on clothes anymore! Weekends are sometimes an exception.)
- Grab my tea and step outside for some fresh air
- While I’m outside I take time to practice gratitude
- Come back in plan and map out my day
As you take your time everything will start to fall in place naturally as it should. You won’t even have to think too much as to what it is you have to do in the morning. Trust your body and trust your mind to guide you. Always remember you are exactly where you need to be and find gratitude in every moment.
You will take this article and make something of it. Improve your morning little by little and before you know it you will also be looking back 2 months ago and seeing how 10 minutes grew to 180 minutes.
It won’t be overnight, but it will be steady and consistent.
Peace Out! All in all go at your own pace. Your morning routine doesn’t have to be identical to someone else’s routine. Do what works for you! Some people work nights and graveyard shifts ( I did it for 3 years). Your morning starts somewhere between 8pm – 4am give or take.
Find a purpose to start a morning routine. Start slowly and take your time adjusting.
The lesson is in the journey. You may not think or consider waking up earlier is a journey, but it is. It’s a journey to creating a better you, don’t rush it.
Make sure you pin this post for future motivation and be sure to follow me.
I would love to know how you are progressing if you choose to implement the strategies in this post. Please feel free to send me an email. You can find it in the About Me section. If you found this article to be helpful please leave a comment below.
If you already have a morning routine in place I would love for you to share it down below. Yes! Spill the beans, give me the tea! I want to know what your mornings look like and what strategies you used to get there. Don’t forget to click here sign up for Sweeten ya’ Tea for Free “sugar honey ice tea”.
Check out this article I wrote on consistency How To Become Consistent In 4 Simple and Easy Steps. It goes hand in hand with sticking with routines and making it a habit.
Don’t forget to grab your copy of Morning Routine Checklist you can download it by clicking on the photo below and make sure you pin this post.
