Over the years I have heard about the importance of a structured morning routine in order to start my day off right. The problem was that I could never actually establish one, let alone stick to one.
As a full-time working mom of 3 for so many years, my morning routine involved a scramble to get out of bed, get the boys ready for school and to the bus, and then be carried by the current of a mad rush where I ultimately threw on a dress and boots or whatever jumped out of my closet, ran a brush through my hair, may have remembered to put on deodorant, all within a half an hour or so, at which time my teaching day was in full swing.
These days, the morning is different; everything is different. Why? Because I hated that morning rush, which was always followed by the evening rush for dinner, sports, cleaning, grocery shopping, sometimes the gym and then we started the whole thing over again. In a word, it made me sick and miserable.
So I changed my schedule by opening my own business, teaching part-time and taking back my mornings. I learned how to do it by studying others, trying out what I thought I should do each morning, and then tweaking to do what worked for me.
First, why is a morning routine so important?
- It alleviates stress and anxiety
- It sets the tone for the day
- It allows for reflection and better planning
- It opens up opportunities for exercise
- It creates focus
What does my morning routine look like these days? Well, 3 days of the week, I work from home on my business. On those days, the ideal rainbows and unicorn days, it looks like this (no really, I love my mornings now):
- Wake up slowly around 6 am
- Start the coffee and snuggle my dog after he goes outside for a few
- Make my son's lunch and breakfast
- Wake him up for school
- Bus run - we leave early so we can chat for a bit in the car
- Come back and drink my coffee, check business email / write a blog - about 45 minutes
- Go for a jog and run one errand if I need to - grocery store, prescription pick up, whatever
- Home by 9 am to shower and then my favorite part: journal
- Map out my plan for the day in my journal/planner (more on this in a separate post)
- Hit the studio and make products, ship and complete one other business task for a few hours
This takes me into lunch time or later, so not so much morning anymore, but you get the idea. I do it the same way and it helps me function so much more efficiently, but more importantly, it makes me happier.
What about you? Have you spent time like I have studying the habits of effective people by reading blogs and books? Have you simply always had a morning routine that works for you? Are you struggling to establish one? Leave a note in the comments to let us know.
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