Craft your morning routine

 

Check out the step-by-step guide below to get started.

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health & wellness | ▲difficulty | ⏳ 30 mins

Step-by-step guide

OK, let’s get started.

Step 1: Do some reflecting

Reflect on your current lifestyle and determine what you’re looking for, or what you want to improve. 

  • Do you want to get in better shape? 

  • Do you want to feel calm and focused? 

  • Do you want to feel more positive?

  • Do you want to get more done? 

Take a moment to understand what you want so you can craft a morning routine that fits your lifestyle.

Step 2: Brainstorm things you want to incorporate

Once you have an idea of what you want to incorporate into your life, think about specific ways you want to take action against your goals. This can be in the form of building new habits into your morning, or letting go of bad ones.

For example:

  • If you want to get in better shape, can you incorporate morning exercise, like a morning run or even a 15-minute walk? Or if you’re a coffee drinker, can you hold off on the coffee within the first few minutes of waking up and drink water instead?

  • If you want to feel less anxious as soon as you wake up, can you wake up one or two hours earlier? Or perhaps avoid checking emails and texts first thing in the morning?

  • If you want to feel more positive throughout the day, perhaps you meditate for 10 minutes, or write down three things you are grateful for. Or both. Maybe you swap out listening/reading news headlines for an interesting podcast?

The point is: pick a couple habits that you’d like to build into your morning routine. If it feels overwhelming, just try incorporating one or two changes for a couple of weeks and then see if there’s anything else you want to add.

Step 3: Sketch out your morning

Once you decide on the actions you want to incorporate, sit down and sketch out your morning schedule. Outline every hour of your morning—starting with a realistic wake up time.

Based on your goals, do you want to wake up an hour earlier? Two hours? If you are planning to wake up one or two hours earlier, you should also adjust your sleep schedule the night before. The problem many people face when crafting a morning routine is that they try to wake up much earlier, but go to bed at the same time as they usually do. This just results in a loss of sleep and a grumpier you.

Every hour does not need to be productive (unless you want it to be). Incorporate meals, relaxation periods, work outs, etc. It is usually recommended to try and be as specific as possible, especially in the beginning.

Here’s an example of what a morning routine could look like:

  • 6:30AM - Wake up and drink a glass of water

  • 6:45AM - Stretch for 10 minutes

  • 7:00AM - Morning walk or light jog

  • 7:30AM - Shower and get dressed for the day

  • 8:00AM - Prepare breakfast

  • 8:30AM - Check emails + texts

  • 9:00AM - Begin the work day

  • 11:00AM - 15-minute break

  • 12:30PM - Lunch

Step 4: Write it down

Once you’ve crafted your morning schedule, write it down. Place it in a familiar place you’ll see right when you wake up. 

Step 5: Try it out and adjust as needed

Try out your morning routine for at least 21 days, which is the average amount of time it takes to turn something into a regular habit. Re-adjust if needed.