If you’ve ever wanted to create the perfect morning routine for yourself but you just weren’t sure where to start, this post is for you! Creating a rock solid morning routine is the best way to keep you calm through whatever storm comes your way. You will need paper and pen (or some kind of device) to write with.
Here’s how to design your Morning Routine
- Decide your goal
- Brainstorm
- Decide on Must Dos
- Decide on Could Dos
- Create, Prioritize & Duration
So you want to create or change up your morning routine? You want to feel better, you want to be more productive, you want to be more in the moment. Whatever it is you want let’s build you the perfect morning routine.
The first thing to realize is that you can’t do everything! You might like the idea of meditation and journaling and reading and exercise but realistically you can’t do them all (in your morning routine.)
What is a Morning Routine?
The way I am going to define a morning routine is everything you do between waking up and starting work. Work doesn’t necessarily mean when you start your job. Work might start when you drive to the office, or get on the train or walk to class with your friends. Maybe making breakfast for the family is the start of work for you, or when your child wakes up.
The morning routine is the time before that first instance of work takes place, it’s your time to do with what you’d like.
By optimizing your morning routine you can set yourself up for a great day. It doesn’t have to be long and drawn out or challenging it could be a warm cup of tea after making your bed, like Tim Ferris’ Morning Routine.
1. What Would You Like to Achieve With Your Routine?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty why do you want a new morning routine? What do you want to achieve? Do you want to feel more energized, alert and happy? Do you want to set yourself up for a more productive day? Are you looking to get some intellectual stimulation in the morning? Or do you want to have a spiritual practice? Or get in shape?
There are a thousand reasons why we want to change up our morning routine, what is your’s? Write your top reasons at the top of your paper.
1. I want to have more energy and be in a more focused state of mind in the morning
2. Brainstorming Your Perfect Morning Routine
Now we know what we want to achieve let’s jump straight in to designing the perfect morning routine for you.
You might already have some ideas of what you would like to include in your morning routine, write those down. By writing down your routine you will be much more likely to do it.
Here is a short list of a few ideas of different things to include in your morning routine depending on what you want to achieve. Take a look and see if there is anything you would like to include in your routine. Write down as many as you like at this point, we will corral the chaos later.
Spiritual
Meditation
Tai Chi
Yoga
Chi Kung
Prayer
Practice Gratefulness
Mental
Jornaling
Meditation
Coffee
Practice Gratefulness
Supplements
Productivity
Todo list
Calendar
Devices
Make bed
Prepare clothes night before
Intellectual
Read Books
Read News
Audio books
Write
Physical
Coffee
Tea
Water/drink
Smoothie
Food
Fresh Air
Sunlight
Stretching
Tai Chi
Yoga
Chi Kung
Running
Weightlifting
Supplements
Juggling
1. Purpose: I want to have more energy and be in a more focused state of mind in the morning
2. Brainstorm: Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Coffee, Todo List, Journaling, Practice Gratefulness, Fresh Air
3. Must Do’s
Take a look at what you have written down so far, and then decide which your ‘must dos’ are? Things that are really going to make a positive difference to your life if you were able to do them consistently.
Look to choose 2-3 items here, remember you can’t do everything. Put a star next to your must dos.
Suggestions for must dos
Liquids – You wake up dehydrated as over the course of a night you breath out a huge amount of moisture. You need to re-hydrate yourself by drinking something as soon as possible after waking as you have effectively dry-fasted all night. Obviously water is king here but hey coffee is mostly water, right?
Sunlight – Darkness is what causes melatonin to be released to put us to sleep. You need sunlight to completely undo that process and fire on all cylinders again. If you haven’t been out in the sunlight yet, you’re not fully awake. Sitting at a window doesn’t count, go outside!
Todo list – Presumably you woke up because you have something to do today? It’s a best practice to Process your Inbox in the morning.
1. Purpose: I want to have more energy and be in a more focused state of mind in the morning
2. Brainstorm: Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Coffee, Todo List, Journaling, Practice Gratefulness, Fresh Air
3. Must Dos: Coffee, Yoga
4. Could Dos
Next are the things you could do. These are things that would also make a difference but moreover are for your personal enjoyment or just things you think would be cool.
Choose 1-2 items.
Suggestions for could dos
Juggling – Exercise and Meditation in one!
Reading – This could be the way you finally get around to reading the classics.
Smoothie – I love making avocado smoothies in the morning!
1. Purpose: I want to have more energy and be in a more focused state of mind in the morning
2. Brainstorm: Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, Coffee, Todo List, Journaling, Practice Gratefulness, Fresh Air
3. Must Dos: Coffee, Yoga
4. Could Dos: Todo List, Fresh Air
Create the Routine
Now we know what we want to do, the next step is to actually create the routine
- Write out your 3-5 items from above
- Is there anything else you just have to add? Add it now
- Figure out how much time you have for your morning routine
- Allocate a time period to each item on your list
- Put them in order
- Yoga in the garden 30 mins
- Coffee 15 mins
- Todo List 15 mins
Now you have created your personal morning routine!
I know what you’re thinking, “What about all the other things I wanted to do but couldn’t fit on the list?!”
Don’t worry! Let’s face it, you’re not going to do this morning routine forever, eventually you will want to change it up and those items are not going to disappear, they will be waiting for you the next time you want to create a new morning routine.
On the other hand you don’t want to be changing it up every week, that’s not a routine. Therefore, run your routine for a few weeks and then reassess. If you want to change something then, do it. But give it a fair chance before you start changing it around.
