Morning Routine
Did you know that the basis for your entire day is set within the first hour of you waking up? If you wake up full of energy and motivation and with excitement to start your day that will carry through and you will be more productive and overall happier. But how do you get yourself motivated every morning especially if you're not a morning person? The answer is simpler than it seems! Setting an individualized routine will help you maximize that first hour will get you started off on the right foot!
To be honest, I have never been a morning person. I'm not really a night owl either. I'm pretty much at my best from about 11am until 7pm. So waking up in the morning - especially during the cold dark winter months - can be quite a struggle, but here a few tricks I've learned over the years that have gotten me through.
1) Get enough sleep!This is going to be the most difficult trick for almost everyone. We come up with a million excuses for why we aren't getting enough rest and it is usually because we are putting other peoples needs before our own. I know this can be increasingly difficult when you have children who are completely dependent on you for their survival. Work your sleep route into theirs.... Let me say this again.... work YOUR sleep routine into THIERS. Not the other way around. Children are going to model what they see and if they see that you are sacrificing yourself, your rest, and lets face it - your sanity- they are going to do the same when they are older. If you know that you need 8 hours of sleep and you have to get up to get little Timmy off to school at 6am... do the math. What time do you and little Timmy need to be done with dinner, homework, quality time, and be off to sleep so that you're not running on fumes in the AM? And YES this may mean that little Timmy is not going to be able to be on a soccer team that practices at 8pm on weeknights.... and that is OKAY!
And before all the hate mail starts coming in - I know it's not "that simple" and I will talk more about this in another post. But the fact remains, if you are not getting enough rest - NOTHING else is going to help make your mornings better or your day run smoothly.
2) Give yourself something to look forward to in the AM.
I am a coffee junkie... it doesn't even have to be good coffee... it just needs to be coffee. When I wake up in the morning I know that I get to reward myself with that first precious cup. It sounds silly but it works. What is your reward for getting up? Take 10 mins for yourself as soon as you get up - before anything else in your life starts. Take 10 mins for you. Meditate, pray, or drink an obscene amount of coffee (if you're me lol), do whatever is healthy and makes you feel good, but make it something rewarding and do it every day. 3) Get OrganizedSet the stage for a good morning the night before. If you are disorganized then you likely wake up in the morning with the dread of "all I have to do". How many of those things on your "must do" list are actually things you could have done the night before? When you first wake up what is your first thought? If its "Omg...I still have to .... (packing lunches, doing laundry, returning emails?)" If you know you suck at mornings, the try to do the most you can during your "peak hours". I would much rather multi-task when I'm awake enough and have the most energy in my day than when I'm dragging. So for me, I'm hustling non-stop between 1pm - 4pm. I also got creative with my schedule. I know when I'm at my best, so despite I living on the east coast I scheduled myself and my day on west coast time (11am EST is 8am PST).
Now I know not everyone can do this - literally change the timezone you work in- but there are defiantly ways that you can make the most out of your peak hours once you figure out those hours.
Get creative... Yes.... I know this just scratches the surface... there are so many things that we can do or ways we can change to make our mornings better and we'll keep talking about them, but right now I want to hear from you? Are you a converted Morning Person? How did you do it? What tips or tricks can you share? xoxo