3 Simple Steps to Crafting Your Effective Morning Routine

When looking up tips or stories on successful people, a common theme is having a routine; whether it is a top CEO or premier athlete, there is a little shadow of a doubt that they attribute a major part of their achievements to the consistent habits they perform in the morning. As I was beginning my own wellness journey, I made it a point to create and implement my own morning schedule. I’ve always been someone who had trouble with habits, and I always would say, “I don’t have a routine, that’s just not for me”. But after some reflection, I realized I did have a routine. It just sucked.

We All Have a Routine

My mornings were always rough to say the least. I would snooze my alarm multiple times, lay in bed scrolling on my phone until the last minute, rush to get ready, and either grab something quick and processed to eat, or buy breakfast somewhere on the way. Even though I touted myself as someone who didn’t have a routine, these non-productive activities were part of my average morning. And worst of all, they were setting me up for a sub-par day. When we start our day on a bad note, we are starting in a hole, and the hole makes it hard to gain positive momentum throughout the rest of the day. However, by replacing these bad habits with positive ones, we can start our days heading uphill instead of into the ground.

Below I will guide you through the three key steps to build the best routine possible and avoid common pitfalls.

1. Finding Your Best Daily Tasks

The best part of a routine is that it looks different to everyone, and there’s no pressure to make it “the right way”. After consideration and reflection, I determined I wanted my morning routine to look like this:

1. Drink water

2. Do 25 push-ups

3. Make my bed

4. Make the dog’s breakfast

5. Workout

By drinking water and doing physical activity right after getting out of bed, I am kickstarting my body and mind and creating the positive momentum we spoke of earlier. Making my bed, feeding the dogs, and getting a workout in allow me to knock some tasks off my day and strengthens my discipline. For this step, write down what you would like your routine to look like or what morning actions best set you up for success.

2. Snowball Your Routine Steps

Like with starting any goals list, it’s easy to get overly excited and write down more goals than you can realistically commit to. Therefore, it’s important to start small with your routine and only have one or two items you can commit to 100%. A good baseline is choosing what you can complete in 10–15 minutes to avoid burnout. Once these tasks become easy, begin to add more slowly and before long you will have a solid, multistep routine.

3. Strive for Consistency, Not Perfection

Now even though I have been doing my routine for a month now, I don’t always do the items in order, and there have been days where I missed one or two. This is a key piece of the mentality that goes with routines: you don’t have to do it perfectly every time, but instead strive to hit every item more days than you don’t. Especially when you are initially starting a routine, this wiggle room is essential for building the habits and not quitting due to discouragement.

By applying all three of these steps, you will have a strong, productive morning routine before you know it, and have your days structured for productivity and success.

What does your morning routine consist or, or what do you want to add? Let me know in the comments 😊