Create A Motivating Morning Routine

I’ve always been a night owl. My mother told me that even when I was a baby I’d be awake at 3:00 o’clock in the morning, silently playing with my toes. I was a quiet dream of a baby, but she couldn’t get me to sleep! I’ve passed up jobs because I knew I’d have trouble getting up early. It’s easier for me to stay up all night than to wake very early. I now get up somewhere between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. I used to get up between 9:30 and 10:00.

Waking up earlier has helped me get more done and accomplish more in my life. I want that! I have dreams I want to achieve, things I want to do, and places I want to go. This is the only likely way that will happen. I’ve tried everything else. And with multiple kinds of chronic pain, it’s my path to the life I desire.

The first time I remember wanting to wake up at sunrise was when camping at Bryce Canyon National Park. It’s known to be the best time to view the canyon. The spires of rock you see in the photo above are called hoodoos. In the sunlight at sunrise, the tops of the hoodoos glow like the heads of white-hot and glowing red matchsticks, as far as you can see. You can see them slowly lighting up in the photo. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen!

Get A Good Night’s Sleep

Before you think of your morning routine, you have to prepare with plenty of sleep. No one will ever be motivated without sleep. If you know how many hours you need, that will help. If not, assume you need 8 or 9 hours. Subtract those hours from when you want to wake up and go to bed at that time. Don’t make your wake-up time more than an hour earlier than your normal time.

This is where my advice may differ from some you’ve heard, but this worked for me. Don’t set your alarm more than fifteen minutes earlier than your normal. If you wake earlier than your alarm, that’s a bonus. Even though you could have gotten up an hour earlier and still had enough sleep, it’s better to be more rested than less rested while your body is adjusting.

In a week, set your alarm fifteen minutes earlier. Now you are getting up thirty minutes earlier than your old normal. The third week, set the alarm another fifteen minutes earlier. You are getting up forty-five minutes earlier. The fourth week, set it another fifteen minutes earlier and you are getting up an hour earlier. Hold this pattern for a month or until you are comfortable unless you don’t want to get up any earlier. If you do want to get up earlier, repeat this process.

About your alarm, put it somewhere you have to get up to shut it off. Put it in your bedroom as far as possible from the door or in a different room. This keeps you from snoozing the alarm or going back to sleep. Some of the smartphone apps are helpful. They make you do something special so that obnoxious alarm noise will stop. Alarmy, for example, has many choices, from math problems to taking a photo. I set it so I had to take a photo of my refrigerator downstairs. Every morning the alarm would go off, and I made my way downstairs to take my daily refrigerator photo. I made coffee right away since I was in the kitchen. That made me happy.

Waking Up Can Be Fun

How do you make getting up exciting? I don’t know how to make it glowing hoodoo exciting. But, I can be motivated enough to get up when I do, an impossibility at any other time in my history. I hope I can help you do the same with these seven steps. Seven steps may sound like a lot, but you don’t need to do an hour of each of these steps. Some of these steps can take less than two minutes. It’s up to you how long each step takes. You will reap the benefits of each of these. Put them in the best order for you. It’s your routine!

1. Make Your Bed

If you are like me, you are a rebel who doesn’t want to do what her mother told her to do every day. But, deal with it. She was right. Making your bed is your first accomplishment of the day. That can be motivating if you let it. If you want to let the sheets breathe, do that, but make your bed before your morning routine is finished.

2. Wash Your Face and Brush Your Teeth

I like to splash my face with cold water after it’s clean. It really helps me wake up and not feel as puffy. The minty fresh taste of your toothpaste helps you wake up, as well.

At some point, you may want a shower or bath. Or, you may want to do that at night.

3. Choose Silence

Do you meditate? There are so many reasons you should. It will help you focus, help your memory, and ease anxiety and depression. Those are just a few reasons. Even five minutes a day will make a difference.

4. Get Your Blood Moving

It doesn’t matter how you get some movement into your morning, but you need to do something. You can at least arm dance to your favorite song. That’s only three to four minutes. You could do more. I take the dog on a ten to twenty-minute walk and do some yoga, normally fifteen minutes to a half-hour.

You will score extra benefits if you do this outside. The light of the sun will help your circadian rhythm adjust to your new wake-up time.

Movement will get your heart rate up and your blood moving. When you wake up, your heart rate is lower than normal, somewhere around 60 or 65 beats per minute. When your heart rate is higher, you will feel more awake.

5. Read

Use your brain for something you enjoy. You have an important decision in life. Will you mentally die or will you grow? If you stop learning new things, you may feel mentally dead. Read something interesting. There are things to learn, even in fiction.

Studies show people who read have more compassion and empathy for others. That tells me reading is essential to living your best life.

6. Journaling and Reflection

You can journal even if you write just a few words. Write down how you feel or what you think. You could write about the weather where you live. You could write a haiku. It doesn’t matter what you write. But write something.

If you aren’t much of a journaler, write a sentence a day. In fact, there are journals that set out a small place of just a few lines to write in. Some are even made to last five years. For example, on the first page, you will have space for one day, with lines for five years of that day. Click here to see the one I have. You don’t even need a special journal. Use any type of journal or notebook you like. Write the month and day at the top of the page, then note the year and write for two or three lines. Leave the rest of the page blank, reserved for the same day next year. I have been inconsistent with my line-a-day journal, but I write in a blank journal, several pages a day.

7. Look Forward To The Future

Plan something every few days that you will look forward to. Think about what you want out of life and make a plan for that. What in life will you look forward to?

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That’s all there is to it. There is more you could add, such as affirmations or visualization practice. But I think these are the bare bones of what you need to create a morning that will motivate you. Whatever you add to this format, make sure it will motivate you and make you want to get up.

Let me know what you think about this or any other post. Is there something you’d like me to write about? Please email me at [email protected]. I appreciate your feedback.

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Julie Hodges, The Pain Guru