How to Create a Morning Routine

The importance of a morning routine has been demonstrated by successful business owners, bragged about in magazines and newspapers and comes widely and highly recommend. There are a number of studies that show the benefits of a morning routine, yet many people find it hard to create a morning routine that lasts more than a few days and leads to this so-called success that it is supposed to. This piece shares tips and tricks that have been developed through many failed attempts at developing a morning routine before successful finding the right balance around 8 months ago.

Reality Check

The first thing to note is that this change doesn’t happen overnight so there are a few things to be aware of before attempting to start this process. developing a morning routine is the same as developing a new set of habits, there are many studies and speculations about how long it takes to develop a new habit but it is expected to be at least 2 months, so don't be expecting to wake up tomorrow and develop and millions dollar business from the success of a single day of practicing your morning routine. Starting small and tracking your progress is a good may to manage your expectations and not overload yourself by attempting to change overnight, this can be done by focusing on a couple of habits that are most important for you and focus on those to start with.

Consistency is the key to this process, the longer you maintain these changes to more likely you are to be able to develop long term habits. The process of real and significant positive change can be long but if you are resilient and genuinely want to make an improvement to your day with a morning routine then you're in the right place!

The Good Stuff you came for...

Tip 1 - set an alarm to get up early consistently even on your days off. Many people, including myself for a long time, will get up with just enough time to get ready and leave for work. You need to calculate how long it will take to do the things in your morning routine and set an alarm for that time every day of the week. consistency is so important here, and it may be difficult at the start but being consistent will allow your body clock to adjust developing a stronger habit. I AM NOT SAYING wake up at 5AM every day, but you need to work out how much time you need for your morning routine.

Tip 2 - Make time for breakfast. I have always been a person who doesn’t like to eat as soon as I wake up, but breakfast is so important so to change this I set a good amount of time aside to make breakfast, something that takes time so that my appetite develops like eggs. If you're not a breakfast person like I wasn’t at the start of this process, try drinking water as soon as you wake up and have an on the go breakfast ready for you commute to work like a smoothie or a healthy breakfast muffin.

Tip 3 - Spend some time doing a quiet activity, what is enjoyable to you will be different to others so feel free to try some things but done force yourself into doing activities that you really don’t like, some people meditate or read and some people like some quiet time doing nothing and drinking tea...don’t feel guilty for this. Quiet time in the morning is a great was to slowly and deliberately start your day leading to less stress when the bulk of your day begins.

Tip 4 - Get the right amount of sleep, it is recommended we get 7-9 hours of sleep. Your morning routine will always be more difficult if you haven’t had a good enough amount of sleep to function. This is why I have stressed developing a morning routine that is right for you, you have to find a balance between sleep and having enough time to complete the things you want to in the morning. An important part of this is going to bed on time.

Tip 5 - Develop an evening routine, having consistency in your evening will help you to have more successful mornings, developing an evening routine is a separate tasks but for now important aspects I would attempt to look at would include, having some tech free time before bed, many scientists argue that artificial light stops the productions of melatonin in the body which promotes sleep. I would also recommend sleeping with your phone in a different room, get an old-fashioned alarm clock and keep your phone in the kitchen.

Things NOT to do.

Pressing the Snooze Button - although it’s tempting, pressing the snooze button is accepting failure from the moment you wake up, it can lead to extremes like being late for work or at the very least can mess up your morning routine and any progress you’ve made so far. So commit to the change, get up when your alarm goes off.

Distractions - getting distracted in the morning can make you lose track if your routine, the worst one, your phone, should stay out of site until you're ready to leave for work or wherever you're heading, I can guarantee you will lose track of time getting lost scrolling through social media.

Complicated - don’t over complicate things, you’re developing a morning routine that works for you so copying a routine from the internet may not work for you, take ideas from the things that you read and test things out to see how they work for you. that being said don’t add a crazy number of things to your morning routine if you dint have the time and don’t force yourself to do things you don’t enjoy.

Books that have helped me (all available on amazon and in UK book stores)

Make your bed - William H Mcraven

The Miracle Morning - Hal Elrod

The 6 minute Diary