Morning can be so difficult to handle for many of us, especially if you are not a morning person. The best way to conquer your mornings is to organize them and the best way to do that is, of course, a healthy morning routine!
If you ask anyone about their morning routine, they might not be aware that they have one. That is simply because regular things like waking up, showering and putting clothes on might not sound like a routine to them. Indeed, morning routines are more than that but they are built around our usual morning habits.
I would guess that many of us are willing to improve our mind and body overall health. For this, mornings are the best time to do something about it.
Routines are different for each of us, depending on how much time we have, how much sleep we are willing to sacrifice for a bit of movement and maybe a short meditation in the morning and so on.
Mornings and the morning routine are setting up our mood for the entire day and like it or not…we do have one morning at the beginning of each day. I know that some people would prefer to start the day at noon but hold on to that thought. Mornings can actually be pleasant and if you are well-organized you can make them your favorite time of the day! (Maybe it sounds hard to believe but keep reading, you might change your mind by the end of my post! )
Building a morning routine
Until now I went through all kind of phases regarding my mornings. Years ago I had no idea that you can have a routine, maybe I had some sort of but I was not really aware of it.
After that, I soon fell in an automatic routine caused by the working schedule but it was a mindless one and it was not bringing me any added value for the day.
I started to have some routine and I was quite serious with my morning rituals. When I look back I can see that it was a great start but I could have added a lot more to it.
I had a period when I took time off from a 9 to 6 job so I was free to do whatever I wanted. During that time, I have to admit that I did not follow any morning routine anymore. I was not rigorous enough to actually have any routine and I was ending up starting the day at 12. Because I was not organized enough with my time, I accomplished less than I could have.
I have to admit than now, with a full-time job, I am more productive in regards to my personal projects than I was when I didn’t have a job. It might sound confusing but I will explain why.
Not having a routine and spending time in bed every morning until I was maybe too hungry or too bored with browsing the internet, was not a great start of the day. I was certainly feeling guilty for that, although I enjoyed my sleeping time.
Get some more inspiration from my post
Morning routine cheatsheet for a more productive year
Healthy Morning Routine
So I started to read more about this topic and I watched a lot of YouTube videos. There is a ton of reading and watching material out there.
My main focus on building my morning routine was:
– health
– beauty
– productivity
To think that you can put the base of all these 3 main areas before you step out of your door in the morning sounds great, right?
It felt like I have seen so many great tips and tricks out there but I was never making time for them and I never got the chance to include them in my day. So I started to write down ideas every time I heard about a great one that would fit my needs.
In time I ended up having ideas and to-do lists written everywhere: in my multiple notebooks and agendas, in my online and offline electronic agendas and post-its. Of course, I was forgetting about most of them. Usually, I was trying one right after writing it down for a few days and something else was coming up, something new to try and it was forgotten.
I know that YouTubers and bloggers don’t have perfect lives and don’t always look perfect but this is the image they share. And I certainly wanted to get closer to that as much as possible.
Give yourself time
The hardest thing to do when you want a productive and healthy morning routine is to wake up early. And I mean early. Of course, it depends on each of us, on the job we have, if we have a fixed schedule and many other factors.
I would be curious to know how much time do people usually need in the morning – from waking up until going out on the door. Let me know in the comments down below.
I usually don’t like to be in a hurry in the morning. For me, it sounds like a nightmare to wake up 10 minutes before heading out to work. This is why I usually allow myself 1.5 hours in the morning.
I recently learned that I should see my time in minutes rather than hours in order to be more productive, so let’s say 90 minutes.
In these 90 minutes, I managed to incorporate yoga, meditation, healthy breakfast, shower, beauty routine. That sounds pretty awesome, right?
So I mentioned that I do focus on multiple topics during these 90 minutes of my morning. Here is a detailed overview of what they include:
HEALTH
For taking care of my health every morning, I included the following:
– water
– vitamins
– green tea
– exercise
BEAUTY
For the beauty part I include:
– face routine
– shower
– quick makeup
PRODUCTIVITY
And last but not least, the productivity-boosting elements:
– meditation
– planning
– setting my intention for the day
If you are curious about how I include all these in my morning routine, you can download the detailed routine that I currently have. I also included a morning routine cheat sheet to help you organize your mornings!
Of course, my routine changes and evolves in time. As I realize that maybe I want to replace one of the items or I find out a new thing that I want to include.
Let me know if you find it useful and tell me if you have a morning routine 🙂
Love,
