Can a morning routine help you have a better day?

Time for another five minute Monday mini and this week I want to talk about how having a morning routine can help you have a better day. You can either watch the video below or keep on reading for the transcript.

Do you know what? I resisted a morning routine for a very very very long time.

I kept telling myself I couldn’t get out of bed early because I never have a full night’s sleep anyway so I NEEDED that extra hour of sleep.

I told myself that my kids need me first up in the morning so I can’t do anything for myself.

I told myself a whole bunch of excuses basically.

But the reality was that all I would do was roll out of bed, pour myself a cup of coffee, get on my phone, and lose myself into the vortex of Facebook and Instagram.

Not really a great way to start the day and it just set me up for a day of constant phone checking. I started to realise I really just didn’t feel good doing it.

So I’m happy to share that I finally called bullshit on my own excuses and I’ve been having a morning routine for the last three months now. It has completely changed my days.

A morning routine can involve whatever you want. Don’t look for the perfect morning routine. (that will just set you up for failure)  Don’t think that it has to be exactly the same every day. Especially if you’ve got kids because it’s likely not going to be the same every day.  So while there’s no perfect morning routine, I’m just going to share a few things that I do.

Again, I don’t do this every day but there’s always a cool kind of combination of things that happen. I know when I don’t bother to do any of it my day doesn’t go as well. There is something about the routine that puts you in the right mindset.

1. Brush teeth, wet face or have shower.
2. Drink big glass water and make tea.
3. Journal for ten minutes or so (brain dump everything that’s on my mind)
4. Movement (usually yoga for me, obv)
5. Meditation
6. Make brekky and read while eating.
7. Make a list of 3 things I want to get done today.

Now if you’re starting to feel like, “Oh my god. How do you have time for all this in the morning?”

Don’t stress. I’m not doing any of these things for a particularly long time and remember I don’t do them allll every day. Non-negotiable for me is the writing. So some mornings it’s just tea and writing for 5 minutes then go time… lunches, getting ready for school, out the door.

Other days (like when I actually don’t hit the snooze button, I’ll have 10 or more minutes on each one (luxurious!)

So I hope that helps to give you an idea of how you can create a little bit of a morning routine in your life. Remember it doesn’t have to look the same every day. You just need to decide what it is that you need each morning. So for me, I need to start the day with some quiet (not connecting via technology I mean – my kids are still very noisy in the morning!) and I need some journaling to kind of get all the mental clutter out of my brain and onto some paper so I don’t have to drag it around all day.

Your morning routine might look totally different for you – in fact it probably should. It might simply be having a cup of coffee outside in the sunshine for five minutes before anyone wakes. That might be it. Just that moment of alone time might be enough to set you up for a great day.

I’d love to know… do you have a morning routine? What does it look like? What is non-negotiable for you?