My Morning Routine

A new year brings new habits and something I really wanted to focus on in 2019 is taking care of myself. I tend to run myself rampant, eat Chikfila WAY too much and my health comes last. With that, I’ve noticed an increase in headaches and my skin has lost its damn mind. Being that 9 times out of 10, things go out of whack bc you’re not taking proper care of yourself, so I decided to take better care of myself this year.

I know I won’t be perfect, I will occasionally spring for Chikfila, I’ve already messed up a bit, but its all about getting yourself together and trying again. And can I encourage you? Don’t wait for Monday to try again, or next year or when you’re 40… Try again right now, this second, let’s go!

So my mornings are probably much different than yours. I have two boys who get up at 5:45am bc the bus comes at 6:45am. Yeah, I know, that’s ridiculous. Originally I found myself crawling out of bed at 5:45, pulling them out of bed and then just laying on the couch on my phone while they got ready and dozing off again after they left for school only to wake up at the last minute, rushing to throw myself together to hit whatever meeting, event, etc I had to get to that day. Something had to change! After reading countless books and listening to podcasts nonstop on the morning routines of successful people and high performers, I put this one together.

Wake Up at 5am

Yes, it sounds crazy to 90% of the population, but can you bear with me and see this through? Set your alarm for 5am and put the alarm across the room from your bed. Use your phone, that means putting it across the room as well. This serves many purposes, but the main one being: you have to get your butt outta bed to turn your alarm off and if you’re already out of bed, then stay out of bed. It takes will power, it takes gumption, but STAY OUT OF BED, do not hit snooze, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Deal?

Next thing I do is chug a glass of water. I keep one on my nightstand so every morning, after I turn my alarm off, I chug an entire glass of water. This gets things moving internally, helps me avoid putting coffee in my body first thing and is an easy way of getting a quick 12oz of water on the board for the day! (I also use this app for tracking my water intake. I aim for 65oz each day – 1/2 my weight in ounces) After that, I let the dog out so she can do her thing and feed her,

Coffee & Dishes

Next thing I do is start a half pot of coffee – we have this machine. I’m trying not to drink too much caffeine lately so the hubs and I each start the day with one cup and the half pot setting gives us the perfect amount without wasting any or going overboard with it. While the coffee is brewing, I unload the dishwasher. This is a little trick I learned from Clean Mama bc I NEVER want to unload the dishwasher but it literally takes a few minutes and you have a few minutes while the coffee is brewing so again, JUST UNLOAD THE DISHWASHER.

Mind & Body

So you have your coffee, the dishwasher is unloaded, take some time to enjoy your coffee. Now you may have noticed something by now, I have NOT TOUCHED MY PHONE since I turned my alarm off. Actually, my phone is still in my bedroom at this point. I’ve found that when I reach for my phone first thing, I get NOTHING done and I go directly into work mode without practicing any care for myself while being completely un-present for the boys. So back to the routine…

I take my coffee, cuddle up on the couch with the pup and read one chapter of my book. I’m currently on this one, but if you’re looking for book recs, you can check out this post. Reading one chapter each morning is not a huge commitment, is good for the mind, doesn’t take very long and will help you to read SO much more! My goal is 12 books/year. Once the chapter is done, my coffee is usually done and then we need to get to the body part.

I aim to get some sort of exercise each week, but doing this quick circuit helps me to knock out a little first thing in the morning and gives you a good burst of energy when you need it. You don’t need any equipment, you don’t even need sneaks and you can TOTALLY do this while your dog climbs all over you – it adds resistance, right?

I’ll have to get Mike to video me doing this for an Instastory one morning so you get the gist of it. But I mean it when I say, don’t stop. Do 5 round of this workout without stopping and you can crank it out QUICK!

Once I’m done, I chug another glass of water and wake up the boys. If you have teen boys, you know there’s no such thing as one wake up for them, especially at 5:45am. So while I wait for them to physically get up, I make my bed, throw in a load of laundry and write my to-do list for today while filling out my High Performance Planner. Making this list helps me focus and be more efficient with my ever growing list of things to do! By that time, the boys are awake so I start making their breakfast and take my vitamins (I’ve been taking this combo the last month or two) with another big glass of water – that’s three total now and puts me over halfway thru my daily oz.

Once the boys leave, I clean up the kitchen, jump in the shower and get ready for the day while listening to a podcast – I LOVE this one and this one is a new fave! After I’m done getting ready, THEN I can go to my phone. At that time I’ll respond to DMs, comments, emails, etc. I’ve found holding off this long is really helpful for a smooth, productive morning. There are occasions where I’ll grab it while the boys are getting ready and I’m in between tasks bc I’m not perfect.

So when all is said and done, I’m usually all set for the day by 8am if not earlier – it depends on whether or not I have to wash my hair mainly. I don’t have a typical work schedule and there’s leniency most days upon when I need to leave the house or if we’re just working from home BUT I have found that when I am dressed, makeup’d and ready by 8am, I’m ready to tackle the day while being focused and feeling good.

Listen, you might not be able to do this all first thing in the morning, you might not want to get up at 5am, but when you take care of yourself FIRST, you are able to take care of everything and everyone else so much better!

Give it a try and let me know what you think or comment below with your morning routine – I’m always interested in hearing what others do!

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