5 things I learned about forming morning habits

Are you a morning person? How good are you at forming, and keeping, habits? Of course, I’m talking about good habits. Bad habits are a completely different topic. I’m not really a morning person, so I have to work at it, but I am a fairly habitual person when it comes to my routines, sometimes to a fault. In order to start my mornings off in a good way, I’ve learned to continuously challenge myself by keeping up with a good morning routine.

What’s a good morning routine?

A good morning routine, to me, means the ability to get up early (or at least earlier), get your butt moving and focus on a routine (aka: helpful habits) that will help you start out your day on a positive note.

Without a solid morning routine, it’s easy enough to hit the snooze button multiple times before finally springing out of bed, which then leads to a rush to get ready and flying out the door with no cushion when it comes to the drive to work. I doubt anyone really enjoys starting out the day in such a hurry, all flustered and already running late. It’s a poor recipe for the beginning of a calm morning.

Close the door on procrastination

When I left the day job to focus on my writing, I was surprised with myself when my morning routine began on a strong note. I was out of bed and starting my day pretty early, at least for me anyway. But eventually, you settle into a more relaxed routine when you work from home. Finally, I realized my so-called morning routine was not only lacking, but was possibly contributing to my lack of productivity, my stress over time management and likely opening the door for my nemesis, procrastination.

I tried different challenges to help in this department and sometimes they worked, for awhile, but my old (bad) habits begun to seep back in. A shorter day still left me with plenty of time to write, exercise, read, walk Jozee, and any number of other daily tasks, but I wasn’t allowing the time necessary for daily preparation via a morning routine with habits to start the day right, or reflection on the day along with an evening routine to help me prepare for the following day. My business plan as well as weekly and monthly tracking were helping me stay on task with my writing projects, but I needed more to help me stay focused and on task throughout the day.

Start forming habits by starting with easy habits

I mentioned in a recent post, 31 Ways to Improve your Daily Life, that I took on the challenge to form better habits by using The Morning Sidekick Journal. When I first started tracking habits for a morning routine, it seemed a little silly, especially when the instructions were to make them as easy as possible. My habits started with: drink water before coffee, make the bed, eat breakfast (I don’t always), daily intentions, morning mantra and yoga (at least sun salutations to work out the kinks), push-ups, and morning pages. Most of these aren’t difficult, or too time consuming, but what I discovered is that without tracking them, it was extremely easy to just hop out of bed, shower and move on with the day after making a cup of coffee.

A morning routine sets the tone for the day

While my mornings are no longer hectic like they were when I had an office job, there is something to be said about setting the tone, or the pace of the day, with a regular morning routine. Of course, a morning routine can change over time, depending on your obligations, your schedule and your season and it’s always a good idea to assess your morning routine every so often to make sure it’s working. Whether the day starts at 5 a.m. or 9 a.m., the important part of the process is learning what routine and habits work for you.

Not an early riser? Here are a few tricks… 

For anyone who isn’t an early riser, here are a few tricks I learned when it came to getting out of bed earlier:

• When you go to bed, repeat to yourself what time you want to get up – it’s a fun exercise, especially when you challenge yourself and then look at the time in the morning to see how close you got to the time you hoped to wake up; 
• If you need to use an alarm to wake up, don’t have it close to the bed – have it far enough away so you have to get out of bed to shut it off, rather than within reach where you’ll only be able to snooze it; and 
• Once you wake up, try to get up right away (hopefully with excitement about what you plan to tackle that day) and avoid snoozing, as that will only make you feel groggy when you finally do roll out of bed.

5 things I learned about morning habits…when you stick to them: 

• You start the day off with more energy; 
• You start the day off on a positive note; 
• You begin the day feeling accomplished once your morning habits are completed; 
• Already feeling accomplished and pleased with your progress, you’re ready to tackle the hardest task of the day first; and 
• After completing the hardest task, you can look forward to using the rest of the day to complete other less-demanding tasks on your list.

Forming better habits can be a challenge, especially if it’s difficult to remove yourself from your normal routine and definitely if those new habits take you out of your comfort zone. I was a prime candidate for this type of challenge and I’m glad I stuck with it. It benefited me in more ways than I expected and after I added an evening routine, my day feels well-rounded.

What about you? Do you have a morning routine that works? Have you formed habits that help you start the day on a positive note? If so, I’d love to hear how they work for you.

Until next time…