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You hear about them all the time. Maybe you participate in them from time to time. If you read the title of this blog you know exactly what I’m talking about, morning routines.

I’ve never been one for structure. All through my life, I had the routine of ‘fly by the seat of my pants.’ I liked to do what I wanted when I wanted. I know so many people that schedule every minute of the day to reflect structure within their day. Me, I’ve never been that way, I always wanted to be, I always looked up to those people and thought “wow, you have your life together”! I’ve learned that’s not entirely true, but this year I do want to try to feel like my life is together! 

Again I’m going to call it out, but my Full Focus Planner is what made me start thinking about routines. In their planners, they structure the day to have four routines or daily rituals as they call it. A morning ritual, a workday startup ritual, a workday shutdown ritual, and an evening ritual. This planner pushes it because of a couple of things, but one is to help you achieve your annual or quarterly goals by implanting the steps where you can. If one of your goals is a habit goal, implementing it into your routine can help you achieve it. Whether you call it a ritual or a routine, the premise of this is to create habit and consistency in your life where you can control it.

Today I wanted to share with you these different routines. I wanted to start with the morning routine and later on, I’ll touch on these other routines, but I’ve been trying to really put emphasis on my morning routine. I started to do a morning routine and noticed a difference. I noticed that when I did these different tasks or steps in the morning that my day would go smoother, my mood would be different during the day, everything just seems to go well when I completed my morning rituals. Read more below to see how I implemented my habit goals.

My Morning Routine In The Full Focus Planner: 

• Get up and work out

• Read journal/devotional 

• Get ready for the day

• Eat breakfast

• Make my bed

Like this checklist? Pin it to your Pinterest Board!

Get Up And Work Out: 

This year one of my goals is to exercise 5 times a week on either my Peloton app or my Alive app by Whitney Simmons. These exercises are always all over the place since they are two different apps. Sometimes I wake up and have no energy to do a hit or weight workout so I do yoga instead. Since the Peloton bike is at my office (aka my parent’s house lol) there are times that I ride the bike after work. The night before I try to plan my day and what my morning exercise will look like, but when I wake up I try to be intentional with what I’m feeling. Am I feeling strong today or do I just want to stretch? Another thing that helps me accomplish this task in the morning is that I do take pre-workout as a small caffeine boost to help me wake up. I know this isn’t for everyone but this is just something that helps me accomplish my task. My goal is to work out in the morning so I can feel like my day is done after my work is finished, but it doesn’t always happen this way. There are plenty of days that I work out towards the evening time, but I try to get it out of the way in the morning.

Read/Journal/Devotional: 

This is a newer part of my morning routine. I tried to put this into action last year but I could never make the time, this year I’m trying to be intentional about this part of my day. My thought with this task is that I can read, journal, or do a devotional, I don’t need to do all three. I started using The Five Minute Journal in the mornings and I’ve really loved it! I love that it makes me think about how I want my day to look in the morning before my day has even really started. I try to work on a devotional or read my Bible for five to ten minutes in the morning to set my mind up for the day. Believe it or not, reading something in the morning that can be motivational is just good for your mental health.

I wanted to talk a little about The Five Minute Journal, even though it has become extremely popular recently and most people know about it. I love this journal because it really does only take about five minutes of your time and sets you up for an optimistic look at life. You can enter whatever date you want in the top corner then there is a quote at the top. The prompts then look like this: 

• I am grateful for. . .

• What would make today great?

• Daily affirmations, I am. . . 

Later in the day you are meant to complete the page prompts by talking about three amazing things that happened today and how could you have made today even better? For me being a recovered pessimist, helps me focus on the positive throughout the day or the way I can make my day positive. I highly suggest this journal if you are a recovering pessimist yourself!

Get Ready For The Day: 

I always wanted to be one of those girls who could lay out their clothes the night before. That’s just not me. There are some days when this can happen, but it is very rare! If you know me, my background is in fashion so I LOVE clothes. I learned to love getting ready in the morning too. There are days when I just don’t have time and I don’t want to spend that time getting ready so I don’t put effort into it. I have noticed however, that I need to get ready so my day feels productive. When I put on actual clothes, do my hair and makeup I feel like I’m ‘going into work’. I work from home and when I have sweat pants on I just get tired and unmotivated. Again, this is how I feel about it but some people function just fine by not getting ready in the morning. I did recently do a poll over on my Instagram and 90% of people said they do like to get ready in the morning too so they feel they have a productive day!

Eat Breakfast: 

This part of my morning is essential and most people would say the same. When I started commuting for work a couple of years back I found that having my breakfast played a big role in my mood for the day and my health. Once I figured that out it was a little hard for me to find something to eat for the mornings. I started to become more structured in this part of my routine and kept breakfast consistent with my meal so I didn’t have to think about it. I change up the meals from time to time, but essentially I just rotate through some of my favorite meals. Breakfast has always been part of my routine and it won’t ever leave, so it is important for me to include this into my morning routines or rituals.

Make My Bed: 

I’ve heard this again from other books and people, that making your bed in the morning gives you something to feel accomplished about before starting your day. Even if you don’t do anything in the morning or anything in the day itself, making your bed gives your brain the sense of ‘I completed a task today.’ For me, I like to do this last in the morning because it makes me feel like my day is ready to be started. I also love to spray a little homemade linen spray on the sheets after my bed has been made, to make everything smell good! It also gives your room the sense of being clean even if it isn’t. The other thing I love to say is that a messy room equals a messy mind so when your room is picked up and organized that is one less thing for your brain to stress over, especially at the end of the day when you are trying to unwind.

These are the steps that I currently have in place for my morning routine but things are always changing. Even some days I don’t work out in the morning so that part of that ritual changes. I want to encourage you that you don’t need to do every single step of your morning routine or keep things 100% the same with the way you write your routines. See what works for you, wake up and see how your mood is, how you feel that day. 

I write this not to shame you or tell you that you HAVE to have a morning routine in order to be successful, but if you read a lot of entrepreneur books it can be beneficial. Take it from me who never wanted to have a routine in place or I would try to have a routine, but could never follow it through day after day. I have noticed a difference. I noticed that I do get these benefits from having a routine in place. Working from home or working for yourself, having a routine can give you peace of mind. It can also help your day feel more organized and structured. Even if you make your coffee at home every morning, that is a routine. Don’t think a routine has to be 5 hours long just to make sure your day starts off on the right foot. Keep things simple, but overall have fun with it. This is your routine so do what works for YOU.

What are some routines that you enjoy for your mornings? Let me know in the comments below.