Happy Wednesday friends!
It’s a little bit ironic that on the day I sit down to write to you guys about creating a morning routine that sticks, I stay up too late reading, miss my alarm, have to rush through my morning, and am now barely keeping my eyes awake at 3:00 in the afternoon.
Ah well. No morning routine is complete without some deviations from time to time (more on that later).
I’ll be honest with you though:
I am not a natural morning person. Even after having a solid morning routine in place for a few years now, I still would prefer staying up late to getting up early.
I used to be that person who would hit snooze a bunch of times and then rush into work every morning, barely making it on time.
But kids somehow have a way of not allowing you to be late if you want to (ha!), so after doing a year and a half of getting up to the sounds of Kit waking up, I realized that having time to prepare for my day and start on the right foot makes a huge impact on how my day will go.
Before Gabe was born, I would get up 3 hours before the girls (so 5:00ish), and honestly it was amazing! I did devotions, worked out had breakfast ready, did some blogging, and was able to get a little cleaning in all before they woke up.
I hope to get back to a place of doing that eventually, but now that Gabe is here I just find myself so much in need of relaxation at night (otherwise I can’t fall asleep) so instead of going to bed so early I will stay up a bit more reading at night and get up a little later.
Currently I get up about 1-1.5 hours before the kids get up (I wake Gabe up before the girls’ alarm clock goes off so I can give him a bottle in a quiet house).
It took a lot of practice for me to make this a discipline… and even now there are days where I choose extra sleep over waking up early (especially if I wasn’t disciplined the night before), but overall I have found this to be so beneficial that I’m willing to make it a daily practice.
BUT. I totally get that making a morning routine, and especially getting up earlier than you’re used to, is a hard thing to establish and prioritize.
And it took a lot of trial and error before I figured out a routine that motivated me into getting up, so I thought I would give you my best tips for how to create a morning routine that sticks:
1 | This is the first, and most important, tip:
Go to bed early.
I have learned that if I don’t prioritize an early bedtime, I will not get up early… even if I tell myself that I will, and set my alarm. I just won’t do it because I value my sleep too much.
But it’s not as easy as just saying: I’m going to go to bed early! You have to create a routine that puts you in the mindset that it’s bedtime. For me, after the girls go to bed at 8:00 I try to do my skincare right away because that’s my trigger that bedtime is starting. Then David and I will clean up, and we may sit down and watch something for a bit, but I try to have all devices turned off by about 9:00 (on the weekends we’ll stay up later and watch a movie or show), at which point I’ll try to pick up my book and read for a full hour before bed. I’m the type of person who has a hard time putting down a book once I’ve picked it up, but I also find enormous value in reading every day so I like to give myself plenty of time to read so it’s easier to put the book down and have lights off by 10:00.
2 | Create a routine you look forward to:
What restores you? What brings your stress levels down? What would make you feel ready to take on your day?
For me, it’s time spent journaling (I’ve been working through this contentment journal and I really love it!) and reading my Bible, working out, and an opportunity to get ready (see my skincare routine here)/make breakfast in a quiet house.
Having those things to look forward to make it a lot easier for me to choose sleep the night before.
And it’s cyclical too because the more I do my morning routine, the more I see the benefit, and the more I choose going to bed early, and so on.
In other words, the longer I’ve done a morning routine the easier it is to stick with it.
3 | Don’t give up if you fail.
There will be times when you don’t manage to get up at the sound of your alarm, or you get sick and skip your routine for an entire week, or you have a headache and decide to sleep that extra hour… or you have a baby, and have to skip the routine for 6 months (been there!)
These things happen! Don’t let them derail your morning routine long term. When I get off my routine, I don’t sweat it… I just pick it back up as soon as I can and keep going. It’s easy to give up, but just view them as temporary roadblocks and keep going.
4 | And finally: pay attention to the little things:
Such as: stay off your phone after the kids go to bed otherwise you’ll just waste a bunch of time, and then end up staying up later than you wanted.
Also, put your phone across the room so in the morning you don’t reach for it first thing and waste half of your morning before you even get out of bed.
Clean the dishes after each meal (if you’re able) so that at the end of the night you just have a quick clean up, try to save chores for the weekend when your partner is around to help so you can make your nighttime routine relaxing.
Set a timer on your coffee machine to brew your coffee before your alarm goes off…
those small things throughout your day make a difference so pay attention to the little things that are keeping you from having success.
So there you have it! Those are my best tips for creating a morning routine. I really can’t express to you how much a morning routine has changed my life so I hope this has inspired you to try it out.
And just a side note to all the mamas out there: getting up before my kiddos has its ebbs and flows. There are seasons where this works out consistently every single day for months at a time, then there are seasons where I get to do this a few times a week and that’s it. Babies and young ones don’t play by the rules, so don’t be hard on yourself if you’re in a season where this isn’t going to happen. Sometimes it’s just about surviving, and that’s okay!
Are you a natural morning person, or do you have to work at it? Let me know in the comments below!
A few things I use for my morning routine (affiliate links):
Until next time,
Karin
