I know I am in the minority when I say that morning is the best time of the day. I feel sad about that. If only other people knew how much better your day can be if you do mornings right!
I know it can be daunting to try and create a morning routine. Social media is overflowing with advice on how to get up at 4am, get a gruelling workout in, do yoga, meditate, bake some fresh bread, do a little reading, invent a cure for cancer. You know, that sort of thing.
No wonder we all feel like going back to bed!
So instead of adding to your to-do list for the morning, here are my tips on how to compartmentalise your way to an organised, controlled morning that will get you in the right mindset to conquer the day.
The most important compartment you need to take care of is you. Just you. So the ideal time to wake up is when you have a chance to spend some time alone. It doesn't matter if it's two hours or 5 minutes before everyone else wakes up. What matters is that you get to acknowledge that you have that time for just yourself.
Other than that, your mornings can consist of whatever you need. If you need that workout, go know yourself out. If you have kids to take care of, that goes on your list. Categorize what you need to do, start with you, then the family, then the rest. Once you have a list (yes, an actual written down list!) you can start to see how much time all of it will take.
Reserving enough time for your morning routine is key to making the most of the morning. It is the only way to avoid mad rush and anxiety when you are trying to think of what else you need to still do, when in fact you should already be out the door.
You don't need a minute by minute schedule. Do the tasks whenever you like, switch them up, maybe you don't even do them all every day. But having that list of things to do in your mind, will keep the stress away. Your list might look something like this.
- Quick morning stretch 5 min
- Make coffee 3 min
- Prepare breakfast for kids when drinking coffee 10 min
- Do your makeup 15 min
- Wake up the family 5 min
- Get dressed while kids eat 10 min
- Get the kids dressed 20 min
- Take kids to school 15 min
Then, add a happiness compartment! To me this is the most important part. Mornings tend to be about what we need to do, not what we want to do. We need to be intentional to add that component ourselves. So have a think about what kind of a happiness moment would fit into your routine. Maybe it's a full yoga class, maybe it's just a 10 minute youtube video from your favourite vlogger.
I'm going ahead and adding a good cup of cappucino that I enjoy while reading a book. I need 20 minutes for that, prep and all included.
Adding all of these up totals to 83 minute, ie. an hour and 23 minutes. So if you try and squeeze all of this into an hour, you will end up rushing every single morning. You can leave something out, or you can wake up earlier. Or my favourite, you can be prepared and prep some of this already the night before.
When you are intentional about what you want to get done in the morning and remember to add a little me-time and happiness into it, the rest of the day will treat you well too. Be intentional and set intentions for your day. I love to do this with a morning meditation, but just as easily you could do that already the night before.
When you are stepping to the world prepared, with your compartments in check, it is easy to master them all!