I’m going to be a bit controversial here and say that 5 am morning routines on Youtube do not appeal to me and they do not work for me. Meditating, journaling, drinking a green smoothie and going to the gym is never going to get me out of bed.
Start with why
As with every other goal building strategy we need to start with why. Why do we need a morning routine? What benefits will we get from a morning routine?
My evenings are usually very pressed for time. After I get home from work, usually around 5 pm, I ride and do other activities with my horses, eat, read, plan and spend time with Ricky.
The more things I can get done in the morning to free up time in the evening, the better. This will give me more time and energy for all the things I need/want to do in the evening.
The second thing is to identify all the things you have to do. I have to wake up, shower, do my makeup, do my hair, feed the horses, let the horses out, dress, eat breakfast and get out the door.
Now, let’s start building a routine..
What tasks that I have to do each day can I move to in the morning?
For me this could include:
- Cleaning the horse’s stalls
- Preparing their feed
- Riding
- Planning
- Reading
After you have identified what you could move to the morning, you need to identify the problems. Because you are not doing all the things today, are you?
These were my biggest hurdles to getting more done in the morning.
Morning routine outline
When you have identified all the activities and you have identified any problems that might get in the way of your routine and the solutions to those problems you can start estimating the time each task will take. From this you can approximate the time you need to get up.
I like to use a time blocking technique to build my morning routine. Start with the time you get up and block a time for each activity. I don’t recommend including all the activities on your want to do list at this point. Rather you should build your routine over time and add more as you get comfortable.
You can also use this technique with wakeup time. Start with the time you are comfortable waking up and set the alarm to 15 min earlier. When you are comfortable with this time, move it another 15 min earlier until you get to your desired time. If you struggle with getting up earlier, remember your why.
My morning routine
The following is my current morning routine when I go to work on Tuesdays and Fridays:
Now it is time for you to build your routine!
Summary
- Start with why
- Identify your activities
- Identify problems and solutions
- Time block each activity
- Now you have your routine!
