Creating A Morning Routine
You read any self help book, listen to any podcast, or watch any interview with someone who you admire or look up to and I am willing to bet they mention their sacred morning routine.
Trust me, I get it. I see the value in taking the time each morning to start your day in a calm, collected, present and self serving way.
So you may be thinking, “Mads, what’s your morning routine look like?”
Well friends, I don’t quite have one. Not yet at least.
Each time I have tried to jump on the morning routine wagon, I fall right off and claim I’m just not a morning person. I’ve figured it out though, why I have yet to be successful in forming a morning routine that works for me. The problem? I try to do all the things at once. I decide I’m finally going to nail down a morning routine so I decide I’m going to wake up an hour earlier, practice gratitude, journal, read, work out and eat a good breakfast all before heading out the door. It is unrealistic to think that overnight you are going to be able to successfully implement all these things into your morning.
Rachel Hollis always speaks to the idea that you have to tackle goals one at a time. Pick one thing, work towards it until it becomes a habit and then layer in the next thing. The benefits of the first action will help propel you successfully to the next.
So, I'm taking this approach and applying it to my morning routine. I've started with gratitude. Each morning I open my journal and write 5 things I'm grateful for. I've done this each morning for the last 30 days. Once I feel that this is solid and that I am starting to reach for my journal without thinking each morning I am going to layer in the next habit, reading. I love reading, but I don't do enough of it when I'm not by a pool or on the beach and I want that to change. I'm going to add this into my routine, set a certain amount of pages for each morning so that it is a measurable goal.
This time around I am also trying to keep my routine as simple as possible. It must be able to come on the road with me. It must be able to be done on the floor of the airport before a 6am flight. It must be able to be done after just a few hours sleep, in a hotel bed or lobby before heading off to a long day of work. That is my reality, so my routine needs to fit it. Right now, I see my morning gratitude practice and reading as realistically being able to fit into that.
Okay, does this all make you want to reevaluate how you start your mornings? Sweet! Here's the how to:
Make a list of the things that you want to incorporate into your morning.
Make sure these are things that will bring you joy and set you up for a good day.
Prioritize.
Which of these things are the most important to you? Which ones make you feel the best? Put those at the top of the list.
Pick your starting point.
Pick the one thing you are dying to add to your morning and do it tomorrow and the morning after that and the one after that. Do it for a week or two or three. Do it until it feels normal, until it is a part of your morning you don't have to think about just like brushing your teeth. Once you reach the level of teeth brushing habituality (I don't think that's a word but we are rolling with it.) then pick your next "thing."