The perfect morning routine does not exist. Or wait, does it?
With morning routine content taking the world by storm, you may have wanted to tweak or create your very own morning ritual, lately. Being up before sunrise, having green juice, and hitting the gym all before 9am sounds super accomplished — but sticking to it, is the hard part.
Today we’re talking all about morning routines. But more specifically, how to create a morning routine you’ll actually stick to. So without further ado, let’s get into it.
How to create a morning routine you’ll actually stick to
1. Don’t copy and paste
First rule of thumb when it comes to creating a morning routine, is that it needs to be your morning routine. There’s tons of content online and more popping up every single day about other people’s morning routines, what they do, and what works for them. All of that content is a great source of inspiration and motivation, but when it comes to your morning routine, make sure you don’t just copy and paste.
Building a morning routine that works for you takes a ton of trial and error, and it’s going to be a while until you nail it to exactly what makes you feel good. We are all so different, and we all do and need different things. So when you’re consuming that content don’t just replicate exactly what you see. That might be overwhelming and exhausting for you. Instead, use it as a source of inspiration, and pull on a few things that you think work for you. For example, you might see someone waking up at 5am everyday, but that might not be your thing. And that’s totally cool. If you like a bit more sleep in the morning, then start your routine at 7am. There’s no right or wrong. The most important thing you want is consistency, so create a routine that works for you.
2. Keep your morning routine short
Contrary to what we might see online, a morning routine doesn’t always have to be a 3 hour process. There’s nothing wrong with creating a long routine, but that likely takes years of practice and discipline to get to a state where you can dedicate that much time.
So instead, start by keeping things short. Don’t fixate on getting a million things done every morning. Instead, your focus should be consistency. So if you’re wanting to start a morning routine, kick things off by creating a 15 minute routine. Now before you think that there’s literally nothing you can do in 15 minutes, you’d be surprised. Let’s say your 15 minute morning routine consists of:
- stretching for 5 minutes
- reading for 10 minutes
That’s it, short and simple. It might sound insignificant at first, but small things add up quick when you’re being consistent with it. If you follow this 15 minute routine for a whole month, that means that by the end of the month you’re doing 2.5 hours of stretching, and 5 hours of reading. That could be a whole book a month. Now that might not seem like a lot if you’re someone who loves reading but if you’re just breaking into things, practicing your habits for a shorter period of time can yield better results. Something like this is much better than trying to stretch for 30 minutes every morning and read for an hour a day, only to give up 2 days after doing it.
3. Start with one habit
As with any major life transformation, you want to take it one step at a time. And in this case, start your morning routine with one habit at a time. As we’ve talked about, the most important part about any routine is consistency. If you’re biting off more than you can chew, you’ll end up feeling overwhelmed and give up on the routine you intended to set up for yourself.
Instead, start with doing just one habit every single day. Maybe for you, that’s journaling for just 5 minutes every single day. Once you’ve become so consistent with that habit that it becomes second nature, start to layer in the next habit.
A good way to get into the groove of this is through Habit Stacking, a term commonly referred to by James Clear in the book Atomic Habits. If you haven’t read that book, I highly recommend it. It’s a great way to understand how habits are formed and how our habits ultimately drive us to different outcomes.
So with your morning routine, Start building a new habit gradually month over month until you’ve got to a place where your routine is satisfying and fulfilling for you.
4. Find your optimal time
Let’s be honest for a second. Waking up at 5am isn’t for everyone, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Some people work shift work, some people work overnights, meaning their morning might be 3 in the afternoon. We don’t all live uniform lives and everyone has a different schedule, that’s just the reality of it. Layer that on top of the fact that some of us are truly morning people, and others not so much, and you’ll start to see why it’s important for you to find your optimal time.
This is also referred to as your Chronotype. A chronotype basically refers to what time of day you’re best suited to wake up and go to bed. It refers to when you’re most alert – which we typically note as being a morning person or a night person.
Finding your chronotype
There are 4 chronotypes: a bear, a wolf, a lion, or a dolphin.
- The bear chronotype is the most common, and these are people whose sleep cycles are usually are most in sync with the sun
- The wolf chronotype generally has trouble waking up early. These are people who feel most alert when they wake up in the early afternoon, and feel most productive the in evenings.
- The lion chronotype is someone who is an early riser and feels most alert until the afternoon. These are the people who are usually up at sunrise and asleep by 10.
- And finally, the dolphin chronotype is someone who just generally has trouble following any sort of sleep schedule. These are people who struggle with a good quality of sleep and get impacted by factors like noise and light.
Figuring out what your chronotype is can help you craft a morning routine that works for you. It’ll help you understand what time of day you’re best suited to wake up, when you feel most productive, and most importantly it’ll help you scratch out the things that you think you need to do every morning that might not actually work for you.
Having quality sleep and figuring out your circadian rhythm is the most fundamental step to creating a morning routine that you’ll actually stick to.
5. Do something you like
You need to enjoy your morning routine. If your morning routine is not something you look forward to then how will you possibly fight the urge to turn off your alarm and go back to bed?
There might be fundamental things for your health and well-being you incorporate into your routine that aren’t necessarily fun, but are important to your health. A lot of this requires discipline and knowing your “why” in order to stay consistent. But those core fundamentals aside, ask yourself if there’s one little thing you can do every morning that you just can’t wait to do every day.
If you are someone who loves to cook, that might be making yourself a hot, fresh, and healthy breakfast every morning.
If you’re a coffee lover, maybe that’s the excitement of a comforting latte after your morning walk.
Or if you want to dedicate 10 minutes every morning to watch some comedy because you love starting your day on a happy note with some laughter, do it up!
Just like everything in life, we need balance, and we need to feel happy about what we’re doing. Your morning is time you dedicate for yourself to get aligned and have a positive start to the day. So do something you love and watch that positivity roll.
6. Be flexible with your morning routine
When it comes to creating any routine, you’re going to need to do some trial and error until you find what you like. That’s completely normal, which is why it’s important to be flexible and give yourself grace.
You might have days that you love your routine, and you might notice overtime that things feel stagnant and you’re getting bored. Be flexible with yourself and try to find a way to tweak your routine or keep changing it up until you find one you actually want to stick to.
That might mean that you’re going to change up the type of workouts you do in the morning, or that might mean discovering you’re someone who works out better in the evening than the afternoon.
Be flexible, be willing to change your routine until it feels right, and things will naturally start to come together.
7. Know your “why”
Asking yourself why you even want a morning routine, and feeling satisfied with that answer is crucial before you go down the rabbithole of creating the “perfect morning routine”. Your “why” is going to be your biggest motivator and help you get out bed days you don’t want to. Your “why” is going to be what keeps you disciplined and on track even when you feel like giving up.
Everyone’s “why” is going to be different. Mine might be because I just want some alone time before I start my day, and someone else’s might be to start living a healthier lifestyle, and the mornings are their only time to workout.
Know your “why”, remind yourself of your “why” and this will just stay top of mind even on the rough mornings. A good way to do this is to have your “why” as your phone background so you see it as soon as your up. Or, you might have an index card on your bedside table reminding you.
Either way, this core reasoning can help keep you focused and balanced, even when you want to give up on the routine you’re striving for.
If you need some help on what things to incorporate into your morning routine, you can download our free morning routine cheat sheet here!
Read more: 5 Habits of People Who Wake Up Early
