4 Strategies I Use to Rock My Mornings!

Your mornings can set the tone for your day. I use to let my mornings control me. Over time I’ve worked to create habits that allow me to rock my mornings, which in turn set me up to have a great day. What a difference it’s made on my life!

I use my evenings to set my mornings up for success. My planner has become an instrumental tool for this! I will make a list of what I want to get done the next day and look to see what appointments and meetings I have.  This prevents me from forgetting about a meeting or from missing an appointment because it is out of the ordinary. I will pack my work bag, lunch, and workout clothes if needed. I will get out my vitamins and lay out what I am wearing. You can even set up your coffee maker so it’s ready when you wake up! This saves me so much time in the morning and I can go to sleep less stressed about forgetting something. 

I have a consistent bedtime that will allow for 7-9 hours of sleep. This is one thing I wish I would have paid attention to when I was in high school, college, and even right out of college. The number one cause of lack of sleep is choice. We choose to procrastinate. We choose to watch that extra episode. We choose instant satisfaction over delayed gratification. I was notorious for pulling all-nighters doing homework and studying or just staying up to finish a movie. It would be extremely hard to get up, I would feel sluggish during the day, and I would get brain fog.

It’s no secret we function best when we have adequate sleep, yet it’s still amzing how much better I feel when I get my 9 hours! Our bodies release hormones that help us wake up and go to sleep so it’s helpful if we keep the same bedtime and wake up time every day. The more consistent we are, the better.  

This has been a complete game changer for me. I value sleep so much especially with training for my OCRs. It’s a time when my body and mind can repair and rejuvenate.

I give myself plenty of time in the morning. This means don’t snooze and maybe getting up earlier! I get it. I was the queen of snoozing in college. My first alarm would go off and I’d tell myself showering isn’t necessary before class, you can just do it after. The next alarm would go off and I would tell myself, you don’t really need to pack a lunch. The next alarm would go off and I would tell myself breakfast isn’t that important. My next alarm would go off and I would have to jump out of bed with just enough time to brush my teeth, wash my face, get dressed, and hightail it out the door. My day would start off a stressed mess. My mornings controlled me. I was completely reactive. Worse, I would be on campus in the middle of the day and be starving because I didn’t pack my lunch.

I have found for me, I need to wake up an hour and a half before I need to be at work. (Thanks goodness I live 10 minutes from work!) I will wash my face, put my contacts in, and put my make up on. Then I enjoy a freshly prepared breakfast of  scrambled eggs with some veggies and sweet potato. This only takes 5 minutes to prepare because my veggies ae already chopped and my sweet potatoes have already be roasted. I will look at my planner and either do a morning meditation or movement flow. I am lucky enough to have a job where I work out in the middle of the day so I do not have to make that part of my morning routine. 

I am intentional with creatine a proactive morning. In the past, I would start my morning off by checking social media. This lead to stress and anxiety and caused my day to start off being reactive instead of proactive. It’s no secret there are lots of opinions out there and ways to express them. I would let negative posts alter my mindset, drain my energy, and steal my time.  I would also check my email while eating breakfast. I thought, no big deal, right? I’m sitting here anyway. What I didn’t realize was how I was starting my day off reacting to other people’s requests. Not to mention, I would let emails requiring a lot of mental energy to respond steal my morning peace. I was not setting good work boundaries and letting my mind be off work.

I now guard that time. I wait to check email and get on social media. I focus on filling with things that help me create a great mindset to take on the day. I like to do a daily gratitude. I think of three things I’m thankful for. I try to be detailed and make them different each day. Nothing is too small to be thankful for. I also enjoy taking my dog Lukin for a walk, listening to my Headspace app, and/or going for a morning run.

Interested in changing up your routine to rock your mornings? Pick one thing at a time to focus on. Once you feel comfortable add another ritual that will set you up for success!