5 steps to a morning routine you love

Is your morning routine working for you? If not, keep reading for 5 steps to a morning routine you love and will miss if you have to skip it.

(free printable checklist below!)

If your morning routine feels like a burden, rushed and chaotic or just plain meh these 5 steps towards a morning routine you love will help you gain:

• a greater sense of calm
• motivation for your work
• time for things you love
• more joy and sense of time
• time to work on your goals

I used to dread getting up in the mornings to the crazy of the day just taking me along. My day felt out of control and generally rushed. Now, I love my mornings, and get up much earlier than I used to. But a solid morning routine doesn’t have to start at 5 am or even 6. Today I’m going to share with you a framework you can use even on days you sleep in! A solid morning routine should boost your overall sense of joy in your day, create momentum towards your goals, and start your day with the right orientation. We all have somewhat of a morning routine, whether it’s working FOR us or against us.

TIP: Find a rhythm you can stick to MOST of the time but don’t expect perfection! Knowing you’ll have days you will sleep in will help you succeed long term. 
👉🏻I’m here to help you create a morning routine that you’ll miss if you have to skip it!

Today I’m going to be sharing tips that have helped me build consistency to find time to care for myself, my home and my growing family. Plus, I’ll share ideas for how you might make these ideas work best for you in your season of life. If you’ve been getting up early already and it hasn’t been working for you, or you don’t enjoy your mornings, please stay with me, as I’ll start with the basic steps towards a morning routine you love!

What we’ll cover today for 5 steps to a morning routine you love

We’re going to focus on laying a good foundation first. There are 3 basic pillars to a solid morning routine. I suggest doing 1 for a week before adding another. This will help you gain some traction and consistency. Also, the goal is not perfection but progress. Plan to have a few mornings that you’ll sleep in. This will help you be able to stick to it for the long term. This will not be an overwhelming list of to-do’s, but manageable baby steps to a rhythm that can help you love your mornings!

Step #1 towards a morning routine you love- wake up 30 min. earlier

Wake up just 30 min. earlier than usual, or before your kids usually do.

 I realized that just a little bit of extra time in the morning to orient myself brought more peace and energy to my day than that little bit of extra sleep ever did. I never regretted that time. Sometimes I might need a nap later or to get to bed earlier but I NEVER regret a morning I start on the right foot. 

 Here’s the key: It doesn’t need to be 2 hours of quiet time alone or waking up at 5 am.

Even when the littles are up with me, waking up a bit earlier to give my heart and mind time to prepare can make all the difference to beginning our day well. Littles awake with me could get extra snuggles and some milk to bide by until breakfast while I allow myself time to caffeinate, read or just plain unfog.

In my current season of life, I no longer have a baby, but I still will have late nights (teens) or restless sleep (toddler 😜) but now I’ve learned my morning is more important to prepare my soul, body and mind.  Try it and see! Just begin taking a little bit of extra time, 1/2 an hour for now, to let your body wake up before your day takes you along for the ride!

Remember: consistency > perfection = progress.

If you want some ideas, try any of the following:

A few ideas:

• Stay off screens 😉
• drink some water with lemon or a pinch of salt in it to rehydrate ( I use these electrolyte packs or this salt)
• pray
• write a gratitude list
• 5 min. of quiet while looking out the window
• enjoying your favorite beverage
• journaling
• writing 3 things you’re grateful for
• stretching

Bonus tip: Don’t hit the snooze- you’ll lose 10 min. out of your 30. Allow that time to just wake up.

Step #2 Get ready for the day first thing

Choosing once to get ready first eliminates wasteful decision fatigue. There’s not a lot we have control over in our day but being ready first thing can boost your motivation and productivity.

This is the second pillar to establishing a solid morning routine you love. Get ready first thing and shower then if needed. The first three steps are the most important keystones to the framework of a solid morning routine. The order you do them in is not as important, as long as you do them before you let the day take off. Preparing your mind, body and heart for the day are the fundamentals. After you’ve established waking up a bit earlier fairly consistently, begin to shorten that 30 min. wake up window to allow time to get your body and heart ready for the day.

You can always change later, or shower again, but you can’t get your morning back and the feeling of being ready to face whatever your day brings! There is a lot that comes at us in our day we can’t control, but we CAN be ready for them. 

 This tip has increased my feeling of motivation and productivity in my day more than any other. I don’t have to accomplish anything major, just feeling ready for the day helps my mindset so much. Try it for yourself and see!

I used to spend so much energy deliberating on when to shower or get ready for my day. “Should I shower after my workout? Oh, but what if the baby wakes up early. After I clean the bathrooms? But I have to run an errand before that….”

 Then before I knew it, it was 3 pm, the day was half done, and I was still in my robe and messy bun feeling crummy. I slowly learned that I am the most productive when I am dressed and feel ready for my day.  I usually shower at night anyways, so I just do a quick rinse if I get sweaty enough after my workout.

Bonus tip: Try showering at night to save time in the morning. If drying your hair at night is an issue, try quickly washing just your hair in the morning.

Step #3- WORD before world

Nourish your soul in God’s word and prayer before you open your phone.

This is the final pillar to establishing a solid morning routine you love. I suggest spending some time being consistent with these first three before moving on to the final 2 steps.

My biggest deterrent to getting my Bible read when I slept in or my kids were awake early with me, was that I wanted to complete my entire section from my Bible reading plan so I wouldn’t even start.

I realized I just needed time to pray and read a chapter, or even a few verses, to meditate on in order to orient my heart and day. 

Starting your day orienting your heart towards your Savior doesn’t take chapters of reading and lots of study time– although those things are wonderful when we can get them in- don’t let that hold you back from not communing with your Savior first thing. We need to fill up before we can pour out!

This is the final and most important pillar to creating a good foundation to a morning routine that works for you. You can do step 2- get ready- after you’ve been in the Word, of course, but these 3 are the foundation to creating a more peaceful morning and solid start to your day. If you sleep in and only have 15 minutes, then you can still use this framework instead of something mindless.

These can be done even with your kids awake, if needed, but making time to get your mind, body and heart ready for your day is the most important part of establishing a morning routine you love! Next up we’ll dig into some rituals we can do to enjoy and utilize this time.

• 5 min. of quiet to wake up
• 5 min. to read something from God’s Word
• 5 min. to brush your hair and put something decent on 😉

Doing nothing means nothing changes, but even doing just a little bit can snowball and create momentum, motivation and even results!

Some growth ritual ideas:

• plan your day
• trouble shoot a pain point in your life
• research questions you’ve had about something
• read an educational book
• write 2 pages in a morning pages notebook
• exercise
• do 1 high priority task
• work on a creative project

Click the picture below to grab your free morning routine makeover checklist!

5 steps towards a morning routine you love in review

1. get up 30 minutes earlier
2. dress, get ready, shower if needed
3. meditate on God’s Word and prayer
4. make time for 1 -2 soothing rituals
5. add 1-2 growth rituals

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I hope you’ve found this post helpful, and if you have, please leave a comment and let me know what you’ve implemented in your life that has had a positive impact on your morning!

As always, thanks for being here in my little corner of the interwebs. 😉