mastering the morning: 6 ways

Over the past several months, I have tried and failed and then tried again and failed again

to master my mornings.

Despite knowing the benefits, I continue to hit that snooze button on most mornings as if fifteen more minutes of sleep will somehow make me excited to get out of bed.

Truth is:

those fifteen (okay sometimes thirty) minutes of snoozing do nothing but set me up for a morning of rushing, stress, and unnecessary arguments with my daughter about why she’s moving so slowly. Inevitably, we begin our day full of anxiety instead of calm.

I hate that. I hate it every time it happens. I beat myself up every time, thinking I sent her to school flustered instead of confident.

And then, I regret hitting that snooze button.

Believe me when I tell you, even on days when I’ve gotten out of bed just five minutes earlier, it has made a world of difference. Imagine ten or fifteen minutes early! I used to think I had to get up like two hours early in order to see a difference.

Nope. It wasn't about the extra time for me as much as it was about just getting a head-start on my day and not feeling behind before it even got started.

I finally came to realize that starting small allows you to have small wins, and those small wins matter. They serve as confidence and motivation to keep going and get better.

I heard something so important on a podcast a while back, and it changed everything for me. It was something like this:

‘How can you say you want to work for yourself, make a dream a reality, work towards a new position, etc. if you cannot simply get out of the bed at the time YOU set and committed to?’

Oh how that hit home for me. I have so many dreams and ideas and hopes and goals. And I swear I’m gonna make them all happen. So mastering my mornings is really huge for me.

Most wildly successful people have a morning routine that they stick to. Look it up for yourself. It’s usually the first piece of advice they’ll offer to people who ask how they do it. The key to having a successful day is to start it off right, and that makes all the sense in the whole world to me. (Hasn’t necessarily made my mornings easy yet), but I’ve tried it, and it’s true. It’s so true.

I feel amazing on the days I get up early and accomplish even the smallest of tasks. Those little wins really, really set the tone for the rest of my day.

I've put together 5 Ways you can begin to master your mornings. These are my tried and true tips:

1. Go to bed a little earlier. Your body needs rest, so getting up early should not mean depriving yourself of sleep. Subtract the number of hours of sleep you need from the time you want to wake up.

TIP (Shhh…) I give myself 5 minutes for a snooze. I try not to use it, but hey, I’m not a master yet.

TIP DO NOT hop on social first thing in the morning. You will get stuck in bed. OR add that to your “snooze” time if you must. Just be sure to actually get OUT of bed at your desired time.

2. Make a to do list before bed. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE LONG. You don’t even have to write it down. Simply know what you want to accomplish when you wake up in the morning (and have it ready to go). I suggest starting small.

Some suggestions:

Pray/Meditate

Stretch/Easy work out (maybe abs or squats)

House chore (start a load of clothes, put away the dishes)

Read a chapter of a book

Write a page in your journal

Make a smoothie

Send an email

Start dinner in the slow cooker

3. Find an accountability partner (if that works for you). It needs to be someone who truly understands and believes in the benefits of morning routines. They also need to want it as badly as you.

4. Understand that your morning routine is about what’s best for YOU; not everyone else. Everyone’s morning routine won’t and shouldn’t look the same. Take some time to think about what would be the most productive morning for you (wake-up time, routine, etc), and then try out different options before setting one in stone.

5. Don’t give up. No matter how many times you fail or fall off, keep going, because eventually it’s going to stick. #notetoself

6. Get this book now: My guy purchased The Morning Sidekick Journal for us as a couple's challenge, and we both have found it extremely helpful (challenging at first), but life changing in the end. I tell everyone I know to grab it on Amazon. Click here to check it out.

What's your morning like? Let me know below.

Xx

b

oh, and follow me? @brandiefreely :-)