The Motivating Morning Routine

Creating Your Ideal Morning Routine

How would it feel to start your day motivated and organized? It would be great, wouldn’t it? You’d know what you were doing, that everything was sorted and you’d feel brilliant. Surprisingly, it wouldn’t take much to get a great start on your day every day. All it needs is for you to create a morning routine that motivates and organizes you for success; every day.

The Motivating Morning Routine — The motivating morning routine.

One of the secrets of success -whatever your personal definition of it is- for those who are consistently achieving results both in their personal life and in business is a morning routine. It doesn’t need to be complex and it certainly doesn’t have to be time-consuming to create or follow.

In the beginning, it will require a commitment from you to planning it and then to practicing it daily until it becomes a habit that happens without you having to consciously work on it.

Here are some elements that I have personally incorporated and that have helped me change how I go about my days and achieve so much more. Start with one little thing and add to it to build a morning routine that works for you.

1. Creating Your Ideal Morning Routine: Early Start

Forget about long lie-ins and putting the alarm on snooze every 5 minutes. Set your alarm for an hour or so, earlier than normal and see your productivity soar. An early start may not come naturally at first but by making sure you go to bed earlier and get enough sleep you’ll notice a positive difference quickly.

If you are used to going to bed late, I found that the easiest way to adjust to an earlier wake-up time was to move my bedtime to 5 to 10 minutes earlier every day, until I reached the ideal bedtime.

I personally need 8-9 hours of sleep to feel rested. Adjust your bedtime accordingly to make sure you get enough sleep.

2. Creating Your Ideal Morning Routine: Your Soul

Set the tone of your day by giving it a really positive boost.

Whether you choose to read an inspiring book, pick a card with an inspirational message, meditate or make use of techniques like tapping or visualization, this has been an important part of starting my day.

By looking inwards and connecting with myself, with my emotions and how I want to feel about my day has been quite powerful in setting the tone for the day ahead.

As the day goes by, if something shakes it up in a negative way, I always have that “place” to go back. Staying connected with my emotions and my soul works as a powerful anchor that lifts me up if I get down.

3. Creating Your Ideal Morning Routine: Exercise

Practicing some form of exercise will get your blood flowing, your heart pumping will immediately waken up your entire system.

You don’t need to go for a 5-mile run every day. If moving in the wee hours is not for you, some stretching or some yoga poses will help ground you as well as provide time for inner contemplation.

For me, stretching to start the day does the trick and then, later in the day, I go for a full 1-hour of exercise. You can download these excersize routine charts to help you get started. Subscribe here for free, instant access to the entire organizing printables vault.

4. Creating Your Ideal Morning Routine: Hydration

Make sure you keep your body hydrated. While many people recommend starting the day with a glass of warm water and lemon, I never got used to that.

Many years ago, my grandmother taught me the “1-glass of water before anything” rule and I have incorporated it in my morning routine since then, still, I wasn’t drinking enough water throughout the day, coming to feel tired and even having headaches out of nowhere.

I adopted the habit of keeping a large bottle of fresh water and it works great for me.

On warmer months I’ll keep a large pitcher of water with ice and cucumber slices on the kitchen counter and I love taking quick breaks from work and enjoying a glass of water while watching the birds outside.

5. Creating Your Ideal Morning Routine: Planning

If you want to have a successful day, make sure that you know exactly what needs to be done.

Check your calendar daily, at the end of the day, to identify exactly what Have a to-do list ready and identify the order of priority.

Make sure the list isn’t too long, keeping it doable. There’s nothing more frustrating than having a long to-do list that never gets done.

I personally like to focus on 3 priority items, and if I get those done, that’s a good day!

6. Creating Your Ideal Morning Routine: Nutrition

A healthy breakfast is a good way to get your body fuelled up ready to tackle the day ahead. You’ll feel more alert and be able to concentrate on the tasks you need to accomplish.

While I never skipped breakfast, I used to go for hours in the morning without eating, just pilling up on caffeine as my energy source. With the many changes, I did last year, eating well first thing in the morning is one step I’m happy I adopted and stuck with.

7. Creating Your Ideal Morning Routine: Reading

Taking a few minutes to sit and read something inspiring or educational will help you to feel positive and motivated. You don’t have to spend a long time reading, even 10 minutes will be enough to get your mind working and your motivation kick-started.

Suggestions for morning reading include spiritual books, self-help books or biographies and autobiographies of people who inspire you and can act as role models.

8. Creating Your Ideal Morning Routine: Money Tasks

Before you head out the door on your commute or settle down to your day at home, it’s important to do something that will either make you money or save you from spending money. You can prep the day’s meals so that you don’t feel tempted to get a take-out when you are feeling tired at the end of the day.

Make sure that the dishwasher is loaded and the kitchen counters clean and clear so that you don’t have to think about tidying. Pay your bills so that you don’t get overdue notices and charges.

If you want to have a successful day, then it’s important to start your day in a positive way. Having a morning routine will ensure that your days are organized for success and that you feel motivated from the start.

This is the first post of a 7-day series. If you want to overhaul your morning routine and create new habits check the posts below!