Win The Morning, Win The Day
Win the morning, win the day! This is a belief I’ve come to live by. I’m learning to put first things first before the world begins competing for my time. Early mornings that involve kids and careers can be overwhelming, that’s why I strive to keep it simple and consistent. Long-term consistency will help you create your lifestyle.
I want to share with you the flow of my current morning routine. A routine that has been a work in progress for the last 12 years! And the reality is it will most likely change again in the near future as we continue to evolve as a family and are faced with new commitments and opportunities. One thing I’ve become very clear on as a working mother, is that once you finally establish a good routine, you might find it necessary to implement an upgraded version. This upgrade might be necessary due to a change in your work schedule or simply because summer routines look way different than school year routines.
I’m not saying my routine should be your routine. But it’ll give you an idea of how I check the box on many of my non-negotiables prior to 8:30 am!
I’m not known to be a morning person. However, I’ve learned that I am more productive in the earlier parts of the day than I am after 4:00pm. So four out of five days my alarm goes off at 4:15 am. Three of the four days I actually make it out of bed! Not my favorite time of day for sure. But for now I’ve decided that this is my commitment to myself. I make my way downstairs for some coffee and I might even exchange a few words with my husband. We plan on being in the garage from 5-5:45 and the goal is very simple...we want to move our bodies! I’ll be honest, we don’t currently have a super strict workout routine that we follow. But we do show up four days a week for 45 minutes. I often stick with body-weight movements to help keep logistics simple. Some of my favorite body-weight movements are push-ups, cossack squats, hinge rows and hollow holds.
After our workout is complete and we’re back inside; the real work begins! Our family breakfast is now the focus. We have the same breakfast everyday, with a few variations. I’m grateful that neither one of us require constant variety for this meal. We love it and it keeps it simple! Here’s what you’ll find on our breakfast table most days: two eggs (any style), sauteed peppers, onions and garlic, canadian bacon or sausage and a huge pile of wilted spinach. If we have left over sweet potatoes from dinner we’ll through them in too. We feel our best when we eat protein and vegetables in the morning, with the occasional starch.
Our girls join us everyday for breakfast and our family time at the table is a non-negotiable. We create the time, even though its early, to start our day this way together.
It’s now time to clean up, wash the dishes and finish pulling together the kids’ lunches while Justin takes Rachael to school by 7:00 am and Carla leaves by 7:25 am. My morning continues at the dining room table (aka: my office) around 7:30 where I spend the next hour preparing myself for a successful day. I’ve learned the importance of setting clear intentions for my day and I’ve created a method that does just that. I spend 20 minutes focusing on a list of affirmations that I have chosen. I will read through them and write each one down several times. I tend to keep my affirmations the same for a while, usually for the entire month. I will change them throughout the year to keep them aligned with my updated goals. I then read for the next 20 minutes. My recent focus has been on abundance, money mindset and wealth consciousness so this month I’m reading A Happy Pocket Full of Money by David Cameron Gikandi and You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero. I highly recommend both of these books if you want to improve your relationship with money! One of the goals I made at the beginning of 2019 was to read one book a month. This was going to be a huge challenge for me, considering how little I had been reading the past few years. I quickly learned that I’m able to complete two books a month simply by setting aside a small amount of time each day. I will say, my favorite part of this morning routine is the 20 minute meditation at the end. I’ve meditated in the past but it never seemed to become a consistent part of my life. I had a lot of rules around what meditation needed to look like. I’ve realized that meditation can be whatever I want it to be! The point is to just show up and make it happen.
Sure, it would be very easy to find a valid reason to skip this hour of my day. I’m certain I could find something in my life or around my house to distract me! I know that without these new habits, my old habitual thoughts of worry and anxiety about my day and it’s many tasks would immediately take over. This morning routine has become another non-negotiable. Creating this space for myself allows me to become laser focused on what matters most to me as I deliberately set my intentions for the day!
Your morning routine doesn’t need to look like mine. However, here are a few easy steps you can take to help you create your perfect routine!
Review your upcoming day the night before: Who doesn’t sleep better knowing they’re prepared for what’s to come the next day? I recommend setting timers to remind you of your phone calls, appointments and errands scheduled. Allow plenty of “transition time” throughout the day to allow for unexpected traffic, lost keys and other distractions that will inevitably come up!
Commit to a consistent wake time: Decide on a time that remains the same each day and allows you to ease into your daily commitments and obligations. I personally suggest 7 ½ - 8 hours of sleep per night, so plan your bedtime accordingly. Hint: Waking up at the same time as your kids is rarely a good idea!
Schedule time for your non-negotiables: Do you know what your non-negotiables are? Mine are 8 hours of sleep, family meals together, exercise, reading, affirmations,meditation and work obligations.
Eat breakfast, pack your lunch & plan for dinner: Not only will this help you improve your nutrition and health in general, you will also save time and money! We tend to choose healthier options when they’re easily available to us.
I believe the way you start your day has a big impact on how you will experience the rest of your day. My goal is to help you create a morning routine that motivates and inspires you to live a life you love. Start small and stay consistent. Leave a message in the comments below and let us know what morning routines work best for you!