How to Create a Morning Routine That Will Make Your Heart Sing
How I start my day has a huge impact on how it continues. Being intentional about how I spend my time first thing has a knock-on effect on how conscious I am for the rest of the day. Maybe this is the same for you? If so, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve found helpful for creating a morning routine that gets me started on the right track:
It starts the night before
I go to bed early. Not super early but “early” compared to the time I used to go to sleep. I work at home, don’t have any set hours, and don’t really “need” to get up by a certain time. Even so, I’ve created a set bed time for myself because I know that a good night’s sleep has the biggest positive impact on my morning routine.
Clarity on my “When Life Works List”
(If you don’t have one of these, check out this podcast and accompanying worksheet). These are the activities that help us feel like the best version of ourselves. When we’re doing them on a regular basis, we can usually see a clear correlation between action and sense of well-being.
My non-negotiables include doing something creative every day, getting at least 7.5 hours sleep, journaling, meditating, and exercising. I know that when I do these things on a regular basis, I’m far better able to handle the high highs and low lows of life, and enjoy my day far more. As you’ll see, I’ve tailored my morning routine to include all these. Another non-negotiable is going outside, which I usually do in the afternoon (unless the weather is being very British).
Meditation
Some days, it feels like everywhere I look someone is advertising or talking about meditation, and that’s because it works. I aim for 10 minutes every day but even two minutes of meditation (yes two), is better than nothing.
I heard about this idea from Dandapani’s interview on The Unmistakeable Creative. Start with one minute for one month, move to two minutes the next month, and so on. This isn’t about getting to the point where you can meditate for two hours straight ASAP. Instead, it’s about building a sustainable habit.
Journaling
I’m a huge fan of The Artist’s Way and journaling in general (I’ve even written a book about it). One of the most important (and most challenging) parts of my morning routine is my Morning Pages: 3 A4 pages of stream-of-consciousness writing.
When I first started, it was taking longer than Julia Cameron’s suggested 30 minutes, mainly because I found it hard to focus. While I can bash out 750 words on a laptop in under 15 minutes, hand writing them was a lot slower. These days, I tend to do it on a laptop because it’s easier to store my entries digitally when I travel.
Journaling is a great way of getting everything out of my head and onto paper, plus it helps me plan for the day. If there was just one activity from this list that I recommend everyone try, it’s this.
Journaling first thing is a great way of clearing your head and planning your day.
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Create something ASAP
As much as I love binge-watching episodes of Castle, I also know I need to balance creating with consuming to feel at peace with the world. At best, this involves writing or sharing something, but even doing a good workout (i.e. creating better health and fitness) counts. This isn’t something that will appear in everyone’s morning routine, but I feel incredible when I hit 9 or 10 am and already have something I can show for my morning.
Remember that it’s just a support (and don’t take it too seriously!)
This is a point that tends to get lost amidst many morning routine-related discussions. I’m committed to starting the day off right but I don’t take it so seriously that I lose sight of the rest of the day too. Morning routines are a support for doing your best work and experiencing the best day possible but they’re not a substitute for actually doing the work and experiencing the day itself.
Morning routines are a support for your best work but not a substitute for the work itself.
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Do you want to create a morning routine that gets your day off to the right start? This is one of the topics we’ll be covering in From Coping to Thriving, which starts on 7th September. Registration is now open, you can find out more and join us here.
Image: David Mao
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