Designing a Morning Routine for Success

If someone asks how your day, week or month has been is your answer is ‘busy’? You need a better morning routine. Starting your day with a morning routine for success will transform your happiness, work-life balance and performance in the office.

Let’s get you started with morning routine ideas that you can implement today.

Table of Contents

Why You Need a Morning Routine

It’s a beautiful summers day, and you’re heading to the beach. You put on your swimmers, grab your beach towel and lather up with sunscreen. You head off to the beach and enjoy the warmth of the sunshine. Without burning. Your pre-beach sunscreen routine has protected you from the harsh ultraviolet rays that would otherwise burn your skin.

A daily morning routine works the same way. A morning routine designed for success will protect you from the stress, busyness and overwhelm.

If you win the morning, you win the day.

When you are rested, motivated and energised those stressful deadlines become career development challenged. That difficult conversation with a colleague is an opportunity to improve your skills in difficult communication.

As professionals striving for successful careers and fulfilling lives we deserve to enjoy our daily grind and have the time, space and energy to focus on the things that are important to us.

What is a Morning Routine

A morning routine is the sequence of habits that you follow every morning to begin your day. You already have a morning routine! It might look something like this:

6:00am Snooze;
6:30am Snooze;
7:00am Roll out of bed, you can’t delay it any longer;
7:05am Jump in the shower, quickly get dressed and ready for the day;
7:30am Grab a piece of toast on your way out the door;

What is a Morning Routine for Success?

A morning routine for success is a curated sequence of habits that you follow each and every day. The sequence of habits should leave you feeling full of energy and ready to take on the world. A morning routine for success might look something like this:

5:55am Jump out of bed and head out for a run;
6:30am Drink a glass of water and meditate for 10 minutes;
6:40am Put a pot of green tea on to brew. Shower and get dressed for the day;
7:00am Slowly enjoy a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal with almonds and honey, with green tea;
7:30am Head out the door, ready for the day;

A morning routine for success has been designed with intention.

Create Your Morning Routine for Success

Using these simple morning routine ideas, write down a morning routine that inspires you to jump out of bed every day.

Wake up Early

A new day is a fresh start. This makes the morning the perfect opportunity to set the tone for the rest of your day.

Waking up early gives you time to start the morning with intention and composure. The quietest hours of the day can become something you look forward to.

Take Your Time

There is no need to rush home to the gym to the office to squeeze in a long list of morning activities.

Instead, plan your wake-up time and each step of your routine so that you can be present, focused and relaxed. This might mean starting with a simple routine that can be completed in 30 minutes. It might mean waking up earlier so that you have time to go for that energising run.

Don’t rush your morning routine. Enjoy it.

Exercise

Exercising in the morning will improve your energy, focus, mood and emotional resilience for the rest of the day. You can:

Head outdoors for a run;
Practice yoga;
Workout in the gym;
Take a morning exercise class;
Join a bootcamp;
Follow an exercise video from youtube;

Meditate

Meditation in the morning is scientifically proven to increase your focus, energy and wellbeing. If you find yourself overwhelmed by your internal monologue this is especially important for you.

Start small, with 5 minutes a day or less. You can increase the duration of your meditation with time. Some great ways to start a meditation practice are to:

Download a meditation app like headspace, buddhify or waking up;
Listen to a guided meditation on spotify or youtube;

Eat

With the extra time, you can sit down and enjoy a healthy breakfast. Good food is one of the simple joys in life! Some healthy ideas are:

Cinnamon oatmeal with almonds and honey;
Chia pudding with yoghurt and berries;
Scrambled eggs on toast and and apple;
Peanut butter and banana on toast;

Enjoy your breakfast with a pot of green tea and a glass of water.

How do you Stick to a Morning Routine

You’ve crafted the perfect morning routine, and now you need to stick to it.

The first week will be the hardest. Until the routine becomes a habit, you’ll want to make it as easy as possible to follow through. You can:

Write out your routine including the time and place of each activity;
Get to bed early, aim for at least 8 hours of sleep;
Commit to following the routine before you go to sleep;
Set out your exercise clothes the night before;
Share your morning routine with a friend and hold each other accountable. Or post your morning routine in the comments below and I will personally hold you accountable!

What is your Morning Routine?

What does your morning routine look like? Are you going to implement dome of these morning routine ideas? Let me know in the comments below!