I love to experiment.
It’s fun for me to try new things to see what works for me (and what doesn’t), what I prefer (and what I don’t), and what gives me the best results.
My morning routine is a frequent space of experimentation. Here are some of the things that are currently working for me:
- Drinking 24 oz. of water before I leave for work. I fill a mason jar with water and make sure that I drink it before I leave my house (and if I don’t finish it, it comes in the car with me on the way to work). This has been a great practice to keep me hydrating throughout the day since I’ve found if I don’t start drinking water early, I end up not drinking as much overall.
- Walking for an hour. Recently, I upped my walking game. I realized that squeezing in a quick 20–30 minute walk just wasn’t enough, so I’ve been walking for a minimum of 60 minutes each morning. This time has been great to walk up slowly, listen to podcasts, and enjoy the great sunrises that happen this season of the year.
- Eating a full breakfast. Once I come back from my walk in the morning, I’ve been making myself a full breakfast of some fruit, some butternut squash or pea soup (a little weird for breakfast, but I like it), and a sandwich. Sometimes I also add in a small green smoothie and then pack the rest of the smoothie for a snack later in the day.
- Waking up at 5am. You might be wondering what time I’m getting up that’s allowing me to do all these things… well, it’s 5am. I need to be out the door by about 7:30am to make it to work on time, so I’m taking about two and a half hours to ease into my day this way before heading to work.
Lest you think that all is working well with my morning routine, there are still some things that I’m working on:
- Scrolling social media immediately upon waking. That’s right. Right after I wake up, I grab my phone and check email, Twitter, Instagram, some business stats, and read a few blog posts. This only takes about 20 minutes, but it’s probably not the best waythat I could be starting my day.
- Not meditating. I really wanted to get into a meditation routine this year and it hasn’t worked out so far. Well, truthfully, I haven’t prioritized it. I heard a great tip of using the meditation as a gateway to something else you want to do (like scroll social media), so I might try creating a rule where I can’t scroll until I meditate. Wish me luck!
- Last minute lunch packing. I’ve gotten out of the habit of bulk prepping food on the weekends, so that means I’m often packing quick last-minute meals in the morning right before I head out the door. I’d like to get back to being a little more intentional about this to ensure not only that I’m packing healthy food, but enough food to keep me going all day long.
- Not writing. Unfortunately, with this current schedule, I’m not finding time for writing in the morning. Julia Cameron’s morning pages (three pages of freewriting each day) have always been a goal of mine, so I’d like to see if there’s a way to add a little writing in to what I’m already doing.
I always love hearing about other people’s morning routines and what they like to do to ease themselves into the day. Feel free to hit reply and share what your routine looks like right now.
To think on:
- What’s working well with your current morning routine?
- What would you change about your current morning routine?