Building Your Morning Routine

I have good news and bad news. Your morning is going to determine how your day goes. 

In every interview, book, or article I've ever read by or about any successful entrepreneur, thought leader, or athlete when asked how they start their day, not one time have I ever heard anyone say they hit the snooze button or drank a Coke with a doughnut. Successful people from the world's most successful CEOs to the most on top of it moms know that a morning routine is key.

Win the morning and win the day.

We want to be at the top of our game whether we are homeschooling moms or corporate executives so let's dive into what the world's most successful people all seem to agree make for a great morning strategy. The number one most important thing is to have a routine.  

“Routine is a condition of survival.” ~ Flannery O'Connor

Most people do have a sort of morning routine but let's break down key components for a daily regimen to get us into a mental and physical state of mind for a positive and productive day.

Building Your Morning Routine:

1. Get up early.

I know. I know. I can hear the night owls groaning, but it's what every single person at the top of their game does. According to billionaire and owner of Virgin, Richard Branson, in order to get a head start on the rest of the world he gets up at 5 A.M. every day no matter where he is in the world.  If you are a mom you know that having your feet on the floor first is a survival tactic. That first hour or two when your house or your part of the world is still asleep is a magical golden time that is incredibly productive.

I'm not saying you have to wake up at 5:00, I let myself sleep later than that sometimes in winter, because we're empty nesters, but you do need to have a regular time that you get up and try not to deviate from it too much on weekends or vacations.

So we're up. Now what? 

2. Hydrate. Drink a full glass of room temperature water with a squeeze of lemon.

Your body has been without water all night and most people are mildly dehydrated anyway so start here. I do this with a handful of vitamins and supplements. This falls between brushing my teeth ( the very first thing I do) and feeding dogs and letting them out. This is literally the easiest thing you can do to improve your health and wellbeing immediately.

3. Move your body. This is probably the hardest one for me because I'm most creative when I first wake up and if I'm going to write I'm playing beat the clock to get any writing done. For me, moving my body initially looks like some stretching and deep breathing. Later in the morning I lift weights and walk. I'd love to say I am religious about the weights and walking. It's a struggle. But the stretching is non-negotiable.

4. Read something positive. This can be your spiritual reading or any personal development book, whatever gets you in a good headspace for the day. Every successful person reads. It's a common denominator. 

5. Organize your thoughts. Journal. Morning pages. Intention for the day.

I've made this list as simple as possible for people who may not have any kind of regular routine other than getting coffee and turning on the Today Show. Just doing these things will absolutely transform the rest of your day. You may not get to hit everything one hundred percent of the time but what we do most of the time is more important than what we do once in a while. The effects of these small changes are cumulative. The more you do them the more results you'll see.