Creating a Purposeful Morning Routine
Have any of you felt a little bit like Covid has destroyed your routine and sense of rhythm in your life? It has for me. From preschool shutting down to photo sessions getting rescheduled to family trips being canceled - my calendar & life has felt like a big box of Honey Nut Cheerios spilled all over the floor. Everything has felt a little bit hectic since March and I knew I needed to start implementing some changes to take back control of my life. First on the list - my morning routine.
I have been encouraged many times throughout my adult life about how beneficial having a consistent morning routine can be. Whether it be from a business standpoint or a personal wellness standpoint, it seems that most “successful” people I admire have a consistent morning routine. Same time, same place, same actions taken.
Why My Morning Routine Matters
A few reasons I am re-establishing my morning routine:
It sets the trajectory for my entire day. My attitude, my focus, my intentions.
It’s the only time in my whole day that I seem to have “control” over. And I use the word control veryyy loosely because as I write this, my kids’ morning wake up time is changing a little bit every day and I am still working out the kinks!
It feels amazing & sacred & rejuvenating. If you know, you know. And if you don’t know, you will soon if you give it a try!
Mistakes I’ve Made in the Past
1. Too Many Things
Do a full online workout! Make a protein shake! Get my email inbox to zero! Read my Bible! Journal! Pray! Text a friend! Write thank you notes! Clean my room! Do a load of laundry!
These are all great things, but trying to accomplish them all in a small amount of time before my children woke up was unrealistic. And, it set me up for failure - quickly burning out my aspirations of maintaining a morning routine with any consistency.
2. Unclear Goals
What is the goal of your morning routine? To get a 6-pack in 6 weeks? To get work done before your kids wake up? To tidy the house? To connect with the Lord? To journal & meditate?
It can be a couple of these things, but chances are, it probably can’t be all of these things. If you’re like me, in a season where sleep is precious and your morning time is limited, you can only have so many smart, attainable goals during the small amount of precious time you have before the kids wake up, the work day begins, etc. And, I think it’s beneficial to have a hierarchy to these goals so that you can order your morning routine with the most important things first so that on mornings when your children wake up a little earlier than you hoped or planned for (happening to me right now), hopefully you can have at least accomplished your most important goal.
And if your goals aren’t clear, the morning will get away from you. Fast. When my goals are ambiguous, I am way more likely to get distracted by the whole list of things I could potentially be getting done around the house. And then boom! My morning routine is over and I am left feeling flustered and wishing I had just slept in a little later instead.
3. Misaligned Priorities
The priorities of my morning routine did not align with the values that I want my life to be marked by.
Something I’ve learned about myself over the past several years is that my natural bent, unchecked, will always be towards doing MORE. More activities. More hobbies. More WORK. Do we have any other enneagram 3’s in the house? I can get a little bit addicted to productivity and fool myself into thinking that crossing one more thing off my to-do list with be ultimately fulfilling & satisfying.
In the past, I would often set out to establish a morning routine to help ground me in what’s important before starting my day. But what it would often become was an opportunity to get more work done - answer more emails, edit more photos, do more chores. Defeating my initial hopes for the morning routine in general.
But not today, Satan. I’m re-implementing my morning routine with a refreshed vision.
Refreshed Goals for my Morning Routine
I recently read a book called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. Y’all, this book inspired and convicted and refreshed me on such a deep level! The subtitle will give a hint as to why, it reads: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World. Does that subtitle tug at you a little bit? Does the word chaos resonate? It definitely did for me. For a while, and quite ironically, I was too “busy” to slow down and read this book. But, the title eventually drew me in because I knew it was something I could benefit from. And I did. I learned a lot about myself and gleaned several actionable take-aways to apply to my life right now.
In the second half of the book, Comer discusses 4 spiritual disciplines (or habits, rules of life, ways of living) of Jesus. The 4 disciplines are this: silence & solitude, sabbath, simplicity, and slowing. (Don’t you love how they all start with an S??) Those disciplines are what have encouraged me to re-implement a morning routine and have also guided my goals for the time.
In the past, I have been guided by goals of work productivity, fitness goals, and spiritual growth. But right now, as I write this in July 2020, I am trying to focus in on using my morning time for spiritual, mental, & emotional centering. Not to “get ahead.” Not to check off my to-do list. At this point, not even to exercise - although I am hoping that element can be added back in later! But for right now, what is more important than anything else and what I know needs focused attention in my life is my heart and my mind.
So, let’s get to it. With those goals in mind, what is my morning routine?
My Morning Routine
Right now, it’s very simple. My alarm is set for at least 6am, in hopes that my kids won’t wake up until closer to 7am, but I have been inching the alarm back a little bit earlier lately as my kids have been starting to wake up at 6:15am all of a sudden. Lord, help me! Ha! But ideally, I am hoping for a full hour of quiet to myself! When my alarm goes off, I try to get up right away. No hitting snooze. (I have been notorious for hitting snooze 1,000 times in the past! I used to set my alarm earlier than necessary just so I could hit snooze…) And I don't look at my phone. It’s so tempting for me to check texts from the night before! But I don’t want to look at my phone until after my routine is complete so that I can start my morning without distractions.
1. Getting Dressed
This may seem silly to some of you, but for me it’s a big deal. I used to think staying in my pajamas for a little bit in the morning was fun, sort of setting a snuggly tone with my kids. It was comfortable and made it easy to nurse my babies.
But honey, no. If I don’t get up and get dressed before my kids wake up, it may not happen until afternoon naps on days I’m home with the girls or will end up happening haphazardly as I rush out the door on work days! And the affects of what we wear has on us are REAL people. Slowly but surely, what I wore started to become what I was in my mind - a lazy, good-for-nothin, slob. Ha! How dramatic is that? But it truly is how I would start to feel about myself!
So now, even if it means workout clothes and tennis shoes and hair in a braid. I get up and get dressed. It makes all the difference!
2. Coffee & a Candle
It’s the little things people. Having my coffee to look forward to is just one more little incentive to help get me out of bed right when the alarm goes off. And who doesn’t love a great smelling candle? I think tiny things like this help incentivize us to get up and create a little bit of zen for our environment. :)
I drink my coffee black (Starbucks holiday blend k-cups - even when it’s summer - or I love their blonde iced coffee!) and my current candle scent is “salt water & lilies.” Thank ya Lord for these sweet things.
3. Silence & Solitude
Mimicking the ways of Jesus, I feel convinced of how important it is to make space for being quiet and being alone. Again, y’all gotta read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry! Comer’s words will encourage you in all the benefits of this practice.
Generally speaking, I love listening to music. I loveee a good podcast. I love talking to people on the phone. But, our lives can be so loud, so noisy, so distracting that we lose touch with ourselves and we don’t leave any room for God to speak in the stillness.
For me right now, I practice this for just a few minutes. I intentionally focus on my breathing & sit still. I know some of y’all think I’m crazy now! But what is crazyyy, is how hard it is to be still and quiet. For 5 whole minutes. You’ll think it’s been forever and look down at your watch to see it’s been 30 seconds. As I focus on my breathing, I breathe in the abundance and goodness of Christ, I breathe out the worries and negativity of my flesh. Here’s an example from my time this morning:
Breathe in the Holy Spirit, breathe out my flesh.
Breathe in peace, breathe out anxiety.
Breathe in abundance in Jesus, breathe out a scarcity mindset.
Breathe in eternal perspectives, breathe out worldly ambitions.
Breathe in grace, breathe out criticism.
For me it’s turned into a sort of confessional time and a time of receiving the better things God has in store for me.
4. Scripture & Journaling & Prayer
The way my morning scripture reading looks right now could totally change, but for now, I have been using the “Lectio Divina” style of reading God’s Word. Currently, I’m reading through one chapter of the Psalms each morning. I read, re-read, and re-read again a small passage of scripture. Meditate on it. Journal my thoughts. Pray.
Sidenote: Another goal of mine, is to make more intentional time for more in-depth study of the Bible. I relate Bible “study” with a more time-intensive, deep dive into understanding the time, context, audience, and author of the section of scripture I’m studying. Truly, a study mindset, like how you would study a subject in school! (A book that rocked my world in how I think about studying God’s Word is called Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible With Our Hearts and Our Minds by Jen Wilkin. But, more on that some other time.)
As a helpful guide for my journaling, I refer to a sticky note in my Bible that a mentor gave me in high school with questions on it to use when reading. It helps keep my morning brain focused. Here are the questions:
Is there a sin to confess?
Is there a promise to claim?
Is there an attitude to change?
Is there a command to obey?
Is there an example to follow?
Is there a prayer to pray?
Is there an error to avoid?
Is there truth to believe?
Is there something to thank God for?
What is God saying to you personally?
And ones I have since added after reading Women of the Word are these:
Comprehension: What does it say?
Interpretation: What does it mean?
Application: How should it change me?
First, and most importantly, what does this teach me about God?
How does this aspect of God’s character change my view of self?
What should I do in response?
5. Setting Intentions
I use the last bit of time, now with a renewed and refreshed perspective, to set my intentions for the day.
I am still working out kinks here! I have a baddd tendency of having unrealistic expectations for what I can accomplish in one given day. (Another growth area of mine!) But I use my intentions as a broader look at what I want to accomplish that day instead of a detailed, bulleted to-do list.
My hope for setting my intentions is to get clear on my top 3ish most important tasks for the day. These look very different on days that I’m away from the girls working and days that I’m home with them. But my hope is that writing these out after I’ve renewed my mind will keep me focused on the most important things that day instead of being distracted by the very long list of other things that need tending to. This way too, I can actually feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment at the end of each day instead of a looming dissatisfaction with how much I didn’t get done.
My view during my morning routine! (Will definitely be moving outside after the summer heat has passed.) What would yours be?
So, there ya have it folks. That’s my morning routine! What does yours look like? Don’t have one yet and want to start implementing? Here’s a few thoughts to encourage you!
3 Tips to Creating Your Own Morning Routine
1. Get clear on your goals.
What is the purpose of your morning routine? Physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or relational wellness? You can have more than one! But be sure to set a hierarchy to your goals, starting with the things that are most important so that if your time is cut short by outside circumstances, you’ll still have had time for the most important thing. These goals will help keep you from being distracted by the various things on your to-do list that are calling your name.
2. Start simple.
If you add too much in right away, you may get burnt out and overwhelmed trying to accomplish too much! It’s better to start small, find that you have more time, and add more in later!
3. Pick a time & stick with it.
Ugh, the hardest part - actually getting out of bed! But you CAN do this. Commit to yourself to try waking up early at the same time for a week and I bet you’ll begin to enjoy your time to yourself so much you’ll get addicted. :) If later you find you want a little more time, bump the alarm back a little bit. But start somewhere reasonable and go from there.
YOU GOT THIS!
xo, Suzy
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