You might be asking why I need a morning routine. Let me share my story and see if you can relate to it.
My Story
I worked full-time, was a soccer mom, and my husband coached. My morning routine consisted of reviewing everyone’s schedule for the day, prepping dinner, and arranging carpools. It was very chaotic.
A few years ago my husband and I became empty nesters, it was a real struggle to find my purpose after most of my day revolves around my family’s schedule and working a job that I hated. After a year of just going to a job I didn’t like, I surprised everyone and went back to school to get my masters in Instructional Design. Talk about a life change. Getting thru school while working full-time I desperately needed a morning routine to keep my sanity by getting organized
Currently, we are no longer empty nesters, thanks to Covid and all that. I am working my new third career as an instructional designer (I create those online courses your companies make you take.) I am back to juggling the household tasks, oh yea, and in the last year, I have had partial replacements on both knees. It’s easy to imagine that I have had my share of interruptions to my routines. Sometimes it can be hard to get back on track even with the simplest of tasks.
What I Learned
If you can relate to any part of my interruptions, please keep reading and I’ll share with you how I have learned to adjust my morning routines to start my day.
I have learned that no matter what your life is like or how busy you are you must learn to take care of yourself first. Just like the airlines tell you to put your oxygen mask on first before you help someone else. This is the same thing. Now I am older and wiser, and I thrive to create routines for myself. They are now intentional and include time for my personal growth.
Let’s get started.
Follow along with my example and use the worksheet to create your own.
- Make a list of the things you must do each and every day. For example, daily hygiene, getting the kids up, exercising, getting dressed, having coffee & Breakfast, driving to work, driving kids to school, and so on.
- Record how long it takes you to do each of those items on average.
- Arrival times for things like leaving the house by 7:30 am. having kids at school by 8:00, and work by 9:00 am.
- Repeat steps 1-3 and add to the list anything you would like to start adding to your daily morning activities as a must-do. For example, meditation, devotion, reading, exercise, walk the dog.
- Calculate the time you need to wake up and get started, using the time allotments you created for each item. Work backward from the time you have to leave the house in order to get the kids to school and/or you need to be to work on time. If you want to lump some items together, go for it. This is your Morning Routine. No one is judging here.
I used to create routines to get things done around everyone’s schedule and my work schedule. Prep crockpot meals so we could eat dinner. You know what I’m talking about.
