7 “E”ssentials for the Perfect Morning Routine

The purpose of a morning routine is to prepare for the day, spend a little time for me, and start off the day on the right foot

There is no right or wrong morning routine. This will differ between everyone. But I think the foundation of all morning routines should include these 7 essentials for the perfect morning routine.

 

What are the 7 “E”ssentials for the Perfect Morning Routine?

Early bird

Become the early bird. This is so key to an effective morning. I’m talking about your personal morning routine BEFORE the kiddos wake up. After they’re awake, the morning routine has shifted into their time. Getting them ready for the day, getting them breakfast, etc.

Trust me, I’ve had and still have those days where I can’t get out of bed in the morning. Like I have no energy and I just want to lay in bed all day. When that happens, I know one of the “E”s is not happening. For me, it’s usually exercise and/or eating.

But the my best days are when I able to check off every item of my morning routine. Which is time with the hubby, coffee and planning, work, exercise, getting ready, and tidying up.

When all of these are accomplished before the kids wake up, I feel on top of the world. I can’t get a better morning. I feel rejuvenated, energized, and ready to take on the world.

Exercise

This does not have to be some three hour trip to the gym. Studies show that getting your blood and body moving first thing in the morning not only helps your physical health but also your mental health.

This could be a short yoga/stretch routine. A quick youtube or exercise video. A walk on the treadmill, a run in the backyard. Or jumping jacks.

Whenever you exercise on  a regular basis, your body and your mind just feel better. I can totally feel it whenever I don’t exercise. I feel groggy and like a blob. And I gain weight faster than you can say exercise.

Excitement

This is something for you. This can be little steps to complete a goal. This can just be time for yourself to journal or read. Or just sit in quiet with a cup of coffee or tea.

Something that you just can’t wait to jump out of bed for. Excitement gives you the kick start you need and the internal motivation to get you and keep you going!

Eating/Energize

You need to eat some kind of breakfast. Your body needs to create energy from somewhere. Eating properly can keep you fueled for the morning and start your day off with enough energy to tackle everything on your to do list.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day right?

Environment

How do you want your home to look when you walk back in through the front door? Do you want to come back home to a put together house? Or do you want to see destruction everywhere?

I don’t mean going through and doing a whole house cleaning before you have to leave for work or taking the kids to school. But I mean straightening and tidying up so you can come back to your beautiful house. I think that we fall out of love with our houses because we forget to take the time to restore our surroundings.

Making the bed, putting things away in the bathroom, cleaning up the kitchen. These are simple tasks that really don’t take that much time to help you maintain your living spaces.

Evaluate

What do you need to get done today? What appointments? Meetings? Phone calls do you need to make? Errands? Add these to your schedule and assign times to when these are happening.

Use the daily planner from the Toolkit, or this one from the resource library to help you organize your day for success.

Effective Efficiency

What the heck does this mean? I used to be all about being productive. How productive could I be every day. But the definition of  the word productive online, per Merriam-Webster, is “doing or achieving a lot : working hard and getting good results”. That just did not resonate with me at all. Doing a lot, working hard, good results. Yikes.

But if you look at the word effective, the definition is producing a result that is wanted : having an intended effect. Efficient means capable of producing desired results without wasting materials, time, or energy.

So when you combine these two words together. You are producing a result that you want without wasting time or energy. WHAT?!

Is your mind blown?!

Because mine totally was.

Getting what you want without wasting time or energy.

Isn’t that what we all want? We don’t want to do more. We need to do the right things that actually move us towards our goals and dreams. We’ll talk more about this in an upcoming post. I promise.

 

How do you get started with a morning routine?

The first thing you need to do is to write down and estimate how much time you have. And much do you really need.

If you are struggling with waking up early, check out my post here on how to become a morning person!

What time do the kids wake up in the morning?

How about what times you wake up and go to sleep? What are you doing in the morning already?

Once you have how much time you really have, then you can fill in the blanks.

Add in your needs first.

Then add in the wants.

Remember to jot down how much time each task is taking you.

Time is like a puzzle. Your tasks are the pieces to the puzzle. You can only fit the right amount of pieces together. But remember you can swap out pieces if they are the same size..

 

 

Every day doesn’t have to look the same. Some days can have more time allotted to exercising and then other days can have more time allotted for you time.

Start in small increments. If you don’t have any time now. Start with waking up 15 minutes earlier and add in planning for your day.

Then push it to 30 and plan for your day and add something exciting for you.

If you have 45 minutes add tidying up the house before you head out the door.

Remember that the morning routine is to help you feel better. If you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, maybe you’ve added too much and you need to scale back.

Have fun with it!

Hopefully this helps you with your morning routine! Leave a comment below and let me know!