Have a Mindful Morning With Our Perfect Morning Routine Checklist
Do you hate Mondays? Do you feel scattered and struggle to prioritize your day? If you’re not a morning person, you probably hate people like me. I am the obnoxious, too-sunny-for-my-own-good kind of a morning person.
People ask me all the time how I can be so chipper in the morning. The answer is often scarier than my “good morning” happy dance. I wake up at 4:30 every morning, even on the weekends! What possesses me to wake up at this ungodly hour, you ask? Believe it or not, it puts me on course for the best day ever. Every. Single. Day.
If you’re struggling to wrap your head around this, stay with me. I’ve always been a morning-ish person, but I definitely needed to fine-tune my morning routine to maximize my days. When I finally realized that I wanted to give the first few hours of my best time to myself, my whole world started to shift. I hated dragging myself out of bed, rushing to get ready only to give someone else the best hours of my day, and only what was left at the end of the day to me.
If you’re struggling to stay motivated throughout your day, feeling groggy and unproductive, or just want to find a better way to kick start your day, I strongly encourage you to build a solid morning routine checklist with rituals that nourish you.
These are a few things I have found helpful to starting off every day like it’s the best day of your life:
how to have a mindful morning every day
A Mindful Morning Starts With Getting Enough Rest
This goes back to setting yourself up with a great nighttime routine.
Science suggests anywhere from 6-8 hours of sleep so try different bedtimes and find your sweet spot. Mine is 6 hours—no more and no less.
Wake Up At the Same Time Every Day
A ton of people sleep in on the weekend using the lame-ass justification that it’s when they can “catch up on their sleep.”
But the truth is—and there’s science to back this—you can’t actually catch up on sleep lost. Each day is a new cycle so even though exhaustion can add up, you cannot actually catch up on sleep.
Conversely, if you have a consistent sleep schedule every day of the week, you are less likely to feel sleep-deprived. Sleeping in for even one day can throw off your body’s rhythm, making that Monday dread a real bust.
You can sleep later once in a while, but make it a habit to get up at the same time every day, and that goes for your bedtime too. Besides, you may love the extra hours of “me time” on the weekends, and they won’t seem to slip by quite so fast!
Get Your Ass Out of Bed
Stop hitting the snooze button more than once!
A good trick is to keep your phone/alarm clock across the room or even outside of your bedroom, so you have to physically get up to turn it off.
Quiet Time
Call it meditation or prayer if you like, but any form of silent stillness is incredibly rejuvenating. This is a fabulous way to slow down, enhance focus, and find grounding, especially if you have a fast-paced, stressful job or you’re a parent!
Say Thanks
Taking a moment to be thankful is the perfect way to set the tone for your day. When you express gratitude, whether silently to yourself, in a journal, or whispering it in prayer, your mindset shifts, and your brain literally retrains itself to look for more positivity throughout your day.
Taking a moment to reflect at the start of each day will truly help you have a mindful morning each morning.
Nourish Your Mind
Starting your day by reading something positive, informative, and interesting is a marvelous way to enhance your mornings.
It can be affirmations of your choice, lessons from scripture, or an interesting book you’re currently reading. Reading in the morning gets the wheels churning in your mind and gives you plenty of material for great conversations during your day.
I know a lot of people begin their day by reading the news, but this isn’t my favorite thing. The news is full of sensational material that can hijack the tone for your day. I encourage you to leave the news for your lunch break.
Use this time to learn something, find inspiration, or nurture your sense of wonder, and all of that can be found in tried and true, real, written books. Plus, incorporating 10-15 minutes of reading at the beginning of your day is a brilliant way to chip away at the ever-growing booklist!
But remember, work emails do not count as morning reading and they can wait!
Move Your Body
This doesn’t have to mean going to the gym or working out first thing in the morning.
If that’s what “move your body” means to you, great, but it could be something as simple as a 20-minute walk to get your body warmed up.
Start a simple yoga practice or some form of stretching. Get into the habit of waking your physical body up for the day.
Feed the Machine
Even if it’s a light meal, eating some form of breakfast in the morning is what your body needs to get the machine working, but be mindful of the type of food you’re putting in your body at the beginning of the day.
Steer clear from high sugar foods and be sure to have some form of protein. If you don’t eat breakfast now, start adding in little bites and figure out what works best for you.
So Fresh and So Clean
A good morning hygiene routine including flossing and grooming will help you feel fresh and ready for the day.
Science says that people who floss daily are likely to live healthier, more well-balanced lives. This one simple choice trains the brain to seek better choices in all areas of life.
Makeup is totally optional, but definitely have a freshly cleaned face and smile!
Dress Your Best
Whatever that means for your day! Wear clothes that are comfortable flattering for your body and style, and appropriate for the day ahead of you!
Love the Journey
Your morning routine should definitely include your commute to work/school or wherever you will be spending your day. You don’t want to undo all the goodness that you just spent cultivating all morning with your rituals.
The information you fill your mind with during your morning commute is super important; you want your commute to be as uplifting as your morning routine.
I know a lot of people listen to the radio on the way to work, but with all the negative messaging that comes through the media, I would recommend switching it up to a positive playlist of feel-good music. Maybe use this time to listen to an inspiring podcast or sneak in some extra time with that book you’re into by getting it on audio. Or create your commute playlist to get you amped for the day.
Speaking of commuting, think of using this as another chance to move your body. If you live close enough to walk or bike, then give it a try. You could even bust out those old skates! Consider using public transit to sneak in some more reading time and save on gas.
Find ways to make your commute enjoyable so that you arrive at your destination balanced and ready to take on the day.
It Takes a Lot to Have a Mindful Morning
That is ALOT to pack into a morning routine checklist, I know. That’s why I suggest giving yourself more time in the morning to fit in all these rituals, and don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to do all of these at once. Save this list and add one thing at a time, week by week.
If you’re a parent and squeezing in extra “me” time is tough in the morning, try including your little nuggets in some of the rituals. Maybe they could use some quiet time or some light yoga.
Write down your routine and how much time you think you’ll need for each ritual. Mine takes me about 3 ½ hours. But it’s all time dedicated to me and I deserve it. So do you.
You deserve to give yourself dedicated time solely devoted to your wellness. After all, this is what sets you up to present the best version of you to the world.
My Personal Morning Routine Checklist
Now, a lot of people are shocked and ask me why I get up so early, but as you can see, I pack my mornings full of awesomeness. It really pumps me up for my best days. And even more importantly, my robust morning routine helps me navigate through unexpected plot twists in my day or tough situations that pop up.
Having a solid foundation setup through my morning rituals keeps me grounded and ready to handle anything that comes my way during the day.
I get a ton of sideways looks when I tell people that my morning ritual is the same for all seven days of the week. I am a firm believer in consistency, so I wake up every day at 4:30. This keeps my sleep schedule on track, so I don’t feel the same Monday grog that everyone else brings as they drudge into the office.
Does it take some getting used to? Yes. Discipline and planning? You bet.
Having a consistent morning routine is the best way to ensure you have the best day possible. You need a good foundation to build upon.
For ideas on what each of these tips looks like in action, check out:
My morning routine
4:15 First alarm goes off, SNOOZE
4:20 Out of bed!
Start my Great-ful Morning Playlist (I use each song to guide my rituals, so I stay mindful of time.)
4:30 Coffee and snuggies with my puppers (Transcendence - Amber Virena)
Meditation: ( Back in Time - Amber Vierna, Heavenly - Elise Magnefold, Spritual Conquest - Natural X)
I mix up my morning mantras, but some of my favorites include:
“I release what isn’t for me, and I embrace what is for me”
God/Spirit/Light, please be with me in everything that I do and everything that I say. Help me to be kind, honest, helpful, and grateful every day. I trust in you with all my heart and I surrender to you. Please show me what I need to know today.”
Gratitude (River Flows In You - Yiruma)
I write a couple of things I’m grateful for, fold them up and place them in my Gratitude Jar. (I have a really cool tradition with this that I’ll share on my website)
Read & review my value statement (Amygdala - Michel LeBond, Astral Body - Michael Mondrain, Silk and Honey - Wolfgang Snow)
Stretch and change into gym clothes - Exercise mindset! (Sunshine: Adagio in D Minor - John Murphy).
This song is so invigorating that is has become the perfect boost I need to get into my workout mindset!
All of this takes me about 30 minutes which is why using my playlist as a guide has done wonders for me. It’s motivating and efficient!
5:00 Exercise
Find what works for you. Some days I do light yoga, sometimes I go hardcore yoga, sometimes I do cardio or the row machine, and sometimes I lift weights. Or I do my favorite Cindy Crawford workout video I’ve had since high school (yes, it’s a VHS - I still have a VCR and I will cry the day my tape dies).
Either way, my day does not get the proper kick off if I don’t move my body in some way.
6:00 Walk my puppers!
My baby girl needs her exercise too, so we always fit in a good 30-minute walk.
6:30 Breakfast, daily vitamin, pack my lunch
I was never a breakfast person, and I know many people still challenge the idea of eating in the morning, but for me, introducing breakfast into my morning has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Literally. I feel 100 times more energized and focused for the day, I make better lunch choices, and I bet this could be the same for you!
I know a lot of people recommend making your lunch the night before, but I’ve found it works best for me to do it in the morning while I’m making my breakfast. Do what works for you.
6:45 Shower & get ready -
I thought this was important to note—I floss everyday as part of my ritual and I encourage everyone to as well.
When you floss, you increase your overall health and studies have also proven that the person who flosses daily is more likely to stick to all other healthy goals and habits they set for themselves! It’s like a Jedi mind trick!
8:00 Head to work
I usually listen to my “Get Amped” playlist but recently, I’ve started listening to “Oprah’s SuperSoul Podcast” and I am hooked! I highly encourage you to check it out!
Be sure to leave a comment below - tell me what your mornings are like?