If Mornings Are Not Your Cup of Tea…
I have a hard time getting up in the morning.
I admit it.
This from the girl who used to wake up at 4am to exercise before heading off to work. Mornings are not my friend. Or Mornings are not my cup of tea.
You may be like me. If so you tend to stay up late to get work done. Which means you end up sleeping in a bit and have a leetle (misspelling meant) trouble getting a boot-up in the morning.
Or you wake up early with your spouse or crying baby, go back to sleep, and then either wake up later or get woken up by the phone ringing.
There are times throughout the year that you might try and recondition yourself to go to bed early so that you can get up early ( because you KNOW that the morning is THE optimal time to get things done) but it never sticks.
- The house is quiet.
- I can focus.
- I can pray without interruption or knocking
- Nobody needs anything urgently
- I can make a plan for the day
- I have a the whole day ahead of me.
- My husband gets up early so this
iswould be a nice time for us to connect before he heads off for his day.
Besides all this I personally think my Sweet Peanut likes seeing her mom bright eyed and bushy tailed in the mornings ready to great her with a fresh breakfast, instead of rising slowly from the covers grumpy and slumping around in my robe.
So what’s the problem?
The problem is me (and a little sabotage from my family) and not having a plan in place for better mornings.
Things that Can Sabotage Your Mornings
- Checking your email first thing in the morning is not a good idea. Why? You can find yourself caught up in things that don’t matter and it becomes a waste of time.
- Studies show that electronic distractions in the bedroom are no good. This affects your sleep which in turn affects your mornings. Some things to look out for are electronics, things with LED displays, and just general clutter.
- Going to bed at different times each night. This messes up your body’s rhythm. Stop it. Especially because going to bed at the same time every night can make you smarter.
- Giving up. Maybe you worked at having a better morning routine sometime in the past. But as time went on you had days where you didn’t have the best morning and then you gave up. Because why bother? Well not good. Don’t give up. If at first you don’t succeed…
What Does a Good Morning Routine Look LIke?
Start a morning routine that is made up of regular steps you do each morning before your start your day.
You probably want to know what constitutes a good Morning Routine right? It’s one that works well for you. Plain and simple. It starts the night before. Includes plans for breakfast, movement, and isn’t frenzied. Since you probably would like to see what that might look like here’s my Morning Routine when I’m in good form.
- Wake up, throw back covers for a little airing of the bed.
- Morning ablutions (wash up) and get dressed.
- Make the bed.
- Throw a load of laundry in the wash.
- Go get some tea and have morning devotions.
- Go wake my daughter.
- While she feeds her pet, washes up and tidies her room I start breakfast.
- She helps me finish breakfast and we together.
- Morning mother/daughter Devotions with my daughter. (we’re working thought GirlTalk right now).
- And the school day begins.
The Best Tips to Reboot Your Morning ROutine
In the past maybe you’ve sabotaged your efforts at having a productive morning. It’s time to reboot and try again. Here are some great tips to propel you forward.
- In the morning, your brain is fresh, recharged and ready to go. When you begin each day with the same routine, your mind understands that this is the start of your day. When you start each day with no plan in place then you tend to be all over the place.
- If you sometimes plan and sometimes don’t plan take note of which days are more productive.
- Just like children our morning brains love order and routine. If the first thing you do each and every morning is pray and read the Bible, your brain eventually understands what is coming next.
- Here’s something to note. There is research to show that when you have a repeatable morning routine, you experience less stress throughout the day. Stress. We can all do with less of that.
- Minimize distraction, create your own personal morning routine, and see if this nice new orderly routine can have a positive impact on your life.
As you go through finding the right morning routine for you I reccomend the book A Year of Living Productively. Author, Homeschool mom, and Pyschologist Melanie Wilson did all the hard work for you in testing out 47 Productivity Methods to find out which actually produced results. Follow along or pick which ones you want to try for a more productive day. Pick up your copy of A Year of Living Productively.
Five Ways to Have a Healthy Morning Routine
1. Wake Up With Your Favorite Music
Choose your favorite [easyazon_link identifier=”B000Y0F7JK” locale=”US” tag=”mommybabytool-20″]classical pieces[/easyazon_link] or [easyazon_link identifier=”B000R04K7M” locale=”US” tag=”mommybabytool-20″] some uplifting gospel tunes[/easyazon_link] to wake up to. Something Even if you are not able to wake up to your favorite music, play it as soon as you can in order to put some pep in your step. Using music you enjoy dancing to is even better as it will get the blood flowing and naturally wake you up in a way that feels positive.
2. Drink Warm Lemon Water
Have you heard of that before? Drink lemon water before eating in the morning. As soon as you can make your way to the kitchen, grab a glass of warm water, squeeze half of a fresh lemon into it and then enjoy. Always use fresh lemon, not bottled… and warm water is best. This combination will give your immune system a boost and prepare it for a new day of challenges. It is also a great energy giver, and is beneficial for digestion, healing your body, and balancing your pH levels. Ahem! And some have even reported weightloss from the combination (say what??!!).
3. Exercise
Remember I used to work out at 4am before heading off to work? Each night before I never thought I could do it but when the alarm went off the next morning I would get up, get started, and slowly and truly wake up while doing my workout. I was refreshed and ready to go by the time I got to work. When you wake up, one of the best things you can do after a full night’s sleep is move your body. It doesn’t matter so much what you do, or how long you do it for. You can jump on a [easyazon_link identifier=”B00J06V4EG” locale=”US” tag=”mommybabytool-20″]mini rebounder[/easyazon_link], skip rope, [easyazon_link identifier=”B01KMJNZCS” locale=”US” tag=”mommybabytool-20″]balance board[/easyazon_link], or even walk in place. As long as you move you are going to reap the benefits of it.
4. Eat a Healthy Breakfast
If you want to have a great day, you need to eat a great breakfast. This is a lesson I didn’t learn until I hit my 40’s. Your body needs good fuel to function properly. Instead of pouring yourself a bowl of junk cereal, choose a balanced breakfast which gives you a variety of nutrients. Be sure to include protein as this will help to stabilize your blood sugar and keep you full for a greater amount of time.
5. Get Some Quiet Time
You needn’t do this in excess to gain great benefits from it. Giving one’s self even 5 minutes of quiet time in the morning is a great way to get focus and find balance before taking on the day. Many people use this time for morning devotions and/ making the day’s list. Anything you can do to help yourself get ready for the day will work in this spot.
Mornings are not the favorite time of day for many people. But for busy moms they can be the best time of your day if you manage them right. Choose at least a few of the above tips to change your mornings from yuck into yay with minimal effort. Soon, even if you don’t consider yourself a “morning person”, you may find yourself looking forward to your quiet morning rituals as they become a time to kick-start your day in an amazing way.
I just had my fourth baby and over the last few weeks I’ve learned how important it is for me to have a plan for the day. I’m planning to write a post about this. Reading this post has been very insightful. Would you mind if i reference this in my post?