If you find yourself constantly feeling behind—whether it be in your career, relationships, or personal goals—your morning routine may be to blame. Think of how cringe-worthy it is to watch an Olympic runner trip right as they leave the starting line. Sometimes, that’s what life can feel like if you don’t establish good morning habits!
Starting off on the right foot can change the whole course of your day and even, dare we say, make you a happier, more successful version of yourself. Even just incorporating one or two healthy morning habits can create a noticeable shift in your days, weeks, and life. Whenever life starts to get rocky, a solid healthy morning routine is one addition that will help to get things back on track. A smooth AM tends to make for a chill PM, and who doesn’t want that?
3 Reasons For Adopting A Healthy Morning Routine
Good morning habits are like catching every green light on the way to Disney. When you set yourself up for success, good things tend to follow. We’ll get into the “what” and the “how” of creating an effective morning routine, but first, here are some “whys”:
1. A Productive Morning Sets the Tone for the Rest of Your Day
When you kick the day off with feel-good tasks and get the productivity juices flowing, you’re more likely to bring the same motivation to the rest of your day.
Think of the mornings when you snooze your alarm four too many times, miss breakfast, only half brush your hair, and show up to work in a frenzy. You’re frazzled. You’re cranky. You probably didn’t eat a healthy breakfast or workout. And the rest of your day is bound to follow that same path… likely ending with Chinese take-out and a glass (or four) of wine for dinner.
But when you do start the morning off on the right foot, you’re starting your day feeling accomplished with a boosted self-image and positive attitude you can apply to every part of the day that follows.
2. Daily Morning Routines Help to Reduce Stress
When creating a morning routine, keep in mind that it won’t feel natural right away. Maybe it takes you a week or a few days to get into the swing of things, but the key is that you remain consistent. When we overthink things, they often turn into stressors. The great thing about a routine is that once you establish one, you won’t have to think about it at all. The less you think, the less you stress!
3. A Morning Routine You Look Forward To Can Provide You With More Time
If you got a dollar for every time you said “there’s just not enough time in the day,” you could probably afford to buy more time…or at the very least, your very own personal assistant! Well, a productive morning routine provides just that. Once you create a morning routine that you enjoy, you’re more likely to look forward to it. Meaning, you may find yourself waking up before your alarm just to get the day started! Little by little, you’ll be inspired to maximize other aspects of your day and really make your time count.
Think of what you could do with even that extra hour in the morning when you’re able to wake up and roll of bed right on time. More things done equals more to be grateful for and reflect on at the end of each day. See the domino effect here?
How To Create A Morning Routine In 3 Simple Steps
The best advice I can give you for creating a morning routine is this… keep it simple. These three steps are a surefire way to do just that.
Step 1: Determine How Much Time You Have To Work With
If you’re someone who packs for a trip the morning of, read closely: preparation is key. A well-thought-out morning will keep you on track for the rest of your day, and when done right, leave you with more time to relax and do all of the unplanned things you may need or want to do. Micromanaging is OK (and helpful!) in some cases, especially on the days you are short on time. Having a minute-to-minute action plan will drastically improve your sense of anxiety for getting everything done, and help you to stay on track.
Step 2: Include At Least One Thing That Makes You Happy
Mornings don’t need to follow the wake, bathe, eat, run routine. In fact, that’s how morning routines get boring very quickly. Instead, include at least one thing that not only makes you happy, but that won’t look the same every day. If you enjoy reflection, start a gratitude journal. Write down something new each day that you’re grateful for. If you need to get pumped up for the day, create an upbeat morning playlist to listen to while eating or getting dressed. Shuffle it up and add to it throughout your week. Including little bits of joy will snowball into deeper-rooted feelings of joy over time.
Step 3: Nourish Your Body and Mind
There’s no wonder why the golden rule of food is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast is the healthy morning routine of meals. It’s meant to be delicious, nutritious, and energizing. It’s even been proven that eating a good breakfast will prevent you from consuming more fats throughout the day and even help to maintain a lower body mass index.
Once you nourish the body, do something that will nourish your mind. It can be a few minutes of meditation, reading a book or the paper, or doing a crossword puzzle while you drink your coffee. Anything that stimulates the brain in a productive, healthy way. Try to avoid screen time in the first thirty minutes of waking up!
RELATED: 7 Strategies For Creating A Kickass Self-Care Routine (+Guide)
So, What’s The Best Morning Routine For Success?
The best morning routine for success should always revolve around your personal goals. That’s why it’s important to first pinpoint what your purpose is when creating a morning routine. It can be general, such as a focus on fitness, wellness, relieving stress, etc. or it can get super specific like reading for thirty minutes or running a mile. In general, here are five activities that are sure to support a healthy morning routine, no matter what your goals are.
- Set your alarm to go off 30 minutes earlier than usual. This will give you time to flow, not rush, through your morning. (0 minutes, no snoozing!)
- Drink a glass of water, or for added energy and metabolism-boosting benefits, a cup of yummy SkinnyFit Detox tea. Then take five deep breaths. Breathing alone can produce endorphins! (~5 minutes)
- Write down 3 non-negotiable things you need to accomplish that day and an action plan on when and/or how to do so. (~5 minutes)
- Remember those 30 extra minutes you have? Use them to move! This can be 30 minutes of yoga, running and stretching, walking the dog, whatever works for you. Check out these quick workouts perfect for spicing up your morning routine. (30 minutes)
- Treat yo’ self. We’re not talking about going to the doughnut shop every morning, but do something that makes you feel a bit pampered. This could be taking the time to make a pour-over coffee instead of instant, sitting down with breakfast instead of taking it on the go, driving the scenic route to work, really anything that will put a little pep in your step before work and errands set in full speed ahead. If you’re looking to really elevate the health aspect of your morning breakfast or coffee, simply add one scoop of Super Youth collagen to it! Our natural collagen storage begins to decline as we age, and what better way to tackle the day than to replenish your body with healthy, beauty-loving nutrients found in a high-quality collagen peptide powder? To learn more about the benefits of collagen and how it can help elevate your morning routine, be sure to read What Are Collagen Peptides? 5 Things You Need To Know. (~10-20 minutes)
The Bottom Line On Creating A Morning Routine
A healthy morning routine will look different for everyone. It’s not so much what we do, it’s how we do it. In fact, the things you do may not change at all—you may still just wake up, shower, and eat breakfast before walking out the door. The biggest factor in making a routine is setting your pace and intention ahead of time. To stress less and start the day with genuine happiness, slow down your mornings and stretch them out, even if only by thirty minutes. With just those two tips you will surely feel more confident to take on the day and end it feeling that much more peaceful and accomplished.
