There’s a reason that most successful business executives – from Benjamin Franklin to Tony Robbins – stick to a morning routine. Scroll down for a free planner printable that will help you create yours.
In the midst of our busy schedules, a good morning routine has to power to make you feel like a productive, organized, goal-getting machine, all before 8am. Starting your morning well means you can set the tone for the day ahead and energize yourself for what’s to come, rather than waking late and rushing to get out the door while asking yourself ‘why did I hit that snooze button for the third time?!’I have to admit, I’ve always been a big enemy of mornings. I’m the snoozer that I just described, always wishing I could wake early enough to have a peaceful, productive morning routine, but never having the will-power to do so. Eventually, I held my hands up and said ‘I’m just not a morning person’. I’d tried to muster all the willpower inside my body to fight the snooze-hitting-beast inside of me!
Ultimately, it wasn’t willpower that I needed. I needed a plan. I needed a morning routine that was worth waking up for, that would help me get out of bed with intention and purpose. I designed the Morning Routine printable planner insert, added it to my little pocket planner and started crafting a morning routine that I would want to wake up for. It helped me so much that I decided to make it a free planner printable that will hopefully help you, too. I can’t explain the difference that this little morning routine plan made to me – a self proclaimed snooze-addict! I had a few things lined up for each morning that I knew would make me a better version of myself if I did them everyday. Now that’s a good reason to wake up.
5 Tips for creating your first morning routine:
- Start your routine with something that you’ll look forward to. You guys, I can’t explain to you how hard it was for me to get out of bed when I knew the first item on my morning routine was the dreaded e-word… Exercise. Who the heck wants to trade a cosy bed for a HIIT session? Not me, thank you! A simple re-arranging of your morning routine on your free planner printable can make a world of difference. Now, when I wake up, my number one priority is to put on my dressing gown, go downstairs and make a cup of tea that I can drink whilst doing my daily reading. That’s the kind of cosy start I can look forward to.
- Remember that small daily actions determine the course of your life. When you’re planning your first ever morning routine, ask yourself a big question – ‘a year from now, what kind of person do I want to be?‘ The answer should help guide you into building the routine that’s right for you. If you want to be healthy, then maybe you’d add exercise, lemon water and a healthy breakfast into your routine. Do you want to be a more kind and generous person? Maybe you could spend five minutes every morning sending an encouraging message to someone. Want to be more mindful? Journaling and meditation may work for you. The main thing to remember is this: it may not feel like you’re changing your life when you wake up and do 15 minutes of exercise, but it’s small habits like this done consistently that will shape who you are a year from now.
- Start small. You may have a friend who wakes up at the break of dawn, bangs out a workout, does all the washing, plans out the day ahead, spends an hour in prayer and still has time to make dinner before the day has begun. (I basically just described my Mum, the queen of mornings!). Just remember that good habits are built over time and whenever you add a new discipline to your mornings, no matter how small it is, you should celebrate that! I started only four months ago by waking up 30 minutes earlier everyday to do a little exercise and reading and prayer each morning. Already, that’s become so natural that I now wake up another 30 minutes earlier than even that! I can now add some cleaning into my mornings and increase my exercise time. So, start small and take it from there.
- Mix it up. Don’t expect to find instant joy in the first morning routine that you write on your planner. You will most probably find that you need to mix it up a little to find something that truly works for you. For me, it was the third draft that stuck. I made little tweaks each time that I knew would make my morning routine more joyful until something stuck. Try each new routine for a week, adding things in and out, moving the order around, and increasing or decreasing the amount of time spent on certain things until something sticks.
- Commit to just doing it. Let’s be honest, new disciplines are hard to build. Once you’re in the habit of waking up and going through your morning routine, it will be as natural to you as brushing your teeth. But, until then, you’re going to have a few weeks of committing to just do it. Unfortunately, there’s no easy fix for creating new disciplines, but if you can motivate yourself with the points above – starting your routine with something you’ll enjoy, and thinking of the person you’ll be a year from now if you follow through on your routine – then you should be able to muster the motivation needed to get started.
Enjoy your free planner printable!
Please note that the download may not work on some mobile devices.
