Does Your Morning Routine Need An Overhaul?

We get stuck in ruts because they’re comfortable and familiar. But is it really working for us?

Photo by THE 5TH on Unsplash

There are tons of suggestions for what your morning routine should look like: meditation, yoga, drinking water, eating breakfast, taking a shower, putting on a full face of makeup… I don’t know about you, but sometimes I read these lists of things to do in the morning and I think I’d have to get up at 2 AM to get it all done by the time I want to start working at 8 AM.

Morning routines are great. I highly recommend having one. It’s a great way to ensure you don’t walk out the door with unbrushed teeth or a rat’s nest for hair (unless that’s the look you’re going for, of course). But I want to reassure you that your morning routine doesn’t have to be one of those long lists that makes you think you have to get up in the middle of the night in order to get it all done.

In fact, I believe that a morning routine should be something you can do in an hour — an hour and a half, tops. If you want your routine to be shorter, that’s even better. But what should you be doing in that time?

In large part, that’s for you to decide. But I do have a few ideas for you. Five, in fact. And of those five, only two of them are things you actually need to do each day. The other three just set up your routine.

Take a look at this list and use it to overhaul your morning routine into something that truly works for you.

Assess your routine and what’s working for you

Look at your current routine and assess what’s working for you right now. Maybe you prep your breakfast ingredients the night before so breakfast is a quick and smooth process. Maybe taking a shower makes doing your hair and makeup faster.

Find the things that are working. Those are the things that you’ll usually want to keep in your morning routine. When it’s already working, it’s easy to make that the core of your routine and build the rest around it.

Make a list of these things that are working so you can structure the rest of the routine around them.