Over the last few years, I’ve changed my habits and started to develop new ones. All for the purpose of helping me achieve my dreams and to craft a life on my terms. One of those habits was adopting a morning routine. The difference it makes to my day in terms of wellbeing, creativity and productivity is huge. Which is why I’m so keen to keep on top of it. Here’s exactly how I execute the best morning routine for me.

Why have a morning routine at all?

I’d wake up and within 5 minutes of turning off the alarm my phone was on and I was checking my emails and social media.

Depending on what I found in my inbox my mood was set for the morning.

My shower would be consumed with thoughts. Compiling a mental to-do list based on what I now needed to respond to. Before sitting down to eat breakfast, I was already working and living in a digital world. 

This was not a healthy start to the day. So to get out of the habit, I started a morning routine.

Having a morning routine is just a way to set your intentions for the day. To put yourself in the best state of mind possible and to stop the habit of being driven by social media. The benefits I saw were instant. I really feel like it had a part to play in my success as a blogger and with growing Love Her Wild.

Defining your own perfect morning routine

My routine is simple and short. Some people do much longer and regimented routines but I know just wouldn’t stick to it.

I created a routine which is realistic for me…..someone who has a short attention span and isn’t a fitness fanatic! If it’s something you’re going to do everyday, make sure it’s the best morning routine for you!

This is what I do:

#1 Move the body

For my early morning exercise I usually tend to go for a run (aka: a 2km sweaty shuffle) or do a yoga session (aka: following a yogi on YouTube while attempting and failing to keep my balance). Most of the time this is just a short 20-30minute session. As someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy exercising this is enough for me.

If I’m really demotivated I settle on just doing 5 minutes of gentle stretching….it’s better to do something than nothing.

Benefits: gets the blood flowing, de-stiffens my body after sleep and wakes my brain up

#2 Quiet space

Using the app Headspace I follow a 10 minute guided meditation, or 15 if I’m feeling settled. The feeling following regular meditation is amazing and I really urge you to give it a go. Just 10 minutes a day.

If you are new to meditation get your hands on the 8-week mindfulness book and following their meditations.

Benefits: clears my head, calms any mood (or makes me aware of any emotions or repetitive thoughts that I may be having), focuses my mind and makes me feel calm and ready to work

#3 Journalling

Physically writing things down on paper is a really therapeutic thing to do. There are different variations of journaling but I like to do the following:

• write any thoughts or feelings I have (usually just scribbling as words come out)
• write 10 things I am grateful for
• decide my to-do list or what I want to achieve that day (I always keep my lists realistic so when I go to bed I can feel good about the day)

Benefits: helps let go of unwanted feelings, reminds me of the things I should feel happy about and also set expectations for the day ahead

#4 Eat the live frog first

This is something I’ve only started adding into my routine. I recently read a book called ‘Eat the live frog first’ which talked about those tasks that we constantly put off but are needed to move us forward in the direction we want to be going. And how really we should be doing these tasks first.

For me, the ‘live frog’ at the moment is blogging. I want to blog more to grow my website and increase my traffic but am always putting it off to complete smaller and more time pressing tasks. So after journaling, I also added ‘writing a blog’. It worked really well. After the morning routine, I was at my most focused so found that instead of writing 1 blog I was writing even 2 or 3 a day!

Benefits: finally achieving those ‘put off’ tasks

My ABSOLUTE golden rule

When I first read about the benefits of a morning routine I thought – sounds amazing but there’s no way I’ll keep that up! That would have been an accurate description if it wasn’t for the golden rule that I set myself:

I CAN’T CHECK MY EMAIL OR TURN ON THE INTERNET UNTILL I’VE COMPLETED MY MORNING ROUTINE

Not only does this give me space to get myself ready for the day without distractions but it also provides motivation.

I love checking my email and seeing what’s waiting for me on social media – it’s a bit of an addiction. So I’m using this to my advantage. It gives me motivation on the lazy days to get on with my morning routine so that I can tune in with the world and start working.

Of course, not everyone loves working as much as I do so find what works for you. Love eating – make breakfast the end goal.

My best morning routine

I hope this inspires you to give try a morning routine to see what difference it makes to your day. Perhaps you can set it as a 1 month challenge to see if the benefits are as profound for you as they are for me.

I would love to hear how you get on!

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*Any women reading this?* I founded a women’s adventure community called Love Her Wild . Check out our private Facebook page and see what adventures we have coming up.