7 Best Tips For a Good Morning

How to Makeover Your Mornings

Have you spent years trying to become a morning person? Me too! I still don’t jump out of bed at 5AM, but my quest to be an early riser has led me to consume countless books, podcasts, and articles on the subject. Along the way, I have found a few tips that increase the likelihood of a good morning. We’re going to cover a lot of ground here, but these 7 tips are fundamental to making the most of your mornings.

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1) Start Your Morning in the Evening

For people who don’t naturally bounce out of bed at dawn, mornings can be a groggy, low-energy slog till the caffeine kicks in. The more preparation you do the night before, the more time you have available for the things you wish to do in the morning. Here are some ways you can prepare for a good morning the evening before.

Limit Caffeine

Limit caffeine after about 2pm. This one is pretty standard, but you may need to adjust the time depending on how sensitive you are to caffeine.

Reduce Alcohol

Reduce or eliminate alcohol in the evening. Alcohol may help you get to sleep, but often it prevents the deep, restful sleep your body needs to rejuvenate. Mornings will leave you groggy and hitting snooze.

Make Coffee

Make coffee the night before and set it on a timer. You should drink a glass of water first thing in the morning. But if you are a coffee lover like me, having your coffee ready to go is so helpful to my morning mood.

Plan Breakfast

Plan and prep your breakfast. At least have some idea of what you’re going to eat in the morning. You are much less likely to grab a sugar-loaded muffin at the coffee shop if you have planned for your healthy breakfast.

For more on creating a breakfast plan, read Breakfast on Repeat

Pack Lunches

Pack (or plan) lunches. I’m a big fan of packing lunches the night before, but even if you prefer to handle this in the morning, at least give it some thought. (Get your kids involved in packing their lunches in the evening and train them to handle this task themselves!)

Tidy Kitchen

Tidy the kitchen. Put the dishes in the dishwasher. Wipe the coffee grounds off the counter. Pick up the stray shoes, sweatshirts, or papers that inevitably land on every surface. You’ll thank yourself in the morning.

For more on how to tidy your home efficiently, read Tidy Your Home (In 1 Minute or Less!)

Workout Prep

Set out workout clothes. Your goal is to make it as easier to say yes to working out in the morning than it is to say no. Have a workout plan. Save your YouTube workout videos on a playlist. Think about the route you plan to walk in advance. Every little action toward this goal helps.

Plan Your Outfit

Plan what you will wear, or have a “uniform” of sorts. Either pick out your clothes the night before, have a selection of outfits pre-chosen as options, or keep your clothing simple so that you eliminate the decision making process.

For more on how to create a system for planning what to wear, read How to Dress in 5 Minutes or Less

Written Morning Routine

Write out your morning routine. Have a plan for your morning. Until it becomes routine, write out exactly what you intend to do and the order you intend to do it in. You’re in charge here, you get to change and adjust as needed, but start with the intention of creating a workable routine.

To-Do List

Make a to-do list. Keep it short, but make a list of the top three priorities for your day. The simple act of writing it down will keep your most important tasks front of mind.

2) Find Your Best Way to Wake Up

The biggest struggle for non-morning people is the simple act of getting out of bed. I have literally laid in bed arguing with myself over all the reasons I should, need, or want to get up. In all my reading and research, it seems there is no magic button for this. You will need to experiment to find out what works for you. Here are some tips that work for others that you may want to try.

Set an Alarm

Many of us use our phones as an alarm, but if you struggle with scrolling through social media feeds or get lost in an internet hole of news updates or Reddit threads, you may want to opt for an old-fashioned single function alarm clock! But whatever you do, don’t hit snooze. The interrupted, light sleep you get is not restful, and can even make you feel more tired than if you got up the 10 minutes earlier. Put the alarm clock across the room if you tend to reach over and turn it off without getting out of bed.

Use Technology

If the incessant beep of an alarm clock results in your morning mood looking like an angry bird, maybe setting your phone alarm to play your favorite song is a more palatable option for you.

Schedule Alexa or your Google Home device to play a wake up song of your choice. Keep it calm and do some deep breathing, or upbeat to boost your energy. You can set Alexa routines to give you weather information, news briefings, even a motivational quote or joke.

Try an alarm clock that simulates a sunrise with gradual soft light. Some of these have options for different colors of light, and some serve double duty as a sound machine.

Morning Countdown

When you wake up, count down from 5. When you reach 1, JUMP out of bed. This tip is from Mel Robbins, who explores the gap between what is happening and our reaction to it in her book“The 5-Second Rule.”

An alternative morning countdown could be a head to toe stretch while you count to 10, or 5 deep breaths.

Remind yourself of 3 things you’re thankful for each morning before you get out of bed.

Light Exposure

Expose yourself to natural light as early as possible. Open the blinds or curtains. Look out a window. Fresh air plus sunlight is even better. Well-known tidying up expert Marie Kondo starts her day by opening a window each morning to let in fresh air.

3) Create a Good Morning Routine

A morning routine allows you to shift into an automatic mode of operation, which means less mental energy expended on decision making. There are whole books written about creating a morning routine, and dissecting the morning routines of successful people. I find it helpful to learn how others set up their mornings to be productive and efficient, but in the end, your morning routine will only work if it works for you.

My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired

The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)

What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: And Two Other Short Guides to Achieving More at Work and at Home

Spend a little time dreaming about what you want your mornings to look like. Make a list of everything you’d love to include in your morning routine. Then, take a good look at what is realistic for your current stage of life, personality, and current time limitations.

Read: 100 Morning Routine Ideas

Here is a list of ideas to consider incorporating in your morning routine. Don’t get overwhelmed by this list. Pick two or three things that you most want to include in your mornings and start with those. Do them consistently in the same order, if possible. Consistency is key to creating a routine. This list is free to download and print for your personal use.

Don’t make your routine a set of rules you must follow. It’s okay to have a weekday morning routine, and a separate routine for the weekend. However, considerable research suggests that waking at roughly the same time each day is best for maintaining regular sleep cycles. So even if you want to create a Saturday morning routine that differs from your Monday through Friday routine, try to keep your weekend wake time within a half hour of your weekday alarm.

If you love Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning Routine, you can purchase a SAVERS routine guide with suggested time frames and inspirational quotes for focus. This printable is available in my Etsy shop in multiple color options.

4) Develop Productive Habits

More than likely, you already have some kind of morning routine. Whatever your usual habit is…hit snooze twice, stumble to the shower, stop at Starbucks for a latte…that IS your morning routine. When people say they want to develop a morning routine, they usually mean they want a different, more productive routine than the one they have currently. The way to accomplish this is by working on habit improvements.

Here are a few areas for habit improvement that have proven benefits for your physical and mental health. If you get in the habit of doing some of these activities each morning, you will have increased physical and mental energy to add other things to your morning routine.

Hydrate

Drink water. Your body needs it. Your brain needs it. I guarantee that this one addition to your morning routine will make a difference in your mood, energy, and focus. I have played around with adding lemon to my water, keeping a pitcher of fruit-infused water in the fridge, and drinking bottled water to accurately gauge how much I drink.

In the end, I found that what works best for me is to fill my stainless steel water bottle in the evening and keep it next to my bed. I use a bottle with a reusable straw, because I drink much more water when I use a straw than with any other kind of water bottle. As soon as I get out of bed, I start drinking my first 16 ounces of water. Only after I have finished drinking at least 16 ounces of water do I allow myself to have a cup of coffee.

Play around with what works for you. You may enjoy slicing lemons in the morning while you remind yourself of what your top priority is for the day. You may discover that adding ice to your water makes all the difference. It’s worth the effort to find out what works for you to make hydrating in the morning a part of your routine.

Exercise

This is by far the thing I have most struggled with incorporating into my morning routine. I do not claim that morning workouts are best for everyone. Fit in a bike ride, walk, or a few pushups whenever you can. Move your body as much as possible! But the evidence pointing to the benefits of morning exercise is indisputable.

Better sleep, increased focus, higher energy levels, more self-discipline, and a greater chance of actually getting that workout in before the rest of the day eats away at your available time and motivation.

Add some type of exercise to your morning routine. Take a walk outside and you get natural light, fresh air, and exercise all at once. You can further use that time to listen to a podcast or audiobook, talk to a friend, walk with a friend, or just allow your mind a few moments of silence to recharge and focus for the day ahead.

There are thousands of workout options available to stream in your own living room through YouTube. Try something new every week!

Stretch at a minimum.

Check out my 7-Minute Morning Stretches for a quick morning stretch routine.

Make Your Bed

Even if you do nothing else, make your bed, and you will have accomplished something! Seriously. Other than brushing my teeth, this is the piece of my morning routine that is most deeply ingrained. I have been making my bed for so many years, that it would never occur to me to NOT make my bed. That is the beauty of creating a habit. My goal is to make the other parts of my morning routine as deeply habitual as making my bed.

In order for a habit to become that automatic, it must be practiced consistently, preferably at the same time and cued by the same things daily. Making my bed is automatic because I do it as soon as I get up. On the odd day that I am interrupted by something else and don’t immediately make my bed, it is noticeable and I will prioritize making my bed as soon as possible.

By creating a morning routine, you are setting your brain up to have less decisions to make, while accomplishing the things you deem most valuable and worth your time.

5) Get Inspired

This seems obvious, but you are much more likely to get up and going early in the morning if you are looking forward to your day. Think about what inspires you to get excited about your day, or what adds peace and beauty to your life.

Again, this is highly individualistic, but here are some ideas that may help you discover something to inspire your mornings.

Visualize Your Goals

Before bed, think about what you WANT to do tomorrow. Write it down. When you wake up, think about that thing again to motivate yourself for the day.

Treat Yourself

Treat yourself as part of your morning routine. Light a candle while you journal. Give yourself permission to read a novel. Pick a TV show you love and watch it while you walk on the treadmill. Flip through a design magazine that stirs your creative juices. You get the idea. Find something that brings you a little bit of joy, and allow that to be a part of your morning, even for just 5-10 minutes.

Make Time for Play

Set aside time for something that you love. I have three kids, and on a daily basis they get completely caught up in play, oblivious to time passing. You may not be able to make time for this kind of immersive activity every day, but give yourself something to look forward to. It will make a difference to your overall frame of mind. Take up knitting, bowling, or baking. Learn a new skill or take a class. Find something that brings a little hum of excitement to your brain, and make it a priority to engage in that activity on a regular basis.

Enjoy Nature

Watch the sunrise while sipping coffee on your porch (or a park bench). Take a few minutes to water your flowers or walk barefoot in the grass. Listen to the wind in the trees or the rain on the roof. Scientists have long believed that spending time in nature has psychological benefits, but recent studies point to the connection between an appreciation and awe for nature’s beauty and a greater overall satisfaction with life.

Pray and Give Thanks

Pray and focus on gratitude. After spending time in nature, you likely marvel at the intricate beauty that surrounds us. I personally love to star-gaze, and I feel a profound and powerful sense of awe each time I look up into a black sky sprinkled with uncountable glittering stars. My response is prayerful gratitude to the Creator. A consistent time spent in prayer and giving thanks connects me to a greater purpose and reminds me that I was created to create, to love those around me, and to experience a deep and abiding joy through a relationship with my Creator.

For a list of 30 gratitude prompts, read 30 Days of Thankful

Use Inspirational Quotes

Use quotes to motivate and inspire your mornings. I can’t get enough of inspirational quotes. Display a favorite quote on your nightstand that sets the tone for your mornings. I have a three-ring binder that I look at every day with a section in the front dedicated to mornings. This includes motivational quotes, my 7-Minute Morning Stretches, morning routine, a monthly workout calendar, and anything else I’m using to keep me on track in the mornings. Check out my Miracle Morning Routine Inspiration or Morning Motivation printable to get you started. You can also find morning motivation prints in my Etsy shop.

6) Have a Plan for Your Day

Mornings can feel scattered when you’re simultaneously trying to find the homework your child took OUT of their backpack for some inexplicable reason, remind your husband that he is on pick up duty, and make sure the dog doesn’t sneak out the door along with everyone else.

You need a focused plan for your day. You can create your plan the night before, or as part of your morning routine, but spend a few minutes thinking through the things that are scheduled to happen, the tasks that must get done, and set priorities for the things you most want to accomplish.

Making a to-do list is one way to handle this, but often we add more things to our list than we cross off in a day. I solve this problem by keeping an ongoing task list of everything I want or need to do, and then make a manageable daily to-do list with just a few priority tasks. On the rare occasion that I am twiddling my thumbs, having accomplished my top priorities, I can scan my list of “all the things” and pick something that I want to prioritize next.

With a plan in place, you will know exactly what to work on, without spinning in circles. Focused work on something you deem important is vastly superior to aimless work on the endless urgent or distracting tasks that compete for your attention.

7) Expect the Unexpected

Finally, make space for the unexpected in life. There will be days when you have a sick kid, a flat tire, or a sleepless night that throws your morning routine a curveball. That’s ok. One thing I’ve learned over years of refining routines and systems is that life is more about rhythms and seasons than perfect order and regimens.

Imagine the mess created by a kids’ birthday party in your home. Streamers, smashed cake bits, wrapping paper, toys everywhere…it’s a MESS, right? That kind of mess can feel overwhelming and unsettling to those of us who love order and tidiness. But my tendency is to overestimate the mess. I see it and think that my house is ALWAYS a mess, or subconsciously feel that my LIFE is a mess.

And then, with a few hours of focused work, the mess is gone. It wasn’t a permanent state of being, just temporary evidence of my kids having a great time.

It’s important to remind yourself that setbacks, messy stops and starts, and the inevitable curveballs are part of life. If you have a week that feels out-of-control, take a deep breath and let it go. Every morning is a new opportunity to start fresh.

List of Tips for a Good Morning

None of this is complicated. The keys to managing mornings are simple, but they take discipline and a willingness to say no to ourselves. It’s deceptively easy to believe that our mindless scrolling through social media counts as relaxation, and not take deliberate steps to get inspired in a meaningful way. Or to think that because we tried setting an alarm for 6AM and failed six out of the ten days we tried, that we are incapable of creating a productive morning routine.

Maybe, like me, you feel you need those late-night hours after the kids go to bed to decompress and enjoy a little “me-time.” Although I am nowhere near as consistent as I want to be in maintaining an early morning routine, I have seen tremendous progress by implementing these 7 tips into my life.

1. Start your morning in the evening
2. Find your best way to wake up
3. Create a morning routine
4. Develop productive habits
5. Get inspired
6. Have a plan for your day
7. Expect the unexpected

If you are looking for ways to manage your mornings that result in less chaos, greater focus on productive work, and a more intentional use of your time, pick something from this list and try it tomorrow. Any tiny step you take toward creating a morning routine is worthwhile.

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