Five Steps to Start Your Morning Right
Your morning routine should prepare you for your day while also featuring elements that make you happy. These steps will help you discover a routine that fits your lifestyle and needs:
- Brainstorm. Write down all of the activities you’re interested in doing in the morning. It can help to categorize these into types depending on what areas are most important to you. For example, your categories might be health, relaxation, and essentials.
- Prioritize. Rank which of the activities you listed are most valuable to you. If you’re using the category method, use separate rankings for each category.
- Estimate. Think about how much time it will take for you to complete each task. Now, think about how much time you’re willing to commit to a morning routine. If you don’t have enough time for everything on your list, set aside the lower priority items for now. You can always add them back later.
- Select. You’re more likely to stick with a morning routine if you start small and don’t adopt an entirely new practice at once. Choose a top priority activity to begin with. Work on completing that activity every morning until it becomes a habit. If, after a few tries, you don’t feel that activity is contributing something positive to your routine, then you can discontinue it and try another from your list. If it works great for you, then keep at it.
- Build. Continue to add higher priority activities to your list one at a time until you have your full, desired routine.
