This post is part 2 of The Ultimate Guide To Creating A Morning Routine.
If you haven’t already read the previous post, check that out here.
How To Create A Morning Routine
Now for the practical part of the guide. Let’s jump straight in.
To create a morning routine, we first need to know what you want to include.
- Is there an area of your life you want to improve?
- Is there a certain habit you know will be good for you, which you want to include?
- What gets you out of bed every morning?
Step 1 – Listing out habits
Begin by scheduling 10 minutes for this step. List out all possible habits and activities that you’d like to include in your morning routine.
If you’re struggling to think of positive habits, check out this post for some suggestions.
Don’t worry about fitting everything in right now. Focus on listing ideas. This is the brainstorming stage; nothing is ‘bad’.
Consider things you’d like to work on or improve every day. You may want to learn another language or an instrument. Write these in your list.
Step 2 – Ordering habits
Now list these habits in order of importance to you.
- What do you really want to include?
- What do you think will be of most value?
This order is important as it gives you a good idea of where to start and what to include.
Step 3 – Timings
Next to each item, write how long the task will take. The more accurate you can be, the better. This will provide a clear idea of how long the routine will take in total. If you have a strict work schedule, this stage will be particularly useful.
Don’t worry if you can only give a rough idea. The focus here is getting a general feel for each habit.
Step 4 – Identify existing habits
You may already have morning habits in place. Many of these you may not have thought about. Some examples include brushing your teeth, eating breakfast, or making your bed.
Take some time to think about these existing habits, and list them out in a separate column.
Why do this?
You can use these habits in combination with ‘habit stacking’ to make it easier to install new habits.
Think of creating a routine like building a house. It will be much easier and quicker to build a house if there is already a solid foundation and some groundwork in place.
Step 5 – Integrate desired habits
This will be the longest step, but the most rewarding. Take your existing habits from step 4 and add the most desired habits from the top of your step 2 list.
Feel out what the best place to input each habit would be. For example, if one of your step 2 habits was 30 minutes of exercise, it makes sense to do this before your daily shower.
Additionally, remember that you’ll have the most willpower and energy in the morning. This may change your optimal order.
It’s important to list and try out different variations of the routine. Don’t rely on your first listed order alone. You’ll need to try these routines to see how effective they are for your life.
Once you find one that works best, you can solidify that routine and form it. This may take several weeks, but the time spent testing will be worthwhile in the long run.
You’ll also have to fit your desired habits around your schedule. Consider times in the morning when you have pre-set activities, such as going to work or attending a fitness class. Find the combination of habits that allows you to get the most while still making any events.
Step 6 – Consistency is key
Like with forming any habit, it’s important to repeat the behaviour – your routine – daily. It will take time to form a morning routine, so have patience.
Do the desired habits or routine every day until it’s formed. If you fall off for a day, don’t worry or stress. Get back up and keep going tomorrow.
There are two approaches to this I want to point out.
First, you could see the routine as one ‘big habit’, rather than many smaller components. If this is the case, you’ll need to stick at the exact routine until it’s solidified.This can be useful if you already know that the routine works for you.
But, if you’re still in the stage of trying stuff out, it might be useful to approach in the second way:
Approach each routine as a series of habits, focusing on one habit at a time until it’s formed.
Granted, this will take longer. But it provides more flexibility and can be useful if you’re unsure what works best for you.
Finally, I want to acknowledge that not everyone works from home and has a flexible schedule. You might struggle to find an hour or two free in the morning to create a morning routine. If this is the case, we can consider Pareto’s law:
80% of results come from 20% of actions.
Here, we must find habits and activities in your morning routine that provide the most results from the least effort and/or time.
Unfortunately, this will likely take some time to figure out. You’ll have to test out many variations of your morning routines. I’d recommend trying out 1 or 2 core habits at a time, seeing how they benefit you, then changing where needed.
What are the habits that provide you the biggest increase in each of the following?
- Productivity
- Wellbeing
- Personal growth
- Happiness
Focus on these if you don’t have as much time free in the morning. For me, this would be meditation and reading.
Basic Habit Formation
Habit creation is something I’ve covered before. If you don’t want to read that post, here are the basics.
Any habit has three key elements:
Cue – The thing that prompts the habit
Routine – The habit or action itself
Reward – The outcome of the habit; the thing that drives the habit forwards.
To help form a habit, it’s useful to identify each element and make them as easy and enticing as possible.
For example, a habit of drinking water in the morning can look like this:
Cue – Alarm goes off. See your water bottle filled by the side of your bed.
Routine – Drinking water.
Reward – Feeling more awake, more alert, less groggy, and quenching overnight thirst.
Habits, on average, take 66 days to form. The more you can stick at a habit, the easier and quicker it will form.
Further Morning Routine Tips
Regardless of your specific morning routine, here are a few tips to help you out:
- Ensure you follow your routine every day, or as often as possible.
- Have a clear reward for doing the routine. This could be an increase in productivity throughout the day. If so, acknowledge this at the end of your routine. ‘I’m now going to be productive today’. Some other good rewards could include:
- A small piece of chocolate
- 15 extra minutes of free time
- An extra chapter of reading tonight
- Watching an educational or inspiring YouTube video
- Prepare the night before. By making your routine as easy and efficient as possible, you’ll get more done and your routine will flow with ease.
- Start small. If you struggle to get going, start with the easiest or smallest possible task. If you want to exercise as part of your routine, don’t feel overwhelmed and fail to start. Begin with a single pushup and go from there.
- This also applies to building momentum. It will be much easier to tackle the bigger tasks in your morning routine if you have built momentum through easier, smaller tasks.
- Be open to change. Some habits won’t work for you, and that’s ok. You’ll go through many iterations of your morning routine. Be open to changing it frequently until you finally find something that works.
- If you want some ideas for habits to include, you can check out this post.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you’ve now reached the end of this ultimate guide. You now have a strong idea of how to plan and create a morning routine.
Remember, when creating your morning routine, have patience and be flexible. It will take time to form your optimal morning routine. This time is well spent.
Where do you go from here?
A morning routine is one part of a two-part process done every morning to create success. A morning ritual is the other half.
Do you want to start each day with confidence, passion, energy, and excitement? Of course you do. Then a morning ritual is for you. I recommend that you check out Morning Ritual Mastery, a 7-day mini-course.
Morning Ritual Mastery will guide you, step-by-step, through creating your best morning ritual. You’ll learn in detail what the world’s most successful people do each morning.
What’s more, there is no risk involved for you. If you’re unsatisfied, you can get a full refund.
What are you waiting for?
Thanks for reading.
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If you want to learn more about routines, why not check out our Ultimate Guide To Evening Routines?