Are you in that phase where your morning routine before work is not feeling right? Maybe you are lagging in the morning, feeling unmotivated, and your days feel long and exhausting?
Here you will learn the general framework, and proven strategies, to have a high-impact and energizing morning routine you will fall in love with.
This post is all about a morning routine before work!
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Morning Routine Before Work
Why Most Morning Routines Fail...
Most morning routines tend to fail because we are focusing on the wrong things... How many times have you tried the "5AM miracle" routine, or the "easy 20-minute" morning routine? Or the 20-step routine?
To make a high-impact, lasting morning routine for work we must focus on proven regulation and energy maintenance that can propel us into a productive day.
I don't know about you, but if I do something where I understand the benefits to my wellness... I will be more interested in doing them.
Hence, why most morning routines fail... We don't reallyyy understand the benefits of what we are doing. So, let's explore that.
3 Proven Concepts to a High-Impact Routine
1. Regulation
The bread and butter of a proper routine before work is regulation. Learning to regulate not only your sleep, but your habits, is critical.
I have a theory that if we can regulate our sleep (aka our circadian rhythm), then all other rhythms will naturally balance. For example, having a consistent circadian rhythm actually supports women's hormones. Is that not wild?!
Learn the tips for better sleep to help balance hormones here!
Top ways to practice regulation for your morning routine before work:
- Wake up at the same time everyday.
- Wake up early, use these tips to make it easier!
- Have one thing that you do right when you get up
- Avoid TV or phones for at least 30 minutes
The National Sleep Foundation tells us that a consistent bedtime and wake up time improves alertness, which can be felt throughout the entire day. The most OVER LOOKED part of a morning routine before work: getting up at the same time.
Think about it like setting your alarm, but setting your internal alarm clock. After getting up at 5AM everyday and going to sleep around 8:30PM, I didn't even need to worry about a snooze, or feeling tired. It was crazy I would just wake up and feel ready. What a crazy concept!
Lastly, I don't know if I need to tell you... But, getting on your phone the first thing in the morning is destroying your focus and energy throughout the day.
Experts report that early morning phone usage creates a reactive state instead of a calm, goal-oriented one... Leading to worse focus and more "mental clutter".
2. Minimize morning decisions
Have you ever noticed when you have a big day of decisions that you are exhausted by the evening? This study shows us that the quality of our decision making declines over time.
As decision making demands increase, decision quality actually worsens.
So imagine you can't decide between a yellow top or the blue top. Or you can't decide between going to the gym or working (literally me).
Those small morning decisions are eating up your brain power for more important, productive, decisions throughout the day.
Eventually, after enough decisions, you will experience greater mental fatigue.
They say that top executives wear the same suit everyday to avoid the decision of "what to wear" in the morning. Now, we don't have to get crazy like that because we all love a cute outfit...
To have a high-impact morning routine before work that minimizes decisions, try these:
- Set out your outfit the night before
- Que up your coffee machine to be set and ready
- Write out your morning the night before (workout, class, etc)
- Jot down what you would like to get done that day the night before
3. Direct your focus
The morning is such a vulnerable and critical time for our minds. Immediately in my mind I am thinking about sport teams and how they direct their focus before a game or match.
Do you think they are grabbing their phones and scrolling right before?! No... That would be directing their focus to distraction.
The coach has them all huddled up and tells them specifically what the intention is (to win obviously) and how they are going to get there.
That is the vibe in the morning before work!
Now, we don't have to anything crazy like that. But, we can create little moments in the morning to ground us, focus our minds, and set our focus on what we want to achieve that day.
Ideas to direct your focus before work:
- Quick prayer or meditation
- Write down your top three goals for the day (like Steve Jobs)
- What is the your biggest priority?
- Write down your to-do list, meeting times, prior engagements, etc
So, it depends on your priorities, but you can make deposits into your husband, into your health, into friends and family. All by simply telling them you love them or simply having breakfast with them.
Step-by-Step Routine Before Work
A simple morning routine before work that regulates, minimizes decisions, and directs your focus can go something like this (option to print it out below!):
- 5AM wake up
- Brush teeth/wash face
- Make bed
- Hydrate
- Start morning coffee!
- Prayers, gratitudes, meditation
- Gentle journal sesh (if time permits)
- Mindful movements (can be simple stretches in the bathroom)
- Make to-do list for the day
- Shower/get dressed and ready
- Check off "morning routine" on your to do list!
To make it easier for you, I have made a printable you can easily gain access to and print out to follow before work! It includes a morning routine checklist, and some journal pages to direct your focus and find clarity in the critical morning hoours.
After 1 week of doing this morning routine before work you will feel more energized, focused, and even more creative and productive. (Notice there is no phone usage in the list!!).
Allowing some time in the morning to ground down, breathe, and find focus is critical for having a day full of energy and focus. I swear by this morning routine and overtime you will also fall in love with it.
I do have to say at first, it can be challenging. But, eventually I found my rhythm and was able to tweak my mornings so they worked better for me and what I wanted.
A morning routine before work is a key concept to prepare our bodies for regulation and balance in a more holistic and natural way.
This post was all about a morning routine for work!
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