Why Have a Morning Routine?

                                                                                          Photo Credit: TimeSeeker 2009

When you look at the habits of successful people, one aspect almost all have in common is that they get up early. They have a routine and their routine is finished before many of us have even had a chance to hit snooze for the first time. So what’s the deal with a routine and why would you want one?

From my own experience, I can attest that having a routine anchors my day. I’m a busy momma with two fairly young kids (preschool and a kindergartener) and when the kids were littler, I rarely had a moment to breathe, never mind take out a chunk of morning time and plan what I wanted my day to be like. And, this September, all that began to shift.

I signed up with the lovely people at Chasing Sunrise in Vancouver and started getting up at five AM. Yes, you read that right. Five AM. On purpose, whether I’d had a good night’s sleep or not. See the thing is, I had a story that I couldn’t create time for myself because my kids’ sleep schedules were erratic, and I never knew in advance if they’d be up all night. And sleep is clearly important! But when I signed up for Damn Early Days (see, there is no false advertising in this program!!) I had an external check-in mechanism that made it so for 21 days (Monday to Friday for a month, basically) I had a reason to get up. And then I had an expanse of time (most days) to start thinking about what I actually wanted in my life. Did I want to do more art? Meditate? Read a novel? Do yoga or some other form of exercise? Creating space to think about myself and my desires after years of putting every other human in my life ahead of me was revolutionary.

I did Damn Early Days for two consecutive months, starting in September and going through to the end of October. By the end of the two months, I’d consolidated a routine. Here’s what it looks like:

4:55AM: alarm goes off

5:00AM: check in with DED

5:20AM: finish with the DED program (or other inspirational content like journaling or checking in with my goals)

5:40AM: complete 20 minutes of meditation (either on my own, or guided through a platform like YouTube or the meditation app Insight Timer)

6:00AM: finish doing yoga or exercise

What this morning routine means is that most days I have forty-five minutes to an hour before the rest of my family gets up to do whatever I want. I’ve already meditated and moved my body. I’ve already created an abundance mindset by reading or journaling or doing something inspirational. And now I have an expanse of time that is just mine. I can work (for pay or on my own projects). I can catch up on small tasks that might accumulate otherwise. I can just sit and enjoy the sunrise. I can get out for a walk or really, whatever I want, for a precious bit of time that is all…mine. What a gift.

After two months I decided I would ‘go it alone’ and see if I could still manage to get myself out of bed without an external check-in system. I’m pleased to share with you that the answer is mostly: yes. To be sure there are exceptions. Days where I’m exhausted because my small humans were up at night or I’m sick or other complications. And for the most part, the gift of time to plan is completely worth getting up early.

So, my advice to you is: start! Get out of bed before sunrise and see what opens up for you. You never know where you might go if you only begin! Comment below or find me on Facebook. I'd love to hear what is opening up for you with your morning routine.