What does your morning routine look like?
Are you the master of your mornings, or are they the master of you?
As I thought of the title of this post I had to laugh. Are there any mum's out there that aren't busy?
As a single mum I have to do everything. I am the cook, the cleaner, the gardener, the maintenance team, the mum, the dad, the taxi driver, the wiper of bums, the washer of clothes, mopper of tears... and one that my son would have first on the list - always there for cuddles. Now that we've made the decision to home educate I can add teacher to that list, and of course we need money to survive, so I am now busy creating my own business from home.
It's a juggle to say the least. A juggle that I know many mums are familiar with.
In a way as home educators the pressure is off a bit - we don't have to be up, dressed, breakfasted, school bag packed, homework done and out of the door by any particular time. But we do have the challenge of making sure we get everything done in our day. Without a structure is easy to think you have all day and then suddenly find the day is done.
Whatever your family situation, I think its safe to say that usually, the thing that takes the lowest priority on the list that you hardly ever manage to get to, is taking care of yourself.
I am so guilty of this. I know the importance of it. I facilitated parenting classes for a while and that was what it was all about. As the mum you are the most important thing in your child's life. You need to be well taken care of, well nourished in both body and mind, happy, stable, grounded. It would be awesome if we could just do it for ourselves, because we deserve it, but if we can't bring ourselves to do it for us, lets at least do it for our families.
As someone in the first year of a new business, I have done a lot of research and training about how to be successful. There are lots of busy people out there that have created successful business from home around their families. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, I've been looking in to how they do it. I have found an incredibly common theme. They all have a morning routine.
Lots of people are really specific. They do exactly the same things, every day, in the same order, at the same time, without fail. Their routine goes something like this.
Wake up
Be grateful that I have another day - thank you for the new day
Get up
Pee
Wash hands
...
That seems excessive right? But it seems that the most successful people often are that specific. One of the elements of this which is really significant is that you are in control of your morning. You know whats going to happen. A morning that starts like this has an entirely different feel to one that begins with a screaming kid pulling the covers off you demanding breakfast and a costume for World Book Day, today!
Other elements of the morning routines I found were around the practice of gratitude, meditation, setting intentions/affirmations/visualisations, and investing in the body and mind. Exercise is something that I find it difficult to make time for. Personal development and training is essential if I want to stay sane and develop my business, meditation is something that was part of my daily life until motherhood, and then became almost impossible.
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My Miracle Morning Room |
So, a couple of months ago I decided I'd create my own morning routine. It's taken a bit of fine tuning, and I've added a few bits in. It has flexibility in that some mornings I may just stretch and others I might do a yoga session, I always get on the treadmill for a bit, but the time varies between 15 and 45 minutes, depending on whether I did yoga or not.
It's great. I am really enjoying it. Some days it takes commitment to get my ass out of bed. I have thought about letting myself have one day off a week, as that is what has generally happened, but I think at this stage I am going to try and make it my intention to do it every day. It's very satisfying to get to 7 am and know that i have already invested 1 1/2 hours in myself. It does set me up for more productive days.
For those that want to know - here is my morning routine - complete with when I pee! Sorry if that's TMI, but I've heard it said many a time "if you want to be successful, do what successful people do" so I'm giving it my best shot!
5.30
| Wake up and be thankful for the new day |
| Get up and be thankful that I have no pain |
| Pee |
| Wash Hands |
| Weigh self |
| Record Weight |
| Cleanse and moisturise face |
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| Walk to Kitchen |
| Stretch and gratitude practice whilst oil pulling with coconut oil |
| Drink a glass of water with lemon and ACV |
| Take wholefood supplements with another glass of water |
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| Walk to miracle room (the room that i used for massage prior to homeschooling has been re purposed - I’ve made it into a lovely space for me) |
| Light candle |
| Turn vaporiser on |
| Meditate for 10-15 mins (have downloaded a few different ones) |
| Stretches / yoga / other exercises |
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| Walk on treadmill for 15-45 mins
- Affirmations
- Listen to a motivational / inspirational / training podcast
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| Write down anything that has come to mind |
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| Shower |
| Moisturise |
| Dress |
| Breakfast Smoothie |
| Make Coffee |
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7.00
| Turn phone off flight mode and enjoy a productive two hours of work before the learning time with my son begins |
If I wake up early, and can't get back to sleep I get up and start early. I have extra time for me on those days as I still don't start work until 7am. Bonus me time.
I am far from perfect. I definitely haven't got this totally licked, and I am not at the stage where I just do everything automatically without thinking. I have to be stricter with myself over the flight mode thing and not get distracted by social media. On some mornings I have switched my phone on to search for a new meditation and that's it - notifications come in, I'll just respond to that one... and half an hour can easily disappear. So I'm still working on disciplining myself.
What I have found so far
- I am calmer
- The overwhelm at having so much to do and so little time is being eased
- I am being more productive in the time I do work
- I have some great ideas whilst I am going through the process (that's why I had to introduce the writing down anything that has come to mind stage) . I am eager to get started on whatever I have thought of and actually have to control myself from doing that and get showered dressed and breakfasted first
- I do feel more control over my life
- I feel healthier and have more energy
- I have lost a bit of weight through doing the fasted cardio exercise every day
- I feel organised and proud of what I am accomplishing
- My son and I are getting more quality time together
- I am in a better space to be present for others and to help them
- I feel grounded and happy
- Even though it has all these benefits, it still takes effort and discipline to stick to the plan each day
A great book if you want to know more about this, and maybe implement your own morning routine is
Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod - more info here
http://www.miraclemorning.com
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