Start Your Day Right with a Morning Self Care Routine
Why Should Self Care be A Priority at the Start of the Day
“ The #1 cause of unfulfilled potential is never deciding that now matters more than any other moment in your life. It does.” Hal Elrod ( The Miracle Morning)
To me, an unscripted morning leads to reacting more versus responding to and a sense that I’m caught running behind the day that was mine to be a part of. Are these type of mornings more the norm than the occasional occurrence in your life? This is why in my humble opinion a self-care AM routine is for everyone!
Unscripted can look and feel like this: you wake up past your alarm… past the snooze button and or you wake up past your own natural alarm only to find out you’re running late and already dealing with some stress before your day has gotten off the ground!
Creating and living with a routine may seem restrictive initially if you are used to waking up and allowing life to take over – even those who work remotely or out of the home full or part-time. As a single, I never gave the routine a second thought. It was going to bed when I felt tired. I gave myself barely enough time during the work week to get ready in the morning and head so I could hopefully get to work on time. It never occurred to me to plan ahead for next day clothing, food and or after work events. The results of my routine less life – I was always running behind and this over time stunted my personal growth and development because I didn’t make time to read, study and learn how to become more.
Consistent Routines Improve Productivity
My life did take on more routines as I became married and then a parent out of necessity for my children and for the sake of needed naptime for them and rest for me when this worked out! I kept hitting what I call the “never enough time wall” as my life as a parent took on more roles.
I was introduced at some point to a cleaning and household routine system from The Fly Lady. Implementing The Fly Lady’s system put into place balance within me and physically in our home! I was hooked and my journey of creating and living out of routine took root!
Creating and implementing a morning routine is a good thing if you do not currently have something in place.
How you start your day anchors you and guides you to stay focused on what is most important.
If you want to be more productive learn how to master a consistent morning routine to achieve a higher level of productivity. Each of us is unique in how we view and handle waking up! With this in mind, there is not one “master” routine that is magic one for everyone! However, there are some common elements! They mostly all have an element of focus on bigger goals, practicing gratitude and planning for the day!
Tips for Creating Your Own Daily Self Care Routine
Prepare the Night Before
Here is one such micro morning routine for you to add on and personalize to suit you! Ask yourself if you can prepare for the upcoming day the night before with anything needed for next day IE lunch, snack, workout clothes, anything needed for your workday – work related.
– Prepare for your day the night before in a calm and caring method.
– Choose what you will wear and have this ready including shoes and jewelry.
– Have your morning beverage in an easy to reach place tea kettle, coffee maker, tea bags, ground coffee or Keurig.
– Have your breakfast items ready to go whether it’s a breakfast bar, protein smoothie or shake or fresh juice, fresh fruits, perhaps a premade breakfast casserole or yogurt with fruit, cooked hot cereal, breakfast meats. Whatever this is for you – have these items at the ready so you can eat with calm and peace avoiding an early morning food meltdown!
Tips for Parents of School Aged Children
If you have little ones or school age children/teens, getting everything ready to go by the door and packed up in backpacks – pack lunches if this is an option, have clothes laid out, book bags packed.
This is a great organizing tool for older children to also have their morning be chaos free versus last minute frenzy looking for last night’s homework or that paper needing your signature! This throws me for a loop when we are ready to leave and my teen remembers that my signature is required right now on his permission slip and today is the last day for this. And of course the permission slip is nowhere to be seen.
Here's a Simple Positive Daily Routine to Get Started
Here is a simple 5-10 minute positive feelings personal routine for you to create and have a sense of calm and composure no matter what your day looks like:
– Find a quiet place
– Take a comfortable seat seat
– Practice being still and silent for at least 5 minutes. ( I still use my timer so I can be sure to receive still time. I set this for more than 5 minutes to give myself time to settle in and stay. It takes time if you are new to a stillness/meditation practice to do it and get it into your body/mind/spirit.
– Take a moment to ponder on what you are personally grateful and thankful for!
– Affirm (my personal daily affirmation at the moment is this: “I am enough” “ I have an abundance to give and can abundantly receive” “I am calm, composed and centered in this day.”
– Pray
– Visualize what you would like your day to be and how you navigate through this. Visualize who you need to be today and what you need to do.
– Pause and now you are ready for your next morning steps with calm and ease to allow you to navigate all circumstances well and maybe not so good in your day!
Other Morning Routine Ideas
Engage in physical movement: this could be a simple yoga practice with a few poses or a set of pushups with a one minute plank to get the body awakened or a one-minute marching in place with arm movements.
If you are already engaging in morning exercise with a set workout – then go get em!
Studies show even simple movement will activate positive changes in your brain and create a chain reaction of chemical releases within your body that will help you perform at a higher level.
Yours in abundance! Nancy