Live as Your Best Self: Create a Morning Routine That’s Perfect for You
By now, you’ve listened to podcasts, celebrity interviews, and influencer stories with people sharing the benefits of morning routines.
The not-so-secret facts are that a morning routine can:
· Set your day up for success — making you more productive
· Gift yourself personal time for movement and self-care —even on your busiest days
· Improve your time management — giving you a sense of control over your day
Knowing that a morning routine is important is the first step to designing the perfect one for you.
As a personal development copywriter, my morning routine has changed as my lifestyle’s changed.
When I was in college and had roommates, blasting music or blending a smoothie at 6 am wouldn’t have gone over well.
When I was an elementary school teacher, I had to leave for work by 7 am so a 3-hour morning routine was a no-go.
Now as an entrepreneur who makes my own schedule, I can wake up with the sun and make my morning routine as extravagant as I want.
What are your lifestyle needs right now?
No matter what your situation is, you can make time to fill yourself up in the morning so that you can show up in the world as your best self.
After listening to thought leaders, wellness gurus, and high performers describe their rising rituals, I’ve applied some of their tips.
After 3 years of research, implementation, and adjustment, I’ve designed the best morning routine for energy and peace for my current stage of life.
By sharing my current routine in order and walking you through the process of how I’ve found what works best for me, my hope is to be a guide — supporting you in planning the best morning routine for your life. Plus you’ll find the confidence to adjust your schedule as needed throughout all different seasons of life.
Flow Through Your Morning Routine With Habit Stacking and Self-Love
In the morning, I wake up to the “Slow Rise” alarm sound on the clock app on my iPhone. I’ve adjusted this from the blaring horn sounds that used to jolt me awake flooding my system with cortisol and negative thoughts like — ugh… no… today’s gonna suck…
If you prefer a gentle wake-up, finding an alarm sound that’s more soothing allows you to peacefully gain consciousness — then easily choose the positive thoughts you’d like to think about.
To get my mindset right before I get up, I immediately turn off my alarm and press play on my Superhuman app to begin listening to a visualization meditation. This allows me to stay comfy in bed for another 15 minutes while prepping my mind for a successful day.
After the meditation I get up, feed my dogs, chug water, and roll out my yoga mat.
Yoga has been a part of my morning routine for the past 2 years so by now, it’s become an automatic habit I don't even have to think about.
More recently, I used the idea from Automic Habits by James Clear¹ called Habit Stacking to amp up this morning yoga habit. Habit stacking is when you group together a new action with something that’s already a strong habit.
Before playing my yoga video, I added a few exercises so I can fit in more longevity care and strength training into my day. I do neck and wrist stretches, 30 push-ups, 30 ab exercises, and 30 dips on the edge of my coffee table.
The exciting part is now these quick exercises are so natural in my routine, I never miss them!
After the exercises, I press play on a 20-60 minute yoga class with Boho Beautiful Official. Practicing yoga has helped me heal my relationship with my body and find true peace at the start of my day.
My morning routine is scheduled to allow me to be flexible with the length of time I do yoga. This gives me the freedom to ask and listen to what my body needs each morning.
In the past, when I needed to be more scheduled so I wasn’t late to work, I would just do 10-20 minutes, knock it out, and move on.
What movement activity and length of time works for you?
Most important is to choose an activity that you know you’ll stick to. If you’re consistent — even just 10 minutes, over time the habit will become so ingrained, you’ll actually want to increase the time and Habit Stack some add-ons too!
Here’s proof of how fun and easy it is.
Once the pre-yoga exercises became a habit, I felt so good about how much I was accomplishing in my morning routine that I wanted to add more.
Now after yoga, I begin my post-yoga ritual. I do 15 candlestick rolls, 15 inverted hip dips, and a 30-second handstand against the edge of my couch. Adding these in makes me feel more energized and more accomplished.
Finishing my post-yoga exercises is my trigger to head outside. I turn on the water for my garden, then do 300 jump ropes while listening to affirmations on the Superhuman app. This helps me feel energized and optimistic for the day ahead of me.
The bouncing up and down from jumping rope brings out a child-like joy. I’ve experienced that affirmations are more powerful if you feel them while in a state of joy. If you have a trampoline, that will create the same effect.
After a quick, joyful, jump, I go inside for breakfast.
I like to make either scrambled eggs with zucchini, bell peppers, and avocado or a protein smoothie packed with blueberries, raspberries, coconut milk, and more.
If morning fasting is your thing, go for it. I’ve found that especially now that I work from home, if I don’t have a nutritious meal before I start work, I’ll be distracted by 9:00 am thinking about how hungry I am.
I like to make breakfast a peaceful little moment and sit out on my porch and enjoy my food while watching the sunrise.
Always after I eat, I like to move my body — even if it’s super quick. I love doing a 15 minute dance flow or barre workout with MWH. Dancing or doing a ballet-style barre burn is a fun, quick energy boost in the morning.
Next, I put on a podcast, shower, do my morning skincare, and get dressed for the day.
A few podcasts I love in the morning are Almost 30, The Ed Mylett Show, and On Purpose with Jay Shetty. These podcasts help me learn something new and feel inspired.
Once I’m ready for the day, I’ll make my morning drink. If I want a hot drink, I’ll have Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee with BeeKeeper’s Naturals Honey and coconut milk. If I’m in the mood for iced, I’ll have Pique Sun Goddess Matcha with macadamia milk and cinnamon.
While sipping my drink, I’ll sit on my porch and read a book. If you need a new book to enjoy, I highly recommend Untamed by Glennon Doyle. Her story empowers you to tap into your inner strength and live fully — which is a great feeling of empowerment to tap into before your work day.
The last step in my personal morning routine is a 10-minute guided meditation with my feet inverted up a wall. This helps me find peace, clarity, and energy before beginning my work day. The meditations I love are Superhuman, MWH, and The Daily Jay on the Calm app.
Woo hoo that sums up my blissful, personalized morning routine which sets me up for an amazing day.
Have I given you any morning routine ideas you’re interested in trying out?
Maybe a tiny habit stack idea you could add to your habit of drinking coffee when you wake up?
I’ve listened to countless successful people's morning routines which gave me the ideas to try out and find what works for me.
I know we’re all different, so I want to give you more morning routine ideas that might resonate with you.
5 More Tips to Schedule Your Best Morning Routine
First things first, the way you wake up is important and you have to really know yourself to find what’ll work for you.
If you struggle to wake up in the morning you’ll need something to jolt you awake. Setting a loud, blaring alarm across your room and using Mel Robbins' 5-Second Rule will help you jump right out of bed so you have no time to talk yourself into hitting snooze.
I like a slow, easy wake-up because I trust myself and know I won't fall back asleep if I take my time getting up.
Changing my alarm to a more peaceful noise to wake me up has been helpful, but I’d still like to try a better way to slowly rise more naturally. Investing in a Hatch alarm might be the next option to try a more guided, peaceful rising.
Some people are able to train themselves to wake up at a specific time without an alarm at all which is super elite — I’m not there yet.
2. Another option is morning journaling.
Many high performers talk about how we are generally the most creative and imaginative in the first few minutes of waking up in the morning.
Also, recording your dreams before you forget them can help you notice patterns in your life — giving you clarity on how to move forward.
Because of this, I tried a practice of morning journaling where the second my alarm went off, I’d stay in bed, turn on my flashlight on my phone, grab my journal from my nightstand, and start writing. I’d spend 15 minutes writing anything that was on my mind immediately after waking up — dreams I had that night, goals for the day, creative ideas.
I stuck with this practice for 6 months before I realized it was not something I looked forward to. Just minutes after waking up, my writing was very surface level and I felt like I connected more deeply with myself when I’d journal in the evenings.
Sometimes now I’ll intuitively wake up and feel like journaling, so I absolutely will, but not forcing it is better for me.
Morning journaling might be something you love to get your creative juices flowing or to center yourself to prep for an amazing day.
3. A morning walk is a beautiful practice to add to your morning routine.
If it’s suitable for your life and where you live, I highly recommend trying this. Something about the crisp air in the morning and seeing everything right as the sun rises feels so good. I use nature walks to practice gratitude, focus on breathing, and listen to a podcast or walking meditation.
I recently moved to the mountains, so walking at any time when the sun is not completely up is not super safe due to bobcats, mountain lions, and bears. When I moved, it was just another one of those times when I had to adjust my schedule.
I replaced the morning walk with a dance flow and moved the walk to after lunch.
4. Cold plunge and sauna are practices that many high performers rave about.
Sitting in an ice bucket and sauna both have mental and physical benefits which is why many people love to include them in their morning routine.²
If you’re able to defeat the discomfort of sitting in freezing cold water for 3 minutes first thing in the morning, it gives you a high feeling.
You’ll feel on top of the world and like everything you have left to tackle that day will be a piece of cake.
If you’re up for it, try a freezing cold shower and see if you feel the rush.
If you have access to a sauna, try it out and notice how the benefits of releasing toxins in the morning feel for your body.
I love a hot shower in the morning and I use the time to fill up on self-care by taking the time to massage my shoulders and calves while washing my body.
5. Are you someone who takes supplements daily, or wants to?
Often taking a probiotic or a vitamin your doctor recommends is easy to forget to do. Use habit stacking to make this simple step a natural part of your morning routine.
Choose a habit that you already do easily in the morning — for me it’s making breakfast.
Now attach the new habit to the old — either before or after.
You can do this by placing the supplements next to the habit you already do.
It looks like this.
When I open the fridge to make breakfast, I see my celery juice right there, front and center on the shelf.
It reminds me to drink that first, spray my propolis throat spray, THEN make breakfast like I normally do.
If you’d like to remember to take your liposomal vitamin C packet in the morning, put it out right next to your coffee machine and let it be a reminder that before you make your cup of coffee, take your supplement.
Listen to Your Body: Make Your Morning Routine Right for You
When designing your perfect morning routine, you must personalize it for YOU.
It’s not realistic to think that you can take someone else’s morning routine exactly as it is for them and copy it completely.
Hearing what other people do that’s working for them — then taking note of what examples from their routine you want to try is a great way to begin crafting the morning routine that you’ll look forward to.
Whenever I add something new or take something out I like to give it at least a month of consistency to decide if the new routine is serving me.
Check in with yourself often to make sure your morning routine is giving you everything you need for yourself before your day begins and you’re off serving others.
To do this, ask yourself:
What do I need more of? Add that in
What am I doing now that doesn’t bring me joy? Take that out
What do I look forward to each morning? Keep doing that
When you adjust in this way, there’s no way to have a wrong morning routine, it actually means it’s perfect for you.
And hey, maybe you don’t feel like a morning person at all. That’s okay. Sharing morning routines is just to help you understand yourself more deeply so that you can make choices that help you feel your best.
Even if your routine is short, it’ll change your day to include some kind of movement, mindfulness, and personal joy.
Flexibility is key. Practicing listening to your body and your intuition is important for all aspects of life.
In the morning, if you’re body is craving something, know that you have the freedom to listen and do what feels right.
A morning routine is wonderful to provide a structure that sets your day up for success, but it shouldn’t be restrictive, inflexible, or stifling.
If I feel like snuggling up with a blanket while reading, instead of sitting outside, I do it.
You’ll know your morning routine is right for you when it feels natural and is something that you actually look forward to. If it’s a battle every single morning, something’s off and you might need to adjust.
Fill your morning with body-loving movement and your favorite self-care practices before taking on your daily to-do list and watch as the rest of your day more easily falls into place.
Interested in adding journaling to your morning routine? Click here.
¹James Clear. (2020b, February 4). How to build new habits by taking advantage of Old ones. James Clear. https://jamesclear.com/habit-stacking
²Michael Kummer, Michael KummerI’m a healthy living and technology enthusiast.On this blog, Andy, Sharon, Dr., V, D., Germain, Wyllie, S., & Lyn. (2023, April 22). 8 unique health benefits of combining sauna bathing with cold plunging. Michael Kummer. https://michaelkummer.com/health/ice-bath-and-sauna/
You may also like…
