How to Create Your Ideal Morning Routine

Guess what? You’ve already got a morning routine.

But it just might be one that’s working against you. It could be an “accidental” morning routine.

One that you didn’t really choose. Your routine just kind of ended up this way.

You might be waking up too late, having a poor breakfast, rushing around at the last minute, starting work in a scattered state of mind or sitting down at the computer without a plan.

Many of us have have or have had some of those elements in our morning routine.

Be purposeful about how you start the day, and reap the benefits!

How to Create Your Ideal Morning Routine

Follow these 5 steps to quickly create your morning routine. Your routine doesn’t have to be perfect from day one. It might take a couple changes and tweaks to your habits over the first few weeks before you settle in to your ideal morning routine.

1. Start out with simple morning habits.

Limit the number of habits and actions that you’ll work on over the first few weeks of starting your new morning routine.

The exact number will depend on how much time you have in the morning and if the habits are completely new or well-established.

You could start out with 5-8 of the most important habits that you want to include in your morning routine.

Once you’re doing those on a regular basis, you can consider adding other habits. You can then optionally increase the time or intensity of your current habits.

2. Choose your morning routine habits

Ask yourself, “What are the 5 to 8 most important habits or actions I want to take each morning?”

Write those down on paper or digitally.

Here is a sample of a possible morning routine:

• Wake at 7am
• Drink one glass of water
• Meditate for 5 minutes
• Light cardio for 15 minutes
• Stretch for 15 minutes
• Eat a light breakfast
• Review my plan/task list for the day
• Start work before 9am

This morning routine is simple, clear and has low time-demands but also has some time deadlines to help create supportive structure and predictability to your mornings.

By having a pre-made plan for your morning, it takes away the need to make decisions every day about how to spend your time. You’ll always know what actions to take and this is a very frictionless way to start your day.

3. Focus on consistency.

Set a short time amount for each of your morning habits so that it’s easier to do them consistently.

It’s better to do only 5 minutes of yoga every morning, rather than inconsistent time amounts each day, and sometimes skipping several sessions in a row because it’s too hard to fit in longer time amounts.

Aim for consistency and stability, as much as you can. I know this won’t always be the case because unexpected things can come up, but keep working on cultivating your own personal habit of consistency whenever possible.

4. Track your morning habits

Use a habit-tracker app, spreadsheet or a pen-and-paper printed format for tracking the habits in your morning routine.

Keep your tracker design simple and easy-to-use. A tracker that’s too complicated or that displays too much information will become time-consuming to use and this will create a barrier for using it daily.

Update your tracker once or twice a day to get the best results. Tracking keeps your goals front of mind so that it’s easier for you to take action on them.

It’s also a form of self-accountability. You’ll be able to quickly see how well you did each day and each week, in a visual way.

If you don’t track your habits, it’s very likely that you will take less action. You’ll forget about parts of your planned morning routine or you might even completely forget about it.

Tracking is a quick and simple way to show your commitment to your morning routine.

5. Get Someone to Hold You Accountable

If you really want to have success with implementing a morning routine, find someone to hold you accountable. It doesn’t have to be an accountability coach like myself, but hiring a coach will offer you the best chance at success.  You can get more info in this article, “Does Accountability Coaching Actually Work?”.

I’ve helped many of my clients create and stick to their personal morning routine. If you’d like some ideas and solutions on how you can create your own ideal morning routine, you can book a free coaching session with me.

After the session, if you’d like continued support and accountability, you can join the custom one-on-one coaching program. There is no pressure to sign up for coaching during the free coaching session. It’s more of an opportunity for you to see how the program works and for us to get to know each other.

To your success!

Nigel Cook
Accountability Coach