How I Organically Designed My Perfect Morning Routine
And it only consists of three life-changing tasks
I struggled with this for years. A little more than four years, to be exact.
That’s when I started putting actual effort into self-development and creating better habits and daily routines to become a more productive, more energized and an overall better functioning human being.
Like many of you probably, I watched countless motivational YouTube videos and read one self-help book after another. I consumed so much content that promised to help me become “the best version of myself” that I didn’t even know where to begin anymore.
I watched countless motivational YouTube videos and read one self-help book after another.
But it seemed like all the highly successful people I looked to for advice had one thing in common. They were all preaching about the importance of an extensive morning routine.
For the past four years, I tried to incorporate many different things into my morning. Meditation, journaling, exercise, visualisation, you name it.
Unfortunately, it never lasted for longer than 3 or 4 days. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it.
A morning routine felt more like chores and less than something that would actually help me set my day up for success. I felt tired and exhausted just after two hours of doing all the things I thought I should be doing to become a success.
So I stopped.
In retrospect, I did it all wrong. I went from no morning routine to implementing up to seven new tasks that I wasn’t used to doing first thing in the morning.
Trying to do one new task every day is already challenging but for some reason, I thought I would be able to do all of them at once. Clearly, I was wrong.
It was only this month that I realised I had organically created a morning routine without even trying.
I just started with one thing and made an effort to do it consistently. A couple of days later, I started doing the second thing which required a little more effort but whenever I finished the second thing, I immediately felt like doing the third thing.
And voilá! A morning routine was born.
1. Make My Bed
One of the first things I do every morning is make my bed. As simple as that.
Many of you might already be doing it. More of you probably only do it when you feel like it or when you have the time.
Making your bed, however, is quite literally a life-changing task.
I learned about the importance of making your bed about three years ago when I came across the video of a speech from a US Navy Admiral. He started his speech with the following words:
“If you wanna change the world, start off by making your bed.”
The takeaway is as simple as it is powerful. If you start your day by making your bed, you start your day by completing a task.
Making your bed in the morning might not sound like a difficult task at all but it’s not something you usually look forward to doing. It’s not something you absolutely love to do. It’s a chore.
But it’s a small one and it’s doable. Completing it will leave you with a sense of accomplishment right away and inspire you to accomplish more things throughout the day.
Not only that but it will make sure you do something good for yourself in the not-so-far future when you return in the evening and enjoy going to sleep in a made bed.
2. Write Morning Pages
Morning Pages are something I came across in 2017 when I first picked up Julia Cameron’s book and unblocking programme The Artist’s Way.
Cameron suggests that you write three pages of stream of consciousness first thing in the morning. It doesn’t matter what you write. The only thing that matters is not to stop until you have filled three full pages even if you have to continually write things along the lines of “I don’t know what to write” and “blah blah blah.”
When I attempted to do it for the first time in 2017, it felt like an enormous task to hand-write three full pages at any time of the day, let alone first thing in the morning. It took me about an hour to do it.
Needless to say, I gave up on writing Morning Pages very quickly.
The idea came back to me one day recently when I found Cameron’s book again on my shelf. I thought that I should give the programme another try, now that I have decided to go all-in on my writing career.
The one thing I decided to do differently, however, was that I would set a timer for 20 minutes and write a stream of consciousness for just that long. It didn’t matter how many pages I filled, as long as I didn’t lift my pen off the paper the entire time.
Unlike back in 2017, the benefits of this exercise were immediate this time.
I wrote and wrote and the most interesting ideas came out at the other end of the pen. Ideas I might have shut down if I was in my thinking or even brainstorming state. But thanks to the Morning Pages, I gave those ideas room to unfold and I was honestly surprised by the benefits.
Now I do it every day and each time, I feel relieved and inspired once I finish this task.
Fun fact, I always fill two full pages in 20 minutes and I don’t feel opposed to setting my timer to 30 minutes in the near future.
3. Exercise for 30 minutes
Now, this is something you might find in almost any and every morning routine but for me, it was not something I planned on doing.
Just like the Morning Pages, it came somewhat naturally. And weirdly enough, at the same time.
After accomplishing my Morning Pages, I would feel inspired to do something else that is good for me and one morning I just decided to work out alongside a YouTube video.
The video was the first part of a 7-day workout challenge and I showed up for every single day.
Even though I had painfully sore muscles on the second and third day, I still felt like I absolutely had to do the exercises.
Let me tell you one thing, I was never the athletic type. Actually, I’m a little chubby right now and definitely not fit. I hadn’t done any regular exercising, literally, ever.
I was more surprised than anyone that I stuck through the week and even more that I enjoyed it.
For the first time in my life, I looked forward to my next workout session and I started feeling great in my body.
Summary
After four years of trying to force a morning routine, I happen to naturally create one that takes less than an hour and makes me feel motivated and accomplished every single day.
1. I make my bed first thing in the morning.
2. I sit down at my desk with a nice cup of green tea and write 20 minutes of Morning Pages.
3. I roll out my yoga mat and work out for about half an hour.
I am a firm believer that the small things you do matter and I know that my morning routine organically grew out of me making my bed every single morning.
If you struggle to figure out the right routine for yourself, start with making your bed every morning for a couple of days or even weeks and see where it gets you.
Before you even know it, you will be on a path to your ideal morning routine and more importantly, to an overall more energized and accomplished you.
