Productive Morning Routine

When I was in the military, my mornings started at 3:30 am and left me feeling very rushed and exhausted. Since becoming a civilian, one of my favorite things has been having the opportunity to actually sleep and to finally implement a productive morning routine that leaves me feeling excited to take on the day. It definitely took some experimenting, as my first “morning routine” was just me slowly enjoying my coffee on the couch and wasting my morning. However, I think I’m finally in a good routine with habits that leave me productive and ready to take on the day. Below is the routine that I like to start my weekdays with:

-7:30 Wake Up. I typically try to wake up at 7 or 7:30 but usually don’t get out of bed for 10-15 minutes, as it takes me a bit to actually fully wake up and get moving. Once my mind starts to get alert I try to put myself into a positive mindset but mentally listing out things I’m grateful for and my intentions for the day.

-Get Up. I typically make my bed, rinse my face, and brush my teeth before heading out to the kitchen.

-Open the blinds. I like waking up with natural sunlight, so I’ll usually go through the house opening all of the blinds up to let the light in and water plants if needed.

-Hydrate. I used to go straight into drinking coffee in the morning. But recently Ive tried to incorporate drinking a glass of water and taking vitamins while I make my coffee so I can rehydrate.

-Coffee and review my planner / goals. I make my coffee and review my goals & my planner to see what I have scheduled for the day. It gets me focused and my brain typically starts to get creative in the morning. This is definitely the part of my morning routine that I look forward to the most.

-Check my email for anything urgent. Some of my brand partnerships can be time sensitive, so I like to quickly glance at my email to ensure I’m not missing anything.

-Morning walk or cardio. After having my coffee and setting my intentions for the day, I like to get my body moving a bit before I sit at a desk all day, so I’ll usually go on a walk, or do some cardio at the gym if the weather is a bit rough (I lift weights later in the evening). We currently live in a small town that doesn’t have workout classes to attend. However, if I lived in a big city, I’d probably do F45 or some type of class in the morning. I’ve noticed that I don’t usually have the energy first thing in the morning to do my own weight lifting workout, but a high intensity group will push me first thing in the morning as my competitiveness forces me to put full effort into the workout.

-Shower, skincare routine, & podcast while I get ready. I typically try to find a motivational podcast to listen to as I get ready for the day, as this helps me get into a good mindset to be productive with my work.

-Breakfast & news/social. After getting ready, I’ll make a healthy breakfast and allow myself some time to glance at the news and social media. I try not to read too many news articles in the morning as I feel like lately the media has been extremely negative and it can leave me in an anxious or down space starting my day. So I typically just skim to make sure I didn’t miss anything major that happened and I’ll glance at social media. I also try to be very aware of how much social media I’m consuming in the morning. It can be easy to mindlessly scroll and waste a ton of time. So I focus on just seeing pages that inspire me. If I notice I’m spending too much time I remind myself to focus “less on consuming, more on creating.”

-Tidy up and get to work. I’ll typically clean up the kitchen and living room for a few minutes and then get started on my work for the day.