Starting Your Day with a Morning Routine
I’ve always been a morning person…and did not quite understand those who were not motivated first thing in the morning. This is probably because I grew up on a dairy farm and our day typically started no later than 5:00 a.m. The cows had to stay on schedule – so, we were always on a schedule, it was our livelihood!
Setting a morning routine is one of the best things that you can do for yourself, your family and your business. I
think this is especially important as we approach a new school year. It will help avoid chaos, overwhelm, stress, anxiety and help children have an awesome day at school.
What can you do to make your morning routine easier?
- Get prepared the evening before! Again, this is especially true if you have children in school. You can:
- Pack lunches the night before
- Lay out their clothes
- Have backpacks staged to grab and go
- Have all of your children’s paperwork signed
- Review the schedule for the next day
2. Keep the house and office organized. You will be amazed at how much more relaxed and productive your day can (and will) be when you don’t begin your day searching for something…one thing that should have been filed or scanned the previous day. After all, it will only take a few minutes to do it, right?
3.Communicate with your family. Keep a calendar (you can use a white board in the kitchen area) to track all of the extra-curricular activities for your entire family. This is especially important if you have children that are in different after-school activities, schedule evening meetings (such as church) or plan to sit in on a conference call at 8:00 pm.
4. We take 10 minutes on Sunday evenings to go over our calendar for the week. This helps us to make adjustments when necessary.
Become excited about how much more you can do by getting up just 30 minutes earlier!
I am usually the first person to get up in my family. I have found that not only is this a great time for a few minutes of quiet time for myself, I can also put a load of laundry in the washer or dryer, get a few household chores done and feel good about starting my day off right. It is also a great time to get in a short workout for myself!
Starting your day in chaos and overwhelm will allow your day to continue in chaos and overwhelm. Once stress sets in it can be difficult to eliminate. Your mind will continue to replay the event that stressed you out hours ago.
Start now…just like a diet, there isn’t a perfect time to start a morning routine. Make the decision to get organized and stay organized by starting your day off focused and with structure. I recently heard Darren Hardy, CEO of Success Magazine speak…his advice, “Make smart choices…one at a time”.
Developing a morning routine will help you:
- Be more productive
- Save time and money
- Improve your health
I’d love to hear about your morning routine and what excites you about being productive and organized.
Linda Clevenger
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