Hey it's Abby and today I wanted to talk about how I organize my morning,
otherwise known as my morning routine. I think morning routines are so important
because they're made up of habits and habits are what we fall back on. It's
what we default to so if we have good habits in our morning routine, it sets
us up for success for the rest of the day. So I am NOT naturally a morning
person. It can be hard for me to get out of bed in the morning so I've had to
come up with ways to kind of trick myself to get out of bed quickly. The
first thing I do to help with that is to plug in my phone somewhere other than
right beside my bed on my nightstand. So sometimes I'll plug it in my office,
sometimes I'll plug it in just across our bedroom, just so it's not right next
to me when I wake up so I'm not tempted to grab it and just scroll on my phone.
The second thing that I do to help me get out of bed in the morning is I found
an alarm that works really well for me. I have an alarm clock that I really love. I
will link to it in the description below. I love that it wakes me up with the sound of
waves so that's nice and soothing. It also, a half an hour before my alarm is
set to go off, it has this ring of light that turns on and it starts dim and it
gets brighter and brighter so it sort of mimics the Sun and wakes me up gradually
so that when my alarm goes off I can just get right out of bed. Once I'm up
out of bed, I put on my workout clothes and I head into my office. Once I get
into my office I want to start my day in a positive way by getting my focus in
the right place so for me that means pulling out my Bible and reading that a
little bit and I also will get out my journal and write for a little while in
there. Next I like to do a short workout. I do it right in my office. I usually
pull up Beachbody on demand on my computer and some of my favorite
programs are Turbo Fire or the 21 Day Fix or sometimes if the boys want to
work out with me, we do a workout called Double-time that's meant for parents and
kids to do together. If I'm doing a workout that I'm really familiar with, I
will listen to an audiobook or a podcast while I'm working out. Some of my
favorite podcasts that I'm listening to you right now are
The Young House Love podcasts. I also love the Food Bloggers Pro podcast and
currently I am listening on Audible to the book Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People but I would love some more podcasts and books to add to my
list so if you have some favorites, make sure you leave them for me in the
comments below. After I'm finished with my workout, I head downstairs for
breakfast. I get breakfast for my boys and for myself. I'm a creature of habit
so I usually have the same thing every day. I like to have a shake typically. I
just do water, ice, half a banana, and Shakeology and that keeps me good for
most the morning. One thing that I think is really helpful when I'm trying to
start a new habit is to attach the new habit to an existing habit that I
already have. So, for example, one of the habits I was trying to start was to
remember to take my vitamins every day. Since I was already making my shake and
having that for breakfast each morning that was already a habit. I started
taking my vitamins at the same time as I made my shake so making the shake served
as a reminder to take my vitamins. I had them right there and it helped me
establish that new habit more quickly than if I just tried to start from
scratch. After breakfast, I head upstairs to shower and get ready for my day. I
like to have all the tools I use to get ready really neat and organized.
I'm still loving the make up station that I set up in previous video. I'll
link to that below. It really helps me to get ready more quickly in the morning
and get out the door. The last thing I do before I take my boys to the bus stop is
I try to make my bed each day. I just feel like it starts the day on a good
note and it only takes a minute or two to do. Once I've gotten the boys off to
school I come home, I come up to my office, and I pull out my planner. I use
my Intentional Life Planner. It's one that I designed myself. I will link to it
in the description below if you want to take a look at it.
I have already the night before listed out my to-do list for the day and I even
use time blocking which is assigning my tasks to a specific time of day so I
know exactly what I need to do during the day. I can do an evening routine
video that talks a little bit more about the process but I already know everything I
need to do to get jump-started on my work and then I am off and running for the
day. So that is my ideal morning routine. Sometimes things get a little crazy
around here. It doesn't work out exactly how I've planned and that's okay. I just
give myself grace and wake up the next day and try it again.
You know what, my routine is always evolving and changing too. As my kids get
older, as our lives change a little bit, I'll change the routine to go along with
it. So I would love to hear about your
morning routine. What is the one thing that you have to make sure you do every
morning before you head out the door? Let me know in the comments below!