Mornings in my house can go one of two ways – crazy and hectic or slow and easy. There is no in-between for this family of four. But I rest assured knowing that it doesn’t have to be that way and it won’t always be that way. We have the power to set the pace for the type of morning we want. And there are two simple principles when it comes to designing your Perfect Morning.
Wake Up Early Enough
In an ideal world, I would wake up an hour before my children, read my Bible, journal, and enjoy a cup of coffee. Back when I was a mother of one, I had a morning routine that allowed me to do this and then some. Now that I am juggling two children, including one that is teething, each morning is different and this non-morning person is struggling to find a groove.
As I move through this challenge, I’m working on waking up with an alarm versus using my toddler as an alarm. Once I set a time to wake up, the goal is to move that forward by 15 minutes every few days until ultimately I am waking up about an hour before my children.
And forget about pressing the snooze button! If you get comfortable hitting the snooze button you can end up losing precious time that will leave you feeling more rushed than rested.
Redesign Your Routine
How long do you take to get ready in the mornings? Set a timer and see how much you can get done in 20 minutes. Maybe you will find that you are spending more time doing one part of your routine that can be redirected to another item on your morning to-do list.
For example, if you want to find an extra 10 minutes in your morning to meditate or journal, see what you can move around to make room for that. Maybe that means prepping breakfast the night before, or laying out your clothes before going to bed. My mornings were forever changed when I figured out how to work the timer on my fancy new coffee machine.
Time is precious so make it work for you!
What small changes are you going to make to save yourself an extra 10 minutes in the morning? Click here to join the Makeover Your Morning challenge.