Effective Morning Routine : Easy, Efficient, Enjoyable

An effective morning routine is a key that allows you to unlock better days. When we start our day with rituals that are easy, efficient, and enjoyable the rest of the day goes so much smoother.

A great morning routine can be a little like a magical key. Finding and using this key would give you peace throughout your day, and you’d fall into bed each night feeling satisfied and productive. Would you be excited to find this key and apply it to your life?

Of course you would. Unless you are a fan of disorganized and unproductive days. And if you are, then you are in the wrong place right now.

Let’s learn what it looks like to set yourself up for success in your day with an easy, efficient, and enjoyable routine!

Effective Morning Routine

Setting up and working an effective morning routine can set your day up for success. It can be the catalyst for a great day. If you have read any of the productivity literature available either in books or on the internet, you will discover the backbone to a productive day is a good morning routine. It sets the tone for the entire day. If you don’t begin the day and have some automatic pilot activities to get yourself going, you’re going to get to the end of the day and wonder what hit you.

What Is Your Current Morning Routine?

We all have morning routines already. If we didn’t, then we wouldn’t get anything done at all. The key question is, how effective is your morning routine right now? You’re doing a series of things in the morning, but is it working for you and your family in the life situation you’re in right now?

Grab a piece of paper and write down the first few things you do on a typical day. Include the time you wake up and go until you’re dressed and ready for the day. Now, if you used to go out to work and take your kids to school, I want you to write down what your previous morning routine looked like. When did you get up, when did you do your personal hygiene, when did you leave for work or school? Do you have that written down?

Even if you don’t think you have a routine, I’m going to encourage you to think about the last week. What time did you get up? When did you eat? Did you exercise? When did you shower? Did you make your bed?

Be honest in your self inventory. If you got out of bed at 10 every morning, sat around and watched the news until 11, woke the kids up, ate breakfast at noon, and then showered at 2 then that is your routine. Everything that you do before you are dressed and clean for the day, or before you’re starting your work for the day is what I’m going to put into the bucket of morning routine.

What is working, and what isn’t?

Once you’re done writing down your typical morning routine, now is the time to take a step back and see what is working and what isn’t. It is quite likely that your routines are different right now, especially if you are all staying at home during the Covid crisis. Maybe the routines that worked for you before aren’t serving you in this phase of your life.

Routines need to be a framework for you to have a good day, but they should not be a prison. If you have a routine that is regimented by too many tasks and is too difficult to complete, then that routine ought to be thrown out the window.

If you need three hours to get all the tasks done on your list, then there are too many things on your list. Pare it down. If you need to get up at five every morning just to get it all done, and you’re exhausted just thinking about that, then this routine isn’t serving you.

An effective morning routine can set you up for success in your day. So what does an effective routine look like?

3 Components of an Effective Morning Routine

1. Easy

Your routine should be easy to understand as well as easy to complete. An easy to understand routine means that you know what your goal is. What is the goal? The goal of any morning routine should be to define the tasks required to get your day started. This should involve some basic tasks like getting up, eating breakfast, and getting dressed for the day. These shouldn’t be too difficult to do. Please do not try to clean the house from top to bottom every single morning! That is not easy!

Identify the most basic components of your morning routine. For me, they are get up, drink coffee, read the Bible and a non-fiction book, plan my day, eat breakfast, and walk the dogs. I will then shower after the dog walk. It isn’t anything too complicated. Make it easy for yourself in the morning and you will thank yourself later!

2. Efficient

An effective morning routine is also efficient. We don’t want to have a super complicated routine that takes hours to complete. There are tasks that you can do which help you get more done without adding more time and energy to your routine. For example, in my morning, I take the dogs for a walk before I get showered. So, what I do is I get into my walking clothes before I go downstairs so once I’ve eaten my breakfast, my husband and I can leave for the dog walk. Yes, I could go downstairs in my pajamas, drink my coffee, eat my breakfast, then go back upstairs and change, but I’m already upstairs. So, I can eliminate a trip up and down the stairs just by choosing to get into my walking clothes before I head downstairs. Just by making that choice, I’m increasing the efficiency of my routine.

I also layer tasks that make sense in my routine. Every morning I have oatmeal for breakfast. This takes about 3 minutes to cook. So I could stare at the microwave while it is heating up my breakfast, or, I can choose to do another kitchen task while the microwave is going. I begin emptying the dishwasher while my breakfast is cooking. Usually I can get it all unloaded by the time my breakfast is done. Even if I don’t quite finish, I’ve used the waiting time of cooking to get another household task done. And, if I leave the kitchen with the dishwasher emptied, once my kids get up, they have a place to fit their breakfast dishes. By layering the empty dishwasher task on top of my breakfast cooking time, I’m increasing the efficiency of my routine.

Another thing I will do is chain one task together with another. When I come upstairs after my walk to shower, I will take two minutes to make my bed, then I’ll go shower. It makes sense to chain those two tasks together because they take place in the same room. It doesn’t add extra time, and my brain is used to the two tasks going together. I don’t experience the mental friction of doing both tasks, they just both happen automatically. Chaining one or two tasks together is a great way to increase efficiency and also make sure a task gets done. If you really don’t like a particular task and you find yourself avoiding it, then try to chain it with a task that is easy for you. Then, you can train yourself to get both things done in the most efficient way possible.

3. Enjoyable

This is one of the most key components to an effective morning routine. You need to design a routine that you enjoy! If you are an early morning person, then by all means, design a routine that starts before the sun gets up. If you are not such an early bird, then that’s fine. Design your routine to start later in the morning, if you have the flexibility. Now, if you start work at 9, or your kids get up at 6, then you really can’t wake up at 10 and be effective. So, be realistic as well.

Your mornings should be peaceful and enjoyable. If you like to begin your day with coffee or tea, then have it ready to go first thing in the morning. Wake up to the fresh smell of coffee, and then take some time to enjoy the taste, and the quietness of the home in the morning. I encourage you to read something inspirational in the morning. I begin every morning with my coffee and my bible reading. Then I move on to reading a nonfiction book, usually a personal development book. My husband knows that I don’t like to talk first thing in the morning. So, we typically spend some quiet time on the couch before we move to breakfast. Some mornings I read for twenty minutes, and other mornings I get an hour of reading in. It is a time that I truly love, and it really sets me up to be in a good mood throughout the day.

I encourage you to make some movement and exercise a part of your morning routine. My husband and I walk the dogs together every morning for at least a half an hour. We spend the time chatting about our upcoming day, or just enjoy the sound of the birds outside while we feel the fresh air on our face. If the weather isn’t cooperative (which thankfully for us, isn’t too often), then I will go upstairs and do some yoga in my room before I get showered. Beginning your day with an enjoyable activity can help you remain healthy, and also improve your enjoyment of the day.

So, my dear reader, what do you think? Do you have a morning routine that is easy, efficient, and enjoyable? If not, what little step could you do tomorrow morning that would nudge your routine in that direction? That little step will be your first one towards an effective morning routine.

I’d love to hear about your morning routine in the comments! Share with me what is working for you, and also what isn’t!