.png)
Just lately there have been weeks when I don’t know if I’m coming or going!!
One thing has been rolling in on top of another.
And it really has felt like being on a non-stop roller coaster at times.
So I had a choice.
Do I hold on for dear life panic and scream with terror as a new thing looms up in front OR do I fling my hands up in the air, scream for sheer excitement and accept each rise and fall as another challenge?
Well - for the most part I have tried to take the second option because it is my nature to try and be happy (I know). For anyone who knows, I am a Type 1 in Carol Tuttle’s Living Your Truth system and being someone who can just as easily connect as disconnect with things, I don’t find it difficult, on the whole, to distract myself from worries. I can be completely engaged in something until I don’t need to be and I can find something else to concentrate on quite easily. It can come across as superficial and in some instances maybe even shallow and uncaring but I can assure you it isn’t! It is just how I manage stress.( https://my.liveyourtruth.com/dyt/home/ )
I cannot emphasise enough how much having a basic morning routine helps me start my day. It is a way of normalising each new day, grounding myself and setting myself up for whatever else may happen.
I have one routine which takes me from getting up right through to either leaving for work or whatever else I have planned for the day, it usually finishes in my case at 9.00am.
But and it’s a big but - I can pare it right down to the absolute basics if life is just too busy or overwhelming :
Get up
Have Coffee and Breakfast
Wash / Teeth
Get Dressed.
And that’s it. Those four things are the absolute non-negotiables in my morning routine. If I do NOTHING else, I have got up and I have got dressed. I have started the day.
If you don’t have a morning routine, mine is written down but it doesn’t need to be, I would really encourage you to find one which suits you and your lifestyle and whatever season you are going through. If you have children they are going to form a major part of the tasks you have to accomplish, as is having a pet. Whether you work full time out of the home, work from home or are retired, all these things will have a bearing on your morning and what will go into your morning routine.
How To Set Up A Morning Routine.
Well- in doing my research for writing this article, I have found tens if not hundreds of articles and blog posts about creating a morning routine!! Maybe you have too?
Get up earlier, drink a glass of water with a squeeze of lemon in it, exercise / yoga for at least 20 minutes, fill in your gratitude journal, look at your to-do list, prepare a healthy breakfast, wake the children, get everybody ready………… It goes on.
Make a list of everything you would like to get done in your new morning routine.
Create a blank timeline of your morning - backwards from leaving the house back to getting out of bed.
At a glance, is it going to be physically possible to fit everything you want to do onto that timeline? If not you have a choice to get up earlier and create more time in your morning, drop some things completely for now and look at introducing them if you still want to in a month or so’s time or move some of your list to the night before. In a previous DOCC Blog, https://www.lindajharper.com/post/let-me-help-and-inspire-you-to-find-more-hours-in-the-morning-by-using-simple-planning-ideas I go through how to work backwards when adding things into a routine.
Now, take your timeline and begin to add the absolute basic, non-negotiable parts of your routine, if you know how long they take, brilliant, if not you can (over) estimate or take a few days and time yourself and then add them in. Don’t put anything else on your routine until these have been applied.
If having a set routine is new to you, stop here and stick to this routine for a period of time until you feel that you start to do it naturally, without looking back at the list.
This is where you can begin to add in some more things to the routine. You know what time you have left in the morning and you have your list of all things you would like to get done. Begin to add a new item onto your list, gradually over the space of a few weeks. As I said above, maybe you can begin to add some things to an evening routine, this will give you more time in the morning. You could make sure you have something to wear, prepare lunches and check your diary the night before.
Eventually, you will have a morning routine (and hopefully an evening routine!) which sets you up for a new day without rushing around or panicking because you can’t find something. And you will also have a routine which can be reduced back to the very basics for those days when you need to show up but it might just be that bit too hard, for whatever reason, to do everything.
In the shop on my website you can find free printables to help you create morning, evening and weekly habits. Make sure you use the code ‘free printables’ at the checkout. https://www.lindajharper.com/shop
This DOCC Blog introduces the concept of creating habits and routines:
There is also a series of blogs called ' 5 Simple Steps to Gain Time Everyday to Spend on the Things You Love' These DOCC Blogs will walk you through the steps to help you create and use your routines so that you don't waste time when you could be doing things you love!
My book on Amazon called 'creating habits - reaching goals, Journal of Habits'
will also help you to make sure you know exactly what you are working towards and to break your goals down into simple habits and routines. https://www.lindajharper.com/amazon
You can comment below ↓↓ or look at the end of the blog for all the ways you can contact me privately. I love hearing from you with all your ideas and photos of the areas you are working on!!
If you want to delve deeper into finding a routine which will work for you, you can contact me via my email lindajharper@yahoo.com or using the chat bubble on my website, I would love to help you!
You can message me on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Linda-J-Harper-Professional-Declutterer-and-Organiser-107805011001601.
I am also on Pinterest and Instagram if you need some inspiration! https://www.pinterest.co.uk/adnilenaj1314/boards/