Steps to Success: Morning Routine

About 5 months ago, I hit a wall. 

My career was not going where I wanted it to go. I was stressed as all hell planning my wedding, and I had just moved in with my now husband, which was a shock to both of our systems. On top of all that, I was on a perma-cut to try to lose those last few pounds before the wedding (which was, I now know, a bad idea).

I was hungry, tired, stressed, and homesick. This did not lead to great days.

Luckily, I started listening to a few self-help podcasts.* One of them mentioned how important a morning routine was. 

“I have a morning routine,” I thought. “I get up, go to the gym or shower, make my lunch, check Facebook, and go to work.” I’m sure you do something similar.

But that’s not the kind of routine I mean. Instead of throwing away the morning as a necessary evil, utilize it as a way to advance your mind, body and spirit, and start each day off as a new opportunity for growth and accomplishment. 

Now, my morning routine looks more like this:

1. Wake up before my husband (whose multiple snoozes on his alarm clock drive me insane. So I avoid them.), approximately two hours before I need to leave for work.  Immediately drink a glass of water to rehydrate and wake up my body/brain. 
2. In a dark, quiet apartment, I make French press coffee. 
3. Drink my coffee while mentally going through the things that need to be done that day. Practice some deep breathing. 
4. Write in my journal. This is a crucial step. I have a small green journal that I write something, anything, in almost every morning. Sometimes I write a few things I’m grateful for, which many successful people swear on. Other times I just write a small To-Do list, or a Goals list for the day. Or I write possible topics for an article. You could write anything you want, it’s just important that it’s pen to paper.
5. Visualization. In my mind, I visualize the day. I visualize myself smiling; I visualize myself talking with people at work. I visualize myself doing well at the gym. Jim Carrey, before he got famous, would visualize himself as an incredibly successful actor every day, and he attributes his success partly to this.
6. Affirmations. Say, out loud, things about yourself that you are working on, but as if they have already occurred. For example, I say, “I am an amazing copywriter. I am very confident. I make friends easily.” Saying these things out loud makes them more real, and you are filling your mind with positivity. 
7. Make lunch, hit the gym, shower, go to work by 9 AM. 

You may have noticed that something is conspicuously absent from my morning: food. I have been practicing Intermittent Fasting (IF) for nearly two years now, and I find it works for me. However, if breakfast is a necessity for you, by all means, continue eating it! I will write an article soon on the pros and cons of IF, and maybe then you can try it out for yourself. 

The Bottom Line

I have a quiet, personal, focused and relaxed morning to prepare myself for a focused and relaxed day. On days I don’t go to the gym, I like to throw in some brief yoga just to wake up my body, as well.

I’ve found that this routine gives me more patience, more focus, and less anxiety. Do you have to do my routine? Of course not. But find something quiet and slow to do in the morning. Wake up 20 minutes earlier if you have to. I promise it’s worth it.

Questions? Comment below, or shoot me an email: katy.widmer3@gmail.com.

Lift. Eat. Love. Repeat.



*An aside here for those of you who think self-help is lame. You have to live with yourself forever. Actively working on your relationship with yourself is probably the most important key to sustained happiness that I know of. 

We all have issues; that’s not a secret. But to ignore them, or push them to the side, or just assume that you’ll get better at communication, or relationships, or business in passing is to lie to yourself. 

Identify your weaknesses, and one by one, actively work on them to transform them into more strengths. That’s what self-help does. It’s not lame; it’s necessary.