How to Build Your Best Morning Routine in 28 Days
I have truly never been a morning person. This is a little embarrassing but my parents woke me up every morning til I graduated high school because I could not be trusted to wake up on my own. But this year I have really been focusing on how I can be more intentional with my life to be the most effective, best version of me because ya girl have a lot of goals she wants to achieve this year! Part of that was not just waking up, rushing to pour a cup of coffee and get to my closet office to start work on time. So using the techniques I learned from Atomic Habits (which if you have not read and you dont even know where to start to get your life together – you MUST read!!).
Here is the thing (you may have heard it before): Rome wasnt built in a day. Well – neither is a morning routine. 99% of us wont wake up one morning with a fully formed morning routine full of journaling, meditating, lemon water, coffee, exercise, a smoothie, and all the fixins’. But every 4 days we can add another habit and then another and another until we have a full morning routine.
Now listen – this is what I like to do. Maybe you prefer tea. Maybe you don’t love journaling and you would rather read (though journaling has really been transformative for me and I used to find it incredibly embarrassing and unattainable – but thats another blog post). Adjust accordingly! Im not here to tell you how to live your life but I would love to give you access to a little habit building routine to hopefully better your life.
OKAY now to the good stuff…
Here is what we are going to do. Every 4 days we are going to add a small little habit to stack on top of one another that will ultimately help us to develop a full well rounded morning routine.
Days 1-4: Set coffee pot to brew with your alarm. Wake up with your alarm (no snoozing if you can!). Write down 3 Gratitudes.
I love that in our little loft I can smell the coffee brewing and it motivates me to get out of bed and grab a cup to bring back to bed while I journal. It helps me not to snooze & helps me to set my intentions to wake up by setting up the coffee pot the night before. Here is the coffee pot that we have! I also use the 5 minute journal for my gratitudes!
Days 5-8: Add one page of stream on consciousness journaling.
I used to be mortified to read back my journals and what I wrote so I would never do it. But the practice of journaling has been such a great way for me to keep myself on track and focus on what I am working towards. Check out my top 3 journaling tips for new journalers on the blog for some prompts & what my morning journaling looks like!
Days 9-12: Add 15 minutes of movement!
We have the Peloton and absolutely love it. If you aren’t ready to bite the bullet on the physical bike I would highly recommend still using the Peloton app – they have the best instructors and you can filter down their workouts by type of music, length, target area, etc. If you don’t know where to start with your fitness look up a 15 minute yoga flow or go for a little walk around the block to get some fresh air! If you’re worried about how you look throw on some sunglasses and no one will know the difference!
Days 13-16: Add 15 more minutes of movement (total 30 minutes)
Almost every morning I am on the treadmill in our building doing a 12-30-3 (12 incline, 30 minutes, 3 speed). It warms up my body and wakes me up. My body responds really well to fasted cardio and so getting this in first thing is so good for me!
Days 17-20: Up your journaling to 2 pages OR keep it to one pages & red or meditate.
Some of you might feel tapped out at 1 page of journaling so feel free to add a few pages of a self help book (here are some of my favorite life-changing books!). Or listen to some guided meditations – also available on the Peloton app but I also love meditations from Amanda Frances!
Days 21-24: Add a Fab 4 Smoothie
Fab 4 Smoothies are a token of Kelly Leveque’s nutrition practices and they have made a world of difference for me. Protein + greens + fat + fiber make up a perfect meal. I personally use and love this paleo protein that is gluten and dairy free and leaves me with no bloat. I use the chocolate almost every morning with almond milk, spinach, 1/3 banana, chia seeds, and peanut butter!
Days 25-28: Keep it up, friend!
You’re doing great! Now that you have stacked all these habits you have a fully formed morning routine! Add and subtract as you figure out what works best for you!