I am a creature of habit. I enjoy and look forward to certain routines and rituals. I just do. It is how I am wired and I lean into it. There are some routines I really really look forward to and there are others that I really don’t. I am sure you are the same.

If you are a morning person, then you probably look forward to waking up and getting a jump on the day. If you are an evening person, then you look forward to the sun setting and letting loose at night. If you are a weirdo and are an afternoon person, I have no idea what you look forward to… commute traffic? 

Regardless, I know that people have routines and rituals each day. Everyone is a creature of some type of habit. For me, I really treasure my morning routine. I am also willing to state, when my morning routine gets changed, I feel off for a while. 

Most mornings, this is what my routine looks like:

5:45am - Alarm to wake up. I hit snooze and lay in bed just easing into the morning.

6:05am - Alarm to actually get up and make the bed.

6:15am - Dressed and ready for the morning.

6:30am - Let out the dogs, make breakfast, wait for Baby Jason to wake up. 

6:45am - Baby Jason is awake, breakfast is ready, all hell is about to break loose from that little child.

7:00am - Breakfast

7:15am - Jason is ready to play outside (15 minutes for breakfast is generous). 

7:15am - 9:00am - Mama and Jason outside until our childcare relieves Mama.

9:00am - Work day begins

This is what my husband’s morning routine looks like:

5:00am - Alarm to get up.

5:15am - Dressed to exercise and have a cup of coffee

5:30am - Exercise and shower

6:30am - Dressed for the day 

6:45am - Morning wake up and snuggles with baby

7:00am - Breakfast

7:15am - Kitchen clean up

7:30am - House chores or heading out to work

8:00am - Work day begins

This is typically our morning routine EXCEPT when… 

1. Jason wakes up early

2. The dogs want to get out of their kennels early and start barking and wake up the whole house

3. Jason has swimming lessons in the morning 

4. Anyone has doctor or dentist appointments

5. We have business trips 

6. When we want to sleep in… which has never happened since Jason has been born

7. I don’t work on Tuesday’s (my standard day off)

Or a thousand other reasons why the morning routine may get changed. 

So what is really the value of having a morning routine when there are so many variables that change the routine? Maybe it is trying to give ourselves some structure, some things to do each day, or even some control on our daily lives. When I am in a routine, I feel a little more comfortable because I know what to expect, I know what comes next, and I know that I am capable of doing the tasks in the routine.

When there are changes to the routine, my brain takes a little bit to catch up and recognize that we aren’t actually going to do the typical next thing in our routine. We have to do something else.

Let me give you an example. When Jason has swim lessons, we typically get the 9am timeslot. He is not supposed to eat anything 2 hours before swimming. So that usually works out well, we just bump up his breakfast a little bit. That also means his snack time for the day has to be adjusted to after swim, around 9:30am, instead of 9am. It takes us about 15 minutes to get to the pool and another 10 minutes to get dressed and we have to arrive 10 minutes before the lesson begins. So that means we have to be in the car, backing out of the driveway no later than 8:25am. 

When Jason is a willing participant… our routine on a day with swimming lessons looks like this:

5:45am - Mama’s alarm to actually get up and make the bed.

6:05am - Mama dressed and ready for the morning.

6:15am - Let out the dogs, make breakfast, wait for Baby Jason to wake up. 

6:30am - Baby Jason is awake, breakfast is ready, all hell is about to break loose from that little child.

6:45am - Breakfast

7:00am - Jason outside to play

8:10am - Jason back inside. Pack swim bag and use potty before we leave.

8:25am - In the car and driving to swimming

9:00am - Swim lessons

9:30am - Driving home and snack time

10:00am - Work day begins

It doesn’t seem like a big deal right? Just move stuff up, get in the car, do an activity, and start the work day later. It really isn’t a huge deal. Except it is. There is a little more stress, a little more planning, and a little more flexibility than usual. 

Those changes also impact the morning and the routine both my husband and I have. On the mornings when Jason has swim lessons, sometimes Joe doesn’t get up to exercise because he wants to spend more time with Jason or even come to swim lessons instead of getting into the office early. Then Joe has to look at the rest of his day to see when he can squeeze a workout it. 

So again, what is the value of having a morning routine? I’m going to stick with trying to exert a little bit of structure and control over the day. Giving yourself a few, motivational things that help you get started each day. I also like to think that doing a few things in the morning gives me a sense of accomplishment such as making the bed, getting dressed, making a healthy breakfast, and getting outside. All of those are a little accomplishment and if I don’t do very much for the rest of the day, I at least made the bed. 

My husband and I try to manage our days and our weeks instead of having them manage us. We do invest time with each other each Sunday to look at our schedules for the week. When there are things like swimming lessons, we have to make intentional changes to our work schedule, our childcare schedule, and our personal schedule so everything can work. 

What is your morning routine and how do you motivate yourself each morning?