I’ll be honest – I’m still working on creating a morning routine that I absolutely love. But, I definitely have learned a lot about creating a productive morning routine! Ever since I started being more intentional with it, I’ve seen a massive increase in productivity when I start my day.

If you want to stop hitting snooze and feel excited to take on the day when you wake up, keep reading this post to learn more about creating your own productive morning routine!

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The Importance of Morning Routines

• More structure. Instead of rushing through the bare necessities (aka. hygiene) just to make it to work on time, you’ll have more control over your morning and experience less stress.
• Increased productivity. I can’t remember where, but I heard someone say if you win the morning you win the day. By prioritizing a stress-free and productive morning, you can get more done before the day just slips by.

Steps to Create a Productive Morning Routine

There isn’t a standard morning routine that I’m going to tell you to follow.

Why? Because only you’ll know what works for you and what doesn’t. The best morning routine for you is the one that you’ll actually stick to.

I personally love working out in the morning, so I’d naturally feel like that should be a part of your morning routine. But if you hate working out in the morning, that may be something you want to eliminate from your morning routine and do in the evening instead.

Catch my drift? Now let’s dive into some practical steps for you to create a morning routine that works for you!

Find your “why”

Before coming up with a routine, it’s important to take note of why you want to create a routine. Are you looking to have more time for something? Do you want to have some relaxation before work?

The reason why you want to start having a productive morning routine will determine what actions you’ll actually take during your morning routine. For example, I want to prioritize reading my Bible more – so it would make sense for me to incorporate that into my morning routine.

I encourage you to ask yourself what you want to do or achieve in your life, which will help you determine what tasks you want to prioritize and get done in the morning.

Related: Create a Vision for Your Life

Pick the habits you’ll implement

Now that you know what you’re hoping to gain from implementing a morning routine, it’s time to actually choose the specific habits you want to start. I recommend picking up to 5 things to start with, because you don’t want to overwhelm yourself! The best morning routine is the one you’ll actually stick with.

Related: How to Turn Your Goals Into Habits

Productive Morning Routine Ideas

In case you need some inspiration or some ideas, here you go:

• Workout
• Practice gratitude 
• Journal
• Listen to a podcast
• Practice affirmations
• Drink 8oz water
• Read
• Skincare

Related: 7 Daily Habits of Successful People

Plan how much time you’ll need

Once you know which habits/routines you want to implement, it’s important that you have enough time in the morning to do everything you want to do. 

I personally love working backward from the first scheduled event/meeting that I have. So let’s say you want to spend 20 minutes reading, 10 minutes journaling, and 20 minutes working out – you know you’ll need at least 50 minutes to do each task. But you should always plan some wiggle room in between tasks, so let’s say you need at least an hour.

Now let’s say you start work at 8 am. You know it takes you 10 minutes to get to work, and you have this 1 hour long productive morning routine. You’ll want to start your morning routine at the latest 6:45. 

Now of course we didn’t factor in showering, breakfast, and other common morning tasks – but for the sake of the example, I hope you get the gist.

Plan how much time you’ll need for your morning routine and factor in some wiggle room!

Set a fixed bedtime and waking time

Now that you know how much time you need for your morning routine, you can set what time you want to wake up to get started. Then you can plan what time you want to go to sleep to get 7-8 hours of sleep.

If you actually want to reap the benefits of a morning routine, it’s important to be consistent with the times you’ll go to sleep and wake up each day. You might be thinking, “but why does it matter what time I wake up if I’ll do the same routine?” 

Well – everyone has an internal clock known as circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. Waking up and going to sleep at the same time helps you maintain that rhythm and also get better sleep!

Plan Ahead

When I first tried planning my day the night before, I wondered why I hadn’t started sooner. Things like looking at my schedule and preparing my clothes in advance made such a huge difference in my morning productivity. Seriously!

Plus, I didn’t have the added stress of trying to find an outfit…which usually makes me late or rushed.

But part of planning ahead is having an adequate amount of sleep the night before. It’s gonna be hard to wake up and be productive if you’re tired and just want to hit the snooze button.

Productive Morning Routine Examples

I love seeing examples of what other people do to spark inspiration for myself – so I’m gonna share my morning routine with you!

Here’s what my productive morning routine looks like:

• 4:30 am – Wake up, brush teeth, drink 8oz water
• 4:45 am – Get dressed, read, journal, affirmations
• 5:20 am – Head to gym
• 5:30 am – Workout
• 6:30 am – Head back home
• 6:45 am – Walk Riley (my cute pup!)
• 7:00 am – Feed Riley
• 7:05 am – Shower + skincare
• 7:40 am – Leave for work

Life Goals Mag has an entire morning routine series featuring the productive morning routine of various entrepreneurs. I encourage you to check it out!

Final Thoughts

Creating a productive morning routine doesn’t have to be hard! The most important part is making sure that your morning routine is personalized to you and your needs so that you’ll actually want to stick with it!

Want to share your morning routine with us? Put it in a comment below!