A Morning Routine Anyone Can Do (Even the NOT Morning Person!)

Hi, my name is Amy and I’m a sucker for a morning routine. If you know me, you know this.

(Pssst…I even wrote a whole book about it, so you know I mean business.)

Let’s get this out of the way right now.

Some of the biggest misconceptions about morning routines are that they must start before the sun, be several hours long, and include every beneficial habit known to man.

I happen to disagree.

A good morning routine is NOT defined by:

1. How early your alarm goes off
2. How many hours you spend in your routine.

For some people, 5am is the place to BE for their 2+ hour long routine. I’ve been that person, and for a while that worked for me. But that’s not everybody. The value in a morning routine is in the commitment of doing it each and every day.

It’s not about cramming every imaginable action into your morning—it’s about having a dependable, energizing practice that gets your day going on the right foot. And that practice can be as little as 5 minutes long.

In my book, “Good Morning, Good Life” I teach you how to start the day on your terms, master your mornings, and design a life you love by following my customizable morning method.

Sounds fancy? It’s really not. It’s simple and it works.

And yes, it CAN work for you too–even if you only have five, ten, or fifteen minutes. Let’s break it down.

My morning method is guided by 3 essential actions: movement, mindfulness, and mastery. Today, I’m outlining a 5 minute morning routine, but you can increase the time to however much you want to spend.

P.S. If you need some more inspiration I have a whole list of ideas all ready for you!

Here’s your ‘no excuses’ 5 minute morning routine:

Let’s say you need to be out the door for work by 8:30am, and you want to wake up at 8:00am (because who doesn’t love to sleep in a little?). Your alarm goes off at 8, and your morning routine begins!

• The first thing you do is sit up in bed and do a good ol’ fashioned stretch. I’m talking cliché, arms up to the ceiling type of stretch. Feel your body waking up.
• After that you spend another minute or so out of bed doing simple stretches–I’m talking REAL simple. Don’t go getting all fancy. (Unless that’s your thing, then by all means!).

No matter how you choose to move, you’ll be surprised at how long 1 minute can actually feel. By now around 2 minutes have passed, so let’s keep going.

Movement, check! Onto mindfulness.

• How do you best like to practice mindfulness? Maybe it’s a 60 second meditation, spending a moment in prayer, repeating a few affirmations, simply sitting in silence, or doing a mundane task like making your bed with complete intentionality.

Whatever it is, you’ve got a minute to do it! Two steps down, one more to go.

Now that we’re feeling mindful, let’s tackle some mastery.

Keep this one short and sweet, because you have about a minute left.

• Repeat a list of goals to yourself. Read one page of a motivational book or a “page-a-day” reader. Brainstorm for a project you’re working on. Or, spend some time visualizing what your ideal day would be like.

And there you have it! It’s roughly 8:05am, and you’re on your way to get ready for the day and out the door!

Remember, we’re talking quality over quantity. No matter what kind of morning you’re having, you always have 5 minutes to get started on the right foot.