My Morning Routine - January 2021 Edition

Much like any other year, the lead up to the 2020 winter break was a blur of busyness as I rushed to complete various initiatives by the end of the year (a relatively arbitrary deadline). I made the most of the break, which is to say, I did as little as possible and focused on sleep, hanging out with family, seeing friends (remotely 😕), and spending time outside in nature.

As we embark on 2021, one of my personal aims is to systematise and standardise the parts of my life that don’t need to be “special” to give me more time and space to invest in the good stuff. Morning routines are a popular place to start.

During the break, I’ve begun following a morning routine that will probably fall apart as soon as I go back to work, but for what it’s worth, I thought I would write it down as a reminder of what’s possible and to inspire my more stressed-out self in a couple of days/weeks/months.

Here it is (in more detail than you require):

• ⏰ Wake up with the gentle alarm on my phone
• Hit snooooze 2-3 times (I’m a realist)
• Turn off the alarm (ignoring any notifications)
• Take a big breath, stretch, & sit up
• 💧Drink the cup of water by the bed
• Visit the bathroom
• Put on a comfy jumper/sweater
• Put the kettle on
• Put some oats in a bowl
• Unroll my yoga mat
• Blow my nose vigorously 👃
• Pour boiling water over the oats and make tea
• 🧘‍♂️ Meditate for 10 min (with this app)
• Put on some yoga music
• Do a few sun salutations
• ~2 min of Shavansana
• Add some fruits and nuts to my porridge
• 📚 Eat, drink my tea, maybe read a book (resist the phone!)
• 🚿 Shower, get dressed, wake the family and carpé that effin diem!

To help establish some of these things as “habits” I’ve taken the “Don’t break the chain” approach and made myself a physical chart for the wall which confronts me daily, and looks like this:

The meditation is very light right now. I started with just a few minutes a day and, even now, only do around 10 minutes per day but my current focus is on consistency, and making it a habit, not so much on duration. Same with the yoga. I may introduce longer sessions during the week to get more of a workout. For now, I give myself “credit” for simply getting into a meditation/yoga/book-reading space for even a few minutes.

As the Prussian military commander Helmuth von Moltke famously said, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”, and once the work routine and the school routine collide with this morning routine, there will be plenty of opportunity to inspect and adapt! Nevertheless, this is the first time I’ve written down a routine so that’s a minor win!

How does your morning routine look? Get in touch below and let me know! Or tell me on Twitter.