How to replace chaotic mornings with a peaceful start to your day if you’re not a morning person.
Mornings and I – we have a complicated relationship.
I love mornings, but with a few stipulations. I love them if I’m able to get up at about 8 a.m. or later. I love them if they’re slow – with time to savor a cup of tea and bask in the morning light.
Mornings before 7 a.m.? Count me out. If I have to rush to be somewhere on time, most definitely count me out. I cannot enjoy mornings under such dire circumstances.
That Sounds a Little Dramatic
However, when I’m laying in bed after snoozing a 6 a.m. alarm – I mean every word. Blankets are never more comfy – or heavy – than at the crack of dawn.
Recently, my life circumstances have allowed me to have a lot of unstructured mornings – and this has helped me figure out what I need to change in my more limited mornings to make them better.
I’m Still Well-Acquainted with the Snooze Button
I still struggle with getting out the door on time. However, I have learned a few things that have helped my hopelessly non-morning-person self.
These tips likely won’t result in a complete overhaul of your entire life, but they will help you make small improvements. Big changes don’t often happen out of thin air, anyways. They’re made up of small improvements just like these.
So, keep reading for my best tips to turn yourself into a morning person – or, at least, make your days start a little more smoothly.
1. Motivate Yourself to Get Up
Before you can get on your way with your good morning, you have to get up.
I know, I know – this is often the hardest part. Here are some ways to make it easier.
Don’t Believe Your Night Self When You’re Setting Your Alarm for Your Morning Self
Sometimes, I feel like I have a personality change overnight. The morning version of me doesn’t feel physically capable of jumping out of bed as soon as my eyes snap awake.
The night version of me, on the other hand, remembers this about my morning self but never believes it. Tomorrow, my night self thinks, will finally be the day things are different. I will magically get up immediately with no pushback.
Yeah, right.
When you decide what time to get up, please, for the sake of your grumpy morning self, leave a buffer. This will give you some time to wake up gradually with no guilt.
Remember You’re Not a Vampire
I, for one, need total darkness to sleep. I sleep in a room upstairs and if a light is left on downstairs – I won’t be able to sleep. I’m a little extreme, I know.
Once my alarm goes off, however, the blackout curtains do not work in my favor.
So, I make it a rule to let in some light as soon as I wake up – even if I get right back in bed afterward to enjoy the remainder of my buffer.
This means throwing open the curtains or, if it’s still dark outside, turning on a lamp. It’s as simple as that.
Find the Silver Lining – or Make It
Right now, think of one thing you look forward to about your mornings. Can’t think of a single thing? It’s time to change that.
What's one small thing you enjoy that you can add to your morning routine? Don’t worry about whether or not you’ll have time for it. We’ll address that later.
This should be small and doable, like having a cup of coffee with your favorite creamer. Or, reading a page of the book you're reading. If you like to knit, then knit. If you like to play tennis, hit the ball off the wall a few times.
2. Get Out the Door On Time
I’m just going to say it – this is the part of my morning routine I struggle with the most. Is anybody surprised?
Find what has helped me below.
Figure Out How Much Time You Actually Need – No, Really
It seems like this should go without saying, but I had some sort of mental block that kept me from doing this.
One day, I woke up and realized I was just guessing how long it would take me to get ready. One hour sounded like a good round number, so I called it good and set my alarm with this in mind – but I always seemed to run out of time somehow. Weird how that works, huh?
The way I fixed this was by keeping track of how long each part of my morning routine took on a day when I didn’t have to be anywhere at a certain time.
I broke it down into different sections – making my bed takes 5 minutes, making and eating breakfast takes 20 minutes, doing my makeup takes 20 minutes, and so on.
Once I learned how long each “piece” of my morning took, I was able to set my alarm with the amount of time I truly needed to get ready in mind.
It became a lot easier to shift these "pieces" around when needed, too. For example, if I woke up 25 minutes late, I’d know to definitely skip making my bed and that I'd need to grab a protein shake for breakfast.
For some things, I figured out it might be best to move them to the afternoon. So, if I set my alarm with the intention of having enough time to finish folding the laundry in the morning but then I woke up 30 minutes late, I’d just move that 30-minute task to the afternoon right away instead of trying to do it super fast.
Don’t Believe Your Lazy Night Self When It Tells You That You Don’t Need to Set Out What You Need the Night Before
One key to getting ready on time is to prepare everything the night before. Pick out your outfit, make your lunch, and put your bag by the door.
Sounds easy enough, but the tricky part is that the night version of you is going to convince you that the morning version of you will be able to take care of it a lot more easily.
That is probably not true. Morning you will not feel any less lazy than night you. The only difference is that morning you will have to rush like a madman to get it all done and still not get it done any faster.
So, just do yourself a favor and get it all ready the night before.
Remember You’re Probably Spending Way More Time On Your Phone Than You Realize
I used to rely on the blinding glow of my phone screen to glue my eyes open whenever I woke up.
This was not good, for many reasons. I heard many people say this for a long time before I actually listened.
For one, I noticed I’d get stressed before the day had even begun because I was shoving an influx of new information into my brain immediately upon waking up – and it wasn’t ready to process all of this.
Additionally, it was a huge time waster. It doesn’t always feel like that, though. Social media is sneaky like that. You’ll feel like you’ve spent five minutes on it when, in reality, you spent 50.
So, just start paying attention to how much time might be going to your phone in the mornings – whether that’s because of social media, checking emails, or texting in the group chat. You may find some time to carve out of your morning routine that you’d rather spend another way.
P.S. Getting a traditional alarm clock can help a lot with this!
3. Work On Mood Management in the Morning
The morning scaries are no joke. Here’s some advice on how to deal with them.
Follow the Advice I Already Gave You
If you struggle with mornings simply because you just feel bad in the morning (ugh, totally get it), then a few of the things I’ve already mentioned could help you twice as much.
Giving yourself time to slowly get up, getting yourself in some light, and incorporating something you enjoy into your morning routine (besides scrolling on your phone!) can go a long way in also improving your morning mood.
Not to mention, my previous tips for getting out the door on time can really help, too. For me, there’s nothing like running late to cause me to become extremely frustrated and critical of myself – a real mood killer.
Get Moving (And the Walk to the Car Doesn’t Count)
If you live in a big city and walk to work, this one is already taken care of for you.
If you drive everywhere, however, this one will take a little more intentionality. A 15-minute window of time is all you need to go for a quick walk outside or do some stretching.
Waking up your body will help wake up your mind. Exercise is known to release dopamine, which will instantly lift your mood.
The word “exercise” isn’t something I can fully comprehend in the early morning, but the phrase “move a little” makes much more sense.
So, don’t even think of it as a workout. Just add some simple movement to your morning.
Don’t Skip the Most Important Meal of the Day
To tell you the truth, I have no idea why breakfast is known as the most important meal of the day. Who said that? Does it mean it’s the most important for your health? Does it mean you’d be fine if you skipped all the other meals? Lots of questions.
I may not know why it’s called this, but I do know eating a full breakfast (with plenty of protein) makes me feel a lot better than when I don’t.
So, that’s good enough for me – even if I’m not sure about all the science or whatever it is that makes breakfast so important.
Also, don’t forget water. Coffee is no replacement. Please, just drink your water. Just do it.
4. Streamline Your Routine to Get Ready
I realize “getting ready” could refer to your entire morning routine. However, for the sake of this blog post, I’m going to use this term to refer to the part when you wash your face, brush your teeth, get dressed, do your makeup, fix your hair, and so on.
Keep reading to find out how to make this part of your morning routine go smoothly.
A Little Simplification Can Go a Long Way
If you’re on social media, you’ve probably heard about the growing trend of 12-step skincare routines. If you follow a similar routine, well, this may be one reason why you dread mornings.
My advice is to find steps you can cut out of your morning routine, or at least move to the evening.
At first, it’s going to seem like you can’t live without a single step. Get past that initial resistance, however, and look a little closer. You may find a step here and there that’s not actually doing much good.
This is for you to discover – only you know which steps in your morning routine are crucial and which steps are negotiable.
Leave Everything Out
For some reason, a big hindrance in getting ready for me is when I have to open drawers or bags or cabinets to pull stuff out. And then I have to put it all back? Don’t get me started.
For example, I used to keep all my makeup piled in a bag. Digging through it at each step added more time than you would think. Additionally, I had to remember what I needed to get out each time instead of just automatically moving onto the next step because it was literally sitting right in front of me.
This seems silly, but extra movements can create a real mental block. For me, I took two steps to take care of this issue.
First, I installed two nice floating shelves on the wall next to my bathroom sink, which is where I put my makeup on. I then arranged my makeup in a display that looks like something from one of those fancy department store makeup counters.
Seeing it all out makes putting makeup on a breeze.
Next, I put small organizing bins (like desk organizers) in my drawer to group the other steps of my routine. For example, my toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss are in one. My contact stuff and eye drops are in one, too.
Now, I can seamlessly move from one step to the next, while eliminating some extra mental energy.
Listen to Something Other Than Your Own Thoughts
Finally, my last simple tip is to turn on some music or a podcast you enjoy. This will get your mind off your most dreaded morning tasks and help speed you along.
With These Tips, You’ll Be a Morning Person in No Time
Just kidding. I don’t know if non-morning people can even become full-on morning people, but let me know if you’ve seen it happen.
If nothing else, I hope these tips will eliminate some stress and add some joy to your mornings. When the sky is painted in bright colors and you realize it's the fresh start of a new day, mornings aren’t all bad.
I hope my tips to help you motivate yourself to get up, get out the door on time, improve your morning mood, and streamline your routine to get ready will help soften the blow of those early mornings.
Now, it’s up to you! Take what was helpful and leave the rest. Only you can craft the perfect morning routine to take your mornings from chaotic to peaceful.
Are You a Morning Person?
If not, let’s talk about the struggles we share. If you are, share your best tips for making mornings magnificent.
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