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A good morning routine is becoming a necessity in our lives more than ever before.
With all the uncertainty we are experiencing in our world today, structure is not only good for us as working moms, but for our kids as well. It provides them with stability and certainty in a very uncertain world.
Some may argue that routines are rigid and don’t allow for flexibility, but I have to disagree.
I see routines as a way to structure some of your day to focus on the must-dos in life to make room for the fun stuff. If we aren’t able to get the must-do/non-fun of life out of the way, how can we ever feel good about taking time for self care, focused playtime with our kids, and date night with our partners?
I don’t feel bad about leaving my kids at home with the hubby to get my nails done or go shopping because I bust my ass as a mother, wife, and employee.
I give 110% when I need to so that I don’t feel guilty when it comes to doing something for myself. It’s because of the routines I have in place that I can feel good about enjoying time with friends or spending a little too much on a nice dinner.
Some of my family and friends wonder why my house is always clean, how I make time for projects, and how it’s possible that I can work full time and commute an hour from home, yet still succeed at #momlife.
My secret is the routines I have in place that have become part of who I am and how I manage them on my family command center.
One of the most rigid routines I have is my morning routine. I would attribute my morning routine as the number 1 reason my house always looks clean.
It takes a little discipline and it may feel unnatural at first. However, if you are committed to a little structure, over time it will turn into a habit. Once it’s a habit, that’s now your new norm and then you can move on to another area in your life that needs improvement.
Let’s dig into 12 realistic morning routine tips that can change your life as a working mom.
1. Wake Up Earlier Than Everyone Else
This is my secret sauce. It’s not like I even have a choice (I leave for work before anyone else is awake), but I do still wake up earlier than I need to so I can get stuff done. If you are waking up at the same time as everyone else in your house, your productivity drops significantly. Any task is naturally going to take you much longer.
It would blow your mind to see how productive you can be without any distractions. Did you know that on average, it takes our brains 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus when we switch to another task? That’s a lot of wasted time! To avoid this, wake up earlier and #getshitdone!
What time do you normally wake up? Try waking up 15 minutes earlier and plan what you’ll spend the additional time doing. Then, once you have incorporated that in and you’re feeling good about it, wake up another 15 minutes earlier. Add another task to your morning. Keep going until you feel productive, but not overly tired or stressed.
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2. Have a Plan for Your Morning Routine
Ok, remember I said that structure can be perceived as rigid? Well, it kinda needs to be to actually work. I literally do the same thing every morning without fail. Here’s a play by play of my morning routine that I have planned out:
5:00 am Wake up, grab my phone (yah, yah, yah…don’t give me crap. Read the next step.) and go to the bathroom.
5:15 am Hair and makeup (play a podcast or YouTube video that will somehow help me grow.)
6:00 am Pack my lunch, clean the kitchen and pick up around the house (yup, this is when I make time for this task!) – If everything is clean from the night before (I do a lot of prep), I spend time on my blog or planning.
6:40 am Get dressed
6:45 am Say “see ya later” to the sleeping kids and hubby (yes, they are typically all still sleeping when I leave) and head out the door
Now, of course, the timing isn’t always perfect and sometimes I don’t always have the full 45 minutes to clean the house, but for the most part, this is the routine I follow.
I do the same things, in the same order (this is what starts making it into a habit) every work day morning.
Now, on the weekends, clearly this goes out the window because I do sleep in. I usually wake up with the baby and we hang out until everyone else is up.
For some people, extending the routine through the weekend is an added benefit to keeping the routine going and they gain more productive time.
I need to catch up on sleep so it works out for me. I still wake up by about 7:00 am because that’s when the baby is up, but I focus on time with him rather than cleaning.
3. Don’t Hit the Snooze Button!
I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but hitting the snooze button is not doing you any good. If you are finding yourself hitting the snooze button a few times consistently every morning, you’re probably not getting enough sleep or your sleep isn’t very good.
Find Your Sleep Number
A while back, I was doing this all the time. I just could not get up the first time my alarm would go off. I’d hit snooze about 3 times.
I did some research and I found an article that said to pick a day when you don’t have anything to do the next day. Don’t set an alarm and see what time you wake up, naturally. Note what time you go to sleep and wake up. Pay attention to how you feel. Do you feel well rested? Do you feel overly tired?
If you can’t really tell, do it for a few more days and see if you’re consistently waking up around the same time. Your body could just be adjusting because it’s overly tired.
Believe it or not, my golden number is a whopping 9 hours. Yah, I told you before, I like my sleep.
Of course, I do not get 9 hours every night, however, when I do, that’s when I feel most rested.
Just knowing what the number is can be helpful. So, on the weekends, I may stay up a little later, but I also sleep in. I will usually get closer to 8-9 hours of sleep on the weekends and it helps me reset for the week ahead.
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4. Prep the Night Before
This is so important. There’s no way you can stick to any morning routine if you aren’t prepared. One of the main reasons why a morning routine is successful is because there’s only a set amount of things you need to do.
If you are running around trying to find clothes for the kids, packing their lunches, making sure you’ve eaten and feeling overwhelmed as you head out the door, you’re not prepping enough the night before.
Lists can become your new best friend if you are feeling unorganized. They make sure you don’t miss anything and you get a feeling of accomplishment when you check things off.
Make a list of what you need to prep the night before each morning and a list for your morning routine. Until it becomes a routine, it’s just a list that needs to get checked off. Eventually, it’s a habit and your mind and body will just do the things.
Until you’ve got the routine down to a science, you’ll need to rely heavily on lists. It’s easy to forget something if it’s not written down.
Download this free night and morning routine checklist to help you get started!
5. Work Backwards
This is one of my favorite time management techniques to use. You first start by figuring out how much time you actually have in the morning. This is easy. Just calculate the last possible minute you can leave your house to be to work on time and subtract it from the time you wake up.
For example, I must leave by 6:45 am to arrive to work on time. I wake up at 5:00 am. So, I have 1 hour and 45 minutes for my morning routine.
Next, outline all of the items you need to get done each morning. This includes everything!! Do not miss one little thing, even feeding the dog. It all adds up and if you forget a few things, you’ll run behind.
IMPORTANT: Only include things you need to get done or have planned out. If there’s something that really isn’t important (like binge watching your next Netflix fav), don’t list it! Once you have some extra time, then squeeze those things in. Don’t overwhelm yourself in the beginning. Focus on what matters.
Next to each item listed, put how long it takes to normally get the task done. Add up each task to get the total time it takes. Once you have your total time, see if it aligns with how much time you have in the morning.
If it does, all is golden and you are ready to rock your new morning routine!
If it doesn’t, look at the list again and try to adjust the time for each task until it equals the total time you have to complete your morning routine. You may find that there is no extra time.
In that case, you’ll need to add time. You’ll either need to wake up earlier or you need to ask for help.
6. Ask for Help
If you have a partner or older kids that are able to help, let them know what you need help with. Don’t just assume that everyone should know what to do and then get frustrated when it’s not done (yah, I’ve been there!).
There’s plenty of tasks to be handed out. Pick an age-appropriate task for all the kids and then let your partner know what’s left over. If they are particularly good at one thing or like doing something, ask them to do that.
7. Use a Timer
Trying to stick to a routine can be very difficult in the beginning. Especially, if you are not the type of person that naturally is inclined to stick to a particular routine.
So, to help with this, in the beginning, set a timer for each task and keep the timer visible while performing the task. You may end up rushing or not meeting the deadline for the first few times, but naturally, you’ll start to get in the habit and you will be able to recognize the rhythm you need to be in to get the task done.
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8. Double Dip
This is another favorite of mine! If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I am big on double dipping when I can. This saves me so much time and it’s where I sprinkle in my self-care as well.
As I’m doing my hair and makeup, I either catch up on a Netflix show, listen to a book, or a podcast. All of these things I would consider self-care because it’s either a mindless Netflix binge worthy show (currently bingeing Ratched!) or it’s time for some self-growth.
You can also double dip when cleaning the house, making kids their breakfast or stretching/exercising if you do that in the morning.
Obviously, if you have kids running around causing havoc, this doesn’t feel like self-care, so this is another reason to wake up before everyone else. The time seems to slow down and it can be peaceful to get ready while playing something in the background.
9. Everything in its Place
If you have a place for all the items in your house, it helps out so much! This eliminates the last minute search for your keys and helps provide consistency and structure for the kiddos.
The night before, make sure everything you need to take with you is by the front door. Make sure your keys, lunch bags, work bags, etc. are right there to grab.
If your kiddos are old enough, have them pick out an outfit the night before and have them lay it out in the same spot. This way, they know exactly what they’re wearing and where it is. Keep their backpacks and lunch bags in the same spot each night as well.
For the little ones, lay out their outfits the night before. Somewhere convenient like their changing table.
Having a spot for everything makes cleaning up easier and faster too. There’s no guessing when there’s a spot for everything in your house. You don’t have to get too crazy with this, but in general, just know where things go.
This also helps to save time when you see 5 things in the living room that all belong in one room. Grab those 5 things together so you don’t have to walk back and forth.
10. Sprinkle in Some Self-Care
Even if you can wake up 10 minutes earlier to squeeze in something for yourself like exercise/stretching or journaling (here’s one of my favorite journals), it will make all the difference.
Starting off on the right foot for the day can really change your mindset and set the tone. We all know that there’s mornings where it just seems like everything goes wrong and we naturally think to ourselves, “well, I already know how this day is gonna go…”
By taking a few minutes for yourself to get in the right headspace, you push those negative thoughts away and start on a positive path. This is also a good time to plan for the next day or week ahead.
11. Don’t Get Distracted
This is so easy to do, but in order to be productive each morning, you have to stick to your routine. If at the end of your morning routine you have some leftover time, then feel free to browse your emails, IG or Facebook. But, resist those distractions until you’ve gotten your priorities out of the way.
The simplest way to do this is just don’t look! I know those damn red notifications are so tempting, but they’ll be there later. The stress of running out the door feeling like you’ve forgotten something is so not worth it.
Save the social media stuff for your breaks at work.
12. Keep it Simple!
If there’s one reason you won’t stick to your morning routine, it would be that it’s too complicated and it seems overwhelming. There’s no need to get stressed out over your morning routine. If anything, it should be helping you feel more prepared and at ease.
I always have the same couple of things for breakfast. Why? Because I don’t have to think about it and it’s simple! I love scrambled eggs with cheese or a keto breakfast sandwich (egg sandwich with cheese and turkey sausage) and coffee. They’re both quick and most importantly, healthy.
I also keep lunch simple for the same reason. There’s hardly any prep work the night before because I either box up leftovers from dinner or I have a salad from the store ready to go.
You can do the same with your kid’s breakfast and lunch. Keep it as simple as possible and save the fancy stuff for dinner and/or the weekend.
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