Starting late last week, I’ve been working on establishing a morning routine. It may sound crazy to some of you or like a no-brainer to others, but I finally got fed up enough to where I wanted to take some action.
There are certain tasks that simply have to get done and others that I want to get done, but I’ve been frustrated with my lack of focus in the mornings. I really hate scrambling to make the bed right before the kids and I are about to head out for errands because I got sidetracked on something that could have waited until later in the day! I’m hoping that with a little intentionality, concerted effort, and refocusing of my morning priorities, they will all become habitual within a couple of weeks.
So last week, I sat down and made a list of things I’d like to get done in the morning before the kids and I really get going with our day. Ideally, I’d love to have all of these finished before the children wake, but I’d be happy if I just got some of them done. I’m hoping that if I can get a jump start on these daily tasks, it will set us all up for success with all the other things we have planned for the day {whether it be errands, other household chores, or fun outings}.
Rather than put a specific time for each task, I thought I’d list them in my ideal order and length of time for each task. I don’t want to be rigid with this, but use this more as a guide so I can keep myself on track if I find myself loosing focus or dragging in the morning. {I didn’t include other basics like eating breakfast or getting the kids ready b/c those will happen regardless}.
Ideally, if I wanted to accomplish ALL of these before the kids wake, I’d need to wake up no later than 6:15am. That’s honestly not too bad and something totally feasible. At the very latest though, I’d love to have all of these done by around 9am, so that I’m ready to move onto the other tasks for the day, which allows for some flexibility if I need some extra sleep on certain days. I’m not a morning person by nature, so baby steps are key for me!
So far, I’ve been doing fairly well with it. Today was the first day that I really had everything done by 9am, but even on the days when I didn’t accomplish that goal, I still felt like I got “the basics” done before we left the house and was in better shape for the rest of the day.
I’ll keep you posted on how I do as this week progresses since this will be my first full week trying this out.
