A good day starts the night before.
I can’t remember who said it first, but this is always rung true for me. I’m a morning person by nature but if I don’t prepare the night before, I wake up in a bad mood.
Every day I get up, go to the gym for an hour, come home to do some work, then get my 3 boys up and at em, and we go about our homeschooling day. Did I mention that I get to bed around 1am and we’re more than an hour and a half away from our closest family?
I don’t say this to brag, but to say that it can be done! Everyone’s situation is different, so every morning routine looks different.
My key to success? It’s not really magic, I promise. It’s routine. I know what it is that I have to get done each day and I know the importance for myself of getting each and every one of those things done.
Here’s my routine for success.
1. Prep my coffee.
This sets my mood off in the right way before I can even get downstairs. I use my favorite kitchen appliance, my amazingly programmable coffee maker, to start my day off right! When I leave my bedroom and it smells like the delicious nectar of the gods, I wake up with pep in my step. This to me is like aromatherapy. Without actually having to do anything I’m already in a good mood. It doesn’t matter what time I wake up, smelling coffee always puts a smile on my face.
If I forget to prep my coffee and have to make it in the morning, I’m starting off on the wrong foot. I have made coffee a million times before, but somehow if I try to make it first thing in the morning there’s a 95% chance that I’m going to make it wrong. I might add too much water and not enough coffee, maybe I’ll spill grounds into the coffee pot, and sometimes it just sets me off to wait. No matter what it is, it’s a mess. I would rather just stay up a little bit later and prep it the night before.
2. Having a clean kitchen.
There’s little that can kill my coffee-induced morning buzz like a sink full of dirty dishes from the night before. Or empty cabinets with a dishwasher full of still-dirty dishes. Walking down stairs into a dirty kitchen is immediately a mood killer for me. It absolutely just gets to me. It also eats up a lot of my early-morning productivity time but having to clean up.
I’ll stay up late the night before to make sure that the dishes are done in the morning. I would much rather be at the gym or doing some of my work rather than scrubbing old food off of pots and pans from the night before. Not to mention, now that it’s getting warm outside, I can’t stand the thought of getting bugs because there are dirty dishes that have been sitting out overnight!
3. List all of the things that I need to do in the morning.
I’m a list maker. So having a physical list where I can actually see all of the things that I have to do the next day really helps me. Having my list set up before I even sit down with my cup of coffee in the morning helps me to stay on track for the whole day.
I’ve woken up before and thought that the only things I had to do in the morning was to check emails. When in reality, I had to make sure that we were all out the door by 8 a.m. to go to a doctor’s appointment a half an hour away. Mornings like that usually start the day off poorly for the whole family!
Having a list of exactly what I need to do in the morning has really helped me to stay on track. I tend to wonder if I don’t have structure, so having my list very clearly telling me exactly what I need to do really helps me have a great morning.
What means most for you? Make a list!
Your list might look a lot different than mine! You could hate coffee (gasp!). You could think that waking up at 6:30 is “sleeping in.” Or your biggest issue might be in your living room and not your kitchen. And that’s okay! There’s no right or wrong answer here. All that really matters, is that you are able to have some kind of routine that makes your mornings easier.
The best way to start is to make a list!
What is most important to you? Figure out what would be the biggest impact in your mornings if you were to start it today.
Put the list somewhere that you will see it. Anywhere! Put it next to your sink, on your bedroom mirror, in your bathroom, anywhere that you will see it and actually do it!
The hardest part about starting any routine is actually starting it!
I can’t tell you how helpful Crystal Paine has been when it comes to setting me up for a great day. Her Make Over Your Mornings class really change the way that I see my mornings. I think I might even be more excited for her Makeover Your Evenings class! Why? Because I truly do believe that a great day starts the night before.
If you need some extra motivation, check out Crystal’s Make Over Your Evenings course! She will help you with everything that you need in order to have the best evening for the best morning! You can learn more about the course and how you can get the whole 14-day course for $5 HERE.
I know that Make Over Your Evenings will help you take control of your mornings and help you have the best days that you can!
*Update (8/9/2016): BOTH of Crystal’s courses are on sale this week! You can purchase both Make Over Your Mornings and Make Over Your Evenings for just $17! They are normally $17 EACH – buy them together this week and save 50%. *
Maariya says
Yes, I totally feel you! Mornings are the most important time of the day! Normally I like to wake up, freshen up, get a work out in, and then make a list on my Notes app of what I would like to accomplish before my husband gets home, while munching on some breakfast. I love your idea of making the list the night before though, because I would definitely feel more ahead of the game. Awesome advice, thanks!!!
Lara @MommyKazam says
Yes, prepping things the night before is a game changer! I always feel like my whole day goes much more smoothly and productively if I wake up to a clean kitchen and everything is pre-prepped and listed/scheduled for me.
Lara @MommyKazam recently posted…The Secret Downside of Homesteading