Something I'm working on this year (besides having more fun), is dialing in on my routines! I've learned that any time I want to start implementing a new habit or resolution in my life, it's most likely to succeed if I attach it to my already successful routine! Routines over resolutions! Years ago, I started incorporating a workout into my mornings, and I've never looked back. It's the only time of day that I get alone time all day, and it's when I get all my good ideas. I meet my team in the office at 9am, and my first alarm goes off at 4:45. Read on if you're interested in how I spend the first 4 hours of the day before work!
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My Morning Routine
My alarm goes off at 4:45. This was a change my new doctor recommended and it has done wonders for my body. Just needed a little more time to absorb my medicine before anything else.
I take my thyroid medicine and go back to sleep for 30 minutes. I can't drink my pre-workout until an hour has passed.
At 5:15 my gradual alarm goes off. I like that it starts quiet so I can catch it before it wakes up Chris!
This is the real one that tells me it's time to get up, go into the bathroom, and put on the gym clothes I laid out the night before.
I honestly get dressed by the light of my phone flashlight because I'm still kind of half asleep, and I don't want to wake anyone!
I literally don't even look in the mirror. Just get dressed, grab my jacket out of my closet and go.
In my jacket pocket I have my Airpods, chapstick, car keys, and gum (chewing gum in my workout has been a surprisingly helpful addition! It helps my face stay relaxed so I can focus on the muscles I'm trying to build).
I head into the kitchen and grab my drinks I mixed from the night before: pre-workout in one shaker bottle (my favorite is Upper Limit Tiger's Blood), and Mixhers Hertime and Herhydration in a large shaker bottle!
On my way to the gym I drink my pre-workout and catch up on all the Marco Polos from my friends in double time.
I generally respond to Marco Polos in the parking lot before the sun comes up, while I wait for my pre-workout to kick in.
Treadmill warm-up starts at 6am. I walk at a brisk 4.8 (this is where my height comes in handy).
While walking, I make sure the blog post of the day went live. Sometimes if I'm really anxious, I'll post the Instagram in-feed post from the treadmill, but to be honest, engagement at 6am EST is grim.
Otherwise, I'll watch 20 minutes of whatever survivor season I'm on (season 36 currently!) and it gets me pumped.
Lately, I have been using the Sweat app to guide me through my weight lifting after I warm up (the workout takes about 50 minutes). I signed up for their 7 week challenge in the Power Program and I'm loving it!
I get home about 7:20, and when I walk in, my family is usually all in the kitchen. Chris has breakfast going and I grab the hair stuff from where I stash it in the kitchen drawer to do the girls' hair. I like it when they eat breakfast at the island so I can go down a line and fix all of their hair like my mom used to do with all five of her daughters before school.
Chris leaves to take the girls to school a little before 8 and I jump in the shower and get ready for the day while listening to a podcast. Armchair expert is my go-to.
Usually a contractor knocks on the door around 8:30, but right now they need very little direction since we're at the end of the kitchen project so I just gotta make sure I'm dressed and can hear them knocking more than anything.
If I haven't posted on my Instagram feed by then, I post while I'm getting ready.
Once I'm ready for the day, I like to tidy our bedroom quickly. I open all the blinds because it instantly boosts my mood! And make our bed. It takes 3 minutes and gives me so much peace of mind all day.
Before heading into the office, I like to jump on Stories and talk about the day's post a bit. Then I take a quick outfit pic, and head into work! Our morning meeting (that I lead, lol) starts at 9:10am sharp!
Those are my mornings! I cherish them, honestly. I've always been a morning person, but can't hang at night. I'm asleep, ASLEEEEEEPPP by 9:45. A big key to my morning success is preparing the night before! Laying out my clothes, my medication, my drinks and making sure the post is scheduled before I go to bed–so that waking up and getting to the gym is second nature. I also don't expect perfection from myself. Some mornings are sluggish and some I could sing and dance! If you're wanting to establish more of a morning routine, I would suggest starting small until it becomes habitual. and then little by little make adjustments and improvements. This is going to look different for everybody! What are some things you're trying to incorporate into your morning routine?
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This is so inspiring! Making some changes TODAY! Thank you for sharing. I feel ready to take on a healthy morning schedule now.
Thanks for the pep talk! I really needed this to get me motivated to get back on track and exercising again. Like you, if I don’t do it first thing of the day, it won’t happen.
Your routine is a lot like mine. Up at 5, put on clothes (that I laid out the night before) in the dark, hit the gym at 5:30, home at 6:30 to eat the breakfast the hubs made. Then I shower and get ready for work. I am a morning person and I love it. I’m too tired after work to go to the gym, so bring a morning person is perfect.
Yes!! Morning routines are everything! Thanks for the hydration/ pre workout recommendations. & I love love the sweat app & trainers. Just recently started the Barre and it’s so good!
Thanks so much for sharing this! I am slowly building my morning routine and this gives me great ideas on how to incorporate more things :) I would looove an evening routine post - I’m always curious about how much cleaning and prep for the next day organized people do!
I write morning pages (okay, more like one page), stretch and start working on my 10,000 steps. At home, I usually knock off 3,000+ before breakfast. If I'm on a beach vacation, it's more like 8,500 steps! Then breakfast and shower/dress for the day. Last one up (always my husband) makes the bed. Like you said, add another step to your existing routine is the easy way to add on.
It’s seriously so inspiring how cheerful and productive you are while dealing with a chronic health issue. I have my own tricky health thing going on right now and it makes me feel so hopeless sometimes. I could learn from your optimism!
Loved this! Open, honest tips. I use my Fitbit alarm to wake me. It vibrates on my wrist so it doesn’t wake my husband and honestly a less intrusive alarm for me. Maybe your Apple Watch has the same function?
Isn’t it funny the concept of ‘morning/night’ people. I am a morning person time wise, up at about 4.00am but my word, I need to be alone for at least an hour. It’s my head space wake up time. Covid weight kicked my ass last year and 2022 had renewed my enthusiasm for exercise and routine. At the moment just walking, will. incorporate weights in Feb (I’m in for the long game/lifestyle change). Live reading this, always interested in how people manage their times and their days. Remember when people used to do posts ‘here’s what’s in my handbag’ - thanks for showing us the handbag of your life :)
What a timely and inspiring post today. I have 3 kids under 4 and I’m a stay at home mom. I’d been struggling the past few months trying to get a smig of time for myself. I realized the only time I can truly have to myself is the AM. I started waking up at 5am, drinking 5cups of water then making a green juice while I read Chrislovesjulia. I empty the dishwasher and slowly prepare breakfast for the kids. It’s relaxing and I can listen to my book on tape while I wake up. It was hard to not get that one more hour and a half of sleep but it is making me a better person throughout the day when I know I get some me time.
Oh rats. Sounds like scrolling on my phone for an hour before getting out of bed isn’t the answer to helping me achieve my morning workout goals. 😆
You've inspired me to get back into my morning workout routine! I loved getting to the gym at 5(cardio and weight days), 6 on just cardio days. The place was much more peaceful with fewer people around. I loved starting my day sweating, and just me time. Off to do what I should have done a while ago. Join the gym again!
Why do you choose to go to a gym daily when you have several pieces of exercise equipment in your home?
And play multiple different exercise programs on a screen.
Years ago I used to go to a gym, but the environment there (both people & surroundings) didn't help with my mindset. Too much noise - both in sound & visual.
I love rowing for 20ish minutes a few times a week and on cardio days, a lot of times I’ll just stay home. Anxious to get our home gym a little more nice!
When you say you use a gradual alarm, is that a specific type of alarm clock?
It’s on the iPhone under wake up/sleep
Thank you for posting this. I too am a morning person but have slipped in this routine stuff lately. Loved your ideas and will get back on track… it feels so good when I follow through with a morning routine.
Love this! I've been struggling with routines, this was so motivating to read. I've got a 3 year old and 6 month old and have yet to get a good routine going. Would you be able to share what your morning routine was like when your girls were little?
Love the brush in the kitchen drawer tip! Totally going to implement. Thanks for sharing this.🤍
Your morning routine is impressive and definitely something I aspire to, but I gotta be honest- the MOST impressive thing is that you can walk at a 4.8!! I’m 6’ and I think I would fall right off the treadmill! Haha
Do you also do this on the weekends? I'm more of a night owl but have been getting up at 5 on weekdays for teen's early swim practice. Yet I sleep in on the weekends which might not be beneficial. Wondering how you're handing this?
Saturdays I wake up around 6:30 and Sundays I can usually sleep until 7. But my body is so wired to wake up early it doesn’t always happen
Thanks for this! It’s always inspiring to get a glimpse into someone else’s routines and helps me imagine new ways to shake up my morning! Would Chris consider a companion post about his morning routines? Part of the challenge at our house is coordinating that “dance” of my husband’s routines with my own so we can both get what we need while getting our sons out the door on time (one son is neuro-diverse and needs a lot of check-ins to stay on track). Just a thought! Thanks for sharing your morning with us!
I would love to see Chris' routine too because that dance is REAL. We have kids in different schools (different start times) and a dog who needs exercise in the morning, too, and it can be a challenge to fit it all in. I'm also curious about your and your family's evening routine, since that's what sets everyone up to be on track in the morning!
I too would love to see how your routine coincides with Chris'. I have a night owl husband and it's hard for me to go to bed much earlier than he does becuase I tend to wake up when he comes in the room later that night and the have a hard time falling back asleep.
Yes! I would love to know Chris’s routine too, it’s such a balancing act!
I had a cherished morning routine before I had my daughter (16 months) who doesn’t sleep well and is up between 5-6am. I would wake up with my husband at 3:30/4 and drink my coffee with him and see him off to work then I would get sooo much done by 8AM. It was like I had a whole work day before the day really began. I was grounded, on top of things and very successful with my job. Itching to get back to that!
I am a night owl, so 5 am makes me shudder! I will never have a morning routine longer than “get out of bed and go to work” but I feel like the biggest reason I struggle with my daytime/evening routines is that whenever I start to implement one and feeling really good about it, something happens: I get sick (I get lots of days long cluster headaches), theres a covid exposure at daycare and our twin 3 year olds have to stay home for 2 weeks, theres a snow day, there’s a huge deadline at work that requires overtime, our furnace breaks, etc (all those happened in the last 2 weeks for us) and I’m so stressed, anxious, and exhausted I drop the routine. Anyone have advice?
Saaaaame. I'm also a night owl and for me, change is constant too. I feel like the world is made for "morning people" and us "night owls" just have to make it work. No advice... only solidarity. You are not alone!
Like you I lay out my workout clothes the night before and only use phone flashlight. I would like to add some regular daily Bible to my morning routine
Thanks for sharing this. It’s always nice to read what/how other productive people manage their mornings. Mine has been a work in progress. In 2021 my goal was to transition to being a morning person and it was a success. I went from getting up at 7 to now 5:45. This year I’ve incorporated a morning meditation and a daily reading from a book that has an entry for every day. This year I’m working on improving my sleep efficiency. Currently I have to be in bed 8 hrs to get 7 hrs of sleep. I’m working toward pushing my wake up to 5:30 while keeping my bedtime at 10 and still get 7 hrs- I don’t want to cut into alone time with my husband by going to sleep earlier. The earlier wake time will allow me to make my meditation and my workout a bit longer!
I’m such a night person, but I aspire to this level of productivity and commitment in the mornings! Starting the day with a workout is such a mood booster.
I love the feeling of waking up early and feel on top of things. And yet I’m terrible at doing it 🙈 Been thinking about it a lot lately so this post as been a good reminder. Thank you for sharing and inspiring me to keep trying!
I love the idea of routines, but my days are always different. I have 2 teenage daughters that are homeschooled & a husband who works in a different state. So when he’s home- it’s more hectic. When it’s just me and the girls I’m more consistent with a routine. I enjoy waking up early, but my night hours are sporadic. Some nights I go to bed by 10:30, others I’m up until 2. This post has me thinking 2022 needs to be my year of routine. Thanks for sharing!
I’m doing the 7 week challenge as well and love it! This sounds like the perfect morning routine though, I love getting up before my toddlers and having time to myself so I don’t feel like I’m starting the day with constant requests before I have a chance to fully wake up. It completely changed my day to wake up a few hours before them.
I love my morning alone time too. This is such good advice and keeps it real. Small changes can make a big difference.
My morning routine is waking up 1 hour before the kids so I can get ready for the day, and have a little coffee and breakfast while I enjoy reading wonderful blogs like this yours! :)
Working up to to waking up an hour before that to exercise.