Morning Routine at Home

Creating a morning routine at home is so very important. It sets you up to succeed throughout your day and it creates habits that are so important for learning and growth.

For many years, when I worked outside the home, I had a routine that I followed. It wasn’t the best, and honestly it never really made me feel good throughout the day, but as a type A person, it was essential for me.

Fast forward about 10 years, and since I began working at home, it’s been a whole new adventure. Over the last year or so, I have been working on a morning routine.

Since reading The Miracle Morning last year, I have gone through many different morning routines, some were great, some not so great. But the key to them all has been having the routine in place.

I first started with a beauty routine after taking the Rediscover Me course last February. At the time, I wasn’t aware just how much having a morning routine would change things for me.

Then I started adding different things to my routine. And I will be honest, I changed it often, but I think that’s the process that we all need to go through until we find something that works. It will look different for all of us.

I’m sharing my morning routine at home with you, because if you are anything like me, I just needed someone to show me what they are doing. Most of the time I tried what they suggested, and then tweaked it to fit my routine. Again, finding what worked best for me.

Over the last few weeks I have added another part to my morning routine and I am already finding it to make a big impact on my day. The Happiness Advantage is a book about changing our mindset. Shawn Achor teaches the concept that happiness doesn’t happen after success, but that success happens AFTER happiness. The video from his TED talk started it all for me, and I found it to be profound. I first told you about The Happiness Advantage in my Love List.

If I had the chance to go back, I would take a lot better care of myself when I was younger. I would take time, even 15 minutes for myself. So if I could say anything to you my friends – take some time for yourself, do what you love, even if it’s not a lot of time.

Here is my current morning routine at home…

• Wake without the alarm – typically it’s about 6 a.m. For a couple months, I tried setting the alarm to wake early, around 5 a.m., but I found that my body just didn’t work well getting up that early. Or maybe it was the alarm, it’s much nicer to wake up naturally, although I know that doesn’t work for everyone.
• Before getting out of bed, I have some water to drink and I put essential oil on my feet to help boost my immune system.
• After visiting the bathroom, it’s time for more water.
• Then I meditate for 10 minutes. I keep it very simple. After trying a couple different meditation apps, I landed on a system that Marie Forleo suggests. I put on my headphones, because I found that if the music is right in my ears, I can block out other noises easier. I set my timer on my phone for 10 minutes, and turn on my Spotify playlist that I created. It has an album called Calm Meditation Music. I sit on the floor, cross legged and sit up nice and tall. I’m still working on calming my brain during this time, but it is getting easier each day. When I find myself drifting, I simply say “come back Liz” and begin focusing again on my breath. Some days are easier than others. I have also added some affirmations during this time. I’m not always focused enough to say them the entire time, but I’m working on it. I repeat things like – “I am strong,” “I am happy,” “I am calm” etc.
• Then after the timer goes off, I immediately play my mantra song “Love Can Move Mountains” by Celine Dion.
• After that, I immediately turn on “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. I know it sounds kind of weird, but I challenge you to listen to that song and not be happy and move your body, which I do – I dance and stretch during the song.

• Then it’s time to journal. This is the new step that I have added recently after reading The Happiness Advantage.

• Here are the 5 things that Shawn suggests to change your mindset to happy – write down 3 things you are grateful for, writing down one positive experience from your day (or the day before if you are writing in the morning), exercise (I’m still working on adding this in, it’s tough during the winter months), meditation, and a random act of kindness (send 1 email every day telling someone you know that you appreciate them). Here is a little thought on the random act of kindness though – don’t tell the person that you are working on yourself and need to send them a thank you note. Short story – shortly after Christmas I received a message via Facebook from a friend and she told me that she appreciated me and what I shared. Don’t get me wrong, that was great – but she began the message by saying – hey, one of my new year’s resolutions is to tell someone each day that I appreciate them and wanted to tell you that I appreciate you. The first thing that popped into my head was, so…because you have a new years resolution, you decided to message me – not because you really felt the need to tell me, but because you have a resolution. Now, I totally understand that for some people the easiest way to do things is to set a goal, but don’t you think that we should always tell people thank you and that we appreciate them – not just because we set a resolution for ourselves. Oh and that pen -it’s the bomb! I love it!

• Now it’s off to shower, dress and make up. I have found this part to be VERY important for a work at home entrepreneur. It’s all about getting in the right mindset, and this part has helped me a ton. Now, I don’t go crazy with what I wear, because after all, I’m in the kitchen getting dirty and in the studio taking pictures. But I do wear yoga pants (fitted, not loose ones), a bra (because it’s easy not to wear one when you are at home), shirt, socks and shoes.

• Another morning ritual that I have recently started is lighting a candle and saying a prayer. I have always prayed in the morning, but there is something about lighting the candle that makes the time really special.

• Before heading downstairs – I make my bed (REALLY important thing to do each day), pick up my room, and 3 days a week I swish and swipe the bathroom (another important thing with all men in the house).
• I make sure that each morning I do 3 things to make myself happy. Every day looks different – today I meditated, picked up my room and put lotion on. It’s the simple things in life – you know?
• Then I head to the kitchen, where I grab my nutrition shake, supplements and another bottle of water.
• And it’s off to work for the day.

Creating a morning routine at home that works for me has been life changing. Life can be difficult, we all have a ton of stress, but changing our mindset and working on our on happiness is really important.

How does your morning routine look?