“What does your ideal morning look like?”
This is a question I ask my morning routine clients when we start working together…
…and the response I get is pretty much the same from everyone:
Wake up at 5am
No snoozing or rushing
Journal & meditate
Workout
This is great, but I can’t help but think this common response is because of the “perfect morning routine” we see on social media.
I love these videos, but there are 3 things we may not be seeing:
1) They likely have a sleep buffer.
Have you seen the videos where the girl wakes up at 5am and is up and moving by 5:05am?
While some people may actually be able to do this, a lot of us need time to slowly wake up (and that’s ok)!
The solution: a sleep buffer
When planning your morning routine, it’s ok to give yourself a “sleep buffer” of about 15 mins to slowly wake-up and adjust to the day.
This is a realistic, happy medium plan of not hitting snooze a bunch of times, but giving yourself the time you need to leisurely get up.
One of our goals is to not rush in the morning right?
Here’s your permission to not rush out of bed :)
2) They didn’t start waking up at 5am right away.
I bet most people in the videos didn’t go from waking up at 7am to waking up at 5am.
They likely started as a beginner too and made their way up to an earlier time.
If you’re trying to wake up earlier, challenge yourself in 15 or 30 minute increments.
Prove to yourself that you can do it, and then add more!
The goal is to build a SUSTAINABLE morning routine, not one you burnout from.
3) They’re showing you THEIR morning routine, not the standard for a perfect one.
When we’re constantly bombarded with videos of other people’s morning routines, we start to think that’s the standard for what perfect looks like.
Think about it:
Morning routine videos
What I eat in a day videos
Makeup videos
(This is also why when I give talks, I don’t lead with “this my morning routine” to not set the expectation of what perfect looks like)
So I challenge you:
What does YOUR perfect morning routine look like?
Does it involve drinking coffee & reading (and not working out)?
Does it involve waking up at 7am (and not 5am)?
Get specific and think about what YOU want!
Like Taylor’s Version, take back your routine and write YOUR version!
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This isn’t to knock the morning routine videos because we all know they’re cute and inspirational!
But I want to challenge you to:
Be realistic about your morning routine plan
Give yourself grace and work your way to earlier in a sustainable way
Build YOUR version of a morning routine & redefine what perfect looks like
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Want help building YOUR version of a morning routine! Let’s chat about it!