If you’re like me, your morning routine includes you try to squeeze in your writing between sips of coffee in the morning, bites of your sandwich at lunch, and are always looking for extra spare moments to sit down and write when the house is quiet.
Early risers, take your schedule further. Build it out to maximize your most productive hours of the day. You can push your own limits in the morning. You’re programmed to be at your peak level of energy during the earlier hours of the day.
Night owls, use this routine to simply get yourself up and charting the course for your day. You aren’t going to be super productive in the morning because it’s not in your nature to be, so don’t force it. Do the minimum and set yourself up for success later in the day.
Don’t hit “Snooze.”
The longer you lay in bed and hit snooze, the more likely you are to stay in bed. So, set your alarm once—with a realistic time—and stick to it. The more you get out of bed at the first alarm the easier it will become.
Drink a glass of water (add some lemon).
Coffee or tea can be a bit harsh on your stomach if you drink it as soon as you get up, and since most of us don’t drink nearly enough water each day as we should anyway, make your first drink of the day a glass of water.
Get dressed.
Staying in your pajamas can send a signal to your brain that you’re not ready to work yet. So, take a few minutes to change out of your pajamas to trigger your brain that it’s time to start your day. If you want to go for a walk in the morning, putting on your walking clothes is enough. If you’re going to work from home put on a different pair of lounge clothes or change into what you’re going to wear for the day.
Do something to wake up your brain.
If you like to get an exercise during the morning hours, now is a great time to go for a walk or do a workout at home. The workout will get your endorphins flowing, which will wake up your mind. If you’re like me and aren’t super excited about working out before 9 a.m., then use this time to listen to a podcast or read a chapter of a book. For this part of the morning routine, the focus is less on what you do to wake up your brain and is instead about just doing something.
Drink your morning beverage of choice.
Now that you’re up and moving around, take some time to sit down with your morning drink of choice and just be still. Don’t check your emails or your social media. Avoid the urge to reply to any text messages that may have come in. Put yourself in “time out” for a bit longer so you can enjoy the time you have to yourself.
Write something to help your future self.
Use the time you would have devoted to answering emails and checking on other things and put it toward writing something. You could journal, write a few paragraphs of your writing project, or you could work on your outline or scribble out random thoughts for a scene you want to include in your book. No matter what you write during this time, future you will appreciate the work you did.
The best part about this morning routine is you get to decide how much time you want to carve out for each step. I personally only allow about an hour in the mornings to work through my morning routine, and honestly, I find it easier to follow on the weekends because I don’t have to follow a set work schedule. But no matter what day of the week it is, I enjoy having a period of time to wake up and do a few things for myself before I move on to tasks.
Are you interested in more advice about working writing into your schedule? Read our post How to Eliminate Distractions When Writing.
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