Peace and Quiet: Why You Should Create a Morning Routine
Start your day with a few simple habits.
When my kids were little, I felt like I never had any time for me. Feeding, playing with, and caring for small children is exhausting. I love my kids endlessly, but those years were rough.
When my youngest child was a baby, she began waking up consistently at 5:00 am. At first, I was annoyed because I felt like I'd been robbed of an hour of sleep. But then I realized how quiet it was in the house in the morning. During the COVID pandemic, I began to take advantage of this early morning time. All three of my kids were home due to school closures, so early mornings were literally the only time I had to myself.
Years later, I still maintain an early morning routine. It's not intense or a "wake up and plunge your face into cold water" approach. Instead, it's a way to ease into the day. Mornings are all about me and set me up for a day of running a 1-person business.
A morning routine split between personal and business
When you're running a 1-person business, your days can be really varied. One day, you're juggling client updates and your social media presence and the next day you're heads-down focused on a deliverable. You might even embrace your freedom and flexible hours (which is amazing), but that also creates a lot of variation between days.
Your morning routine can be an anchor. When your days look different every week, a morning routine creates structure.
You are your business's biggest asset, which is why your prep for the day matters. Even a small routine (10-15 minutes) can put you in the right mindset for the entire day.
But I encourage you to have a longer morning routine. Split the time between habits that are personally fulfilling and business tasks. Start with something that makes you happy, and then move into something related to your business. It creates a smooth transition before you dive into more intensive work for the day.
Anna Burgess Yang
What my morning routine looks like
The most important part of my morning routine is consistency: doing the same thing, every day.
I usually wake up around 4:30 am. This isn't a flex — at this point, I naturally wake up that early. My morning routine includes:
- Sitting on my couch with a cup of coffee and playing Wordle (and a few other New York Times games) on my phone
- Moving from the couch to my desk and spending a few minutes recapping the prior day in Reflect
- Planning my day in blocks of time and writing down my plan using the Ugmonk analog system [affiliate link]
After I get through my morning routine, I write until other people in the house wake up. Sometimes my writing is work-related; sometimes personal. That part doesn't matter as much as the focused writing time.
I'd like to say that every morning is super productive, but that's not true. Some days, I spend more time on the couch drinking my coffee and have less time to write.
But the goal isn't to get a bunch of stuff done. It's to show up consistently and follow a ritual.
For example, planning the rest of my day usually only takes a few minutes. I break my day into blocks of time, so my plan will look something like: "9:00 - 10:30 — Work on Client Deliverable." This prevents decision fatigue later, because I know what I need to work on.
If I don't finish everything on the list throughout the day, that's fine. I can add it to my list for the next day.
Tips for building a morning routine that sticks
If you're not a morning person and want to become a morning person to capture the glorious quiet time, there are a few things you can do to shift your schedule.
Start small. Don't come up with an elaborate morning routine that takes you 90 minutes every day. Focus instead on what you would get done if you had an extra 15 minutes in the morning.
Force yourself to wake up early. If you wake up early, you'll naturally start going to bed earlier. My evening routine is just chilling: getting my kids ready for bed and watching TV. I can turn my brain off for the day. Once you start waking up early and going to bed early, your entire body rhythm will start to shift. (I also eat lunch and dinner early as a result of this schedule.)
Stay flexible. There are other things I'd like to do in the morning, like meditate. They don't always happen. My non-negotiables are coffee, Wordle, recapping my prior day, and planning the current day. Anything else I get done is a bonus.
Adjust to your current season of life. Maybe you have a baby. Maybe you're currently experiencing a medical issue that throws off your routine. Make adjustments as needed.
Most importantly, give yourself grace. Missing a day doesn't mean you've failed. It just means that you haven't hit the tipping point yet where you crave the morning routine and hate to miss it.
But if you keep working to create a morning routine, eventually you'll find that it's a really important part of your day.
Create a morning routine that supports your life
A morning routine supports my current season of life because it's the best way for me to get some uninterrupted time. By evening, I'm exhausted, so I can't think as clearly.
Your morning routine should support you and how you want to start your day. Journaling? Do that. Exercise? Go for it.
My days often feel dictated by other people's needs. My morning routine is just for me.
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