What I've Been Thinking About
💪 Creating a dynamic needs-based morning routine
I've been working on my morning routine this past month. I've been wanting to make it more consistent, structured, and fulfilling. I think it's mostly there and after some fine-tuning, I can move my attention elsewhere.
In creating my morning routine, I've realized that there are certain habits that I would consider foundational, ones that I would want to do every day. While there are other habits that bring about more specific benefits that might not be needed or wanted every day. Each habit brings with it a particular payoff, usually a blend in terms of physical energy, mental energy, mental focus, emotional relief, and physical relief.
My default morning routine provides me with a good baseline across these categories. Then based upon how I feel, I can choose to elongate certain habits or substitute in other ones to make my morning more intentional with the added benefit of keeping things fresh and not letting myself get bored of the routine.
In the past, I've found inconsistencies arise in my morning routine when I either feel like the list of things I want to do is too long and begins to feel like a chore, or it feels incomplete or inadequate, in which it's not serving my exact needs so why am I doing it?
So in practice, my morning routine involves the following:
Wake up on the first alarm, don't check my phone until the routine is complete
Make coffee
Make & drink celery juice (listen to podcast/audiobook while doing this)
Have B-complex vitamin
Meditate for 10 minutes
Write morning pages for 5 minutes & drink coffee
I have about an extra 15 minutes of slack time in my routine depending on how fast I'm able to do everything, which gives me an opportunity to customize what I do.
If I'm feeling especially scatter-brained or can't sit still, I'll increase the meditation to 20 minutes. If I'm feeling emotionally turbulent, I'll allow my morning pages to stretch on for another 5-10 minutes.
If my body feels tight I'll add in 5-10 minutes using the Theragun or do some stretching. If my posture is especially poor, I'll do 5 minutes of Egoscue method exercises. If I'm feeling extra lethargic, I'll do some light exercising, e.g. 15 burpees.
If I want some intellectual stimulation I might read a recently saved article, or get a quick 15-minute reading session in of a book I'm working on.
I encourage you to find your own foundational morning routine and think of ways you can modify and substitute various habits to keep your routine fresh and specifically tailored to your needs of the day.