In March, I wrote about struggling with time management. I noticed a shift in my days that I was not getting much completed. I felt tired, burnt out and lazy. I shared this with some friends and slowly worked away at why I wasn’t accomplishing much and made some improvements.
Fast forward to now, I feel like I’m in a good place. My mornings have a groove. Sure, I snooze past my alarm some mornings but for the most part when I follow my morning routine, my days are far more productive. I felt like sharing what I’ve learned to do in case you’re in a rut as well.
Take our pup, ZaZa, on a short walk.
I used to get so frustrated when our puppy would wake me up every morning around 6:30. For me, that is way too early. The more consistent it became, the more I relied on his little wake up calls! Now after a quick lap around the block, I’m awake and ready to sit down with a cup of tea to read.
Create a fresh atmosphere
When I get back from our walk, I diffuse something that is going to clean the air and create a calm atmosphere. Usually I like eucalyptus, peppermint or lavender. With the weather cooling down, I am going to change it up. I’d love to hear your favorite oils for cooler weather! I love using this diffuser, it is more like a beautiful piece of pottery that we can show off in our home!
Drink a hot cup of tea
If you know me, you know I love hot tea. I prefer jasmine pearls, but I also love matcha lattes or whatever we have on hand. I hate going a day without it!
Reading + Journaling
I’ve been reading and journaling for years, filling moleskins with thoughts, prayers and scriptures I’m reading. Even when I don’t feel like writing, I write just that. This is something that I truly believe changes the course of my day. When I skip it, I can tell by the afternoon because my days are way off.
Breakfast with Jordan
This is a new part of routine that Jordan and I have added, and its the best part! I used to never make or eat breakfast. I’m still getting used to it, but even just scrambling an egg and sitting down together to talk about what we read is the best part of my morning. If we are in a hurry, we will stop by a coffee shop and have breakfast on the go.
Getting out of the house
This is part of my routine that I don’t do 100% of the time but when I do it makes my work days have an official start to them. Working from home, it can be easy for me to lallygag around the house and then forget about all the actual work I have to do. Getting out of the house to take Jordan to work helps me come home prepared to get right to work!
Writing schedule/to-do list
I’m a big list maker and if something isn’t written down it usually won’t get completed. I try to take a few minutes and look over my schedule and to-do list in the mornings after completing the rest of my routine just to make sure I stay on track for the day.
Stay intentional/Stay off social media
And finally, staying off social media. This was a very bad habit of mine for years. I would wake up, open my phone and constantly check my phone throughout the day. A constant distraction and a time waster. I truly believe this was one of the reasons I was struggling so much with time management this past year. So, I decided to cut it off. Now, I don’t look at social media until late afternoon or after work. The endless scrolling has stopped and I highly recommend it!
This is how I usually spend my mornings to prepare for a productive work day, how do you spend yours?!