Creating a Morning Routine

I read a lot of books about mindset and successful people, and one thing I find continuously comes up is the power of having a morning routine. 

I recently read The Compound Effect book and it has really changed how I am thinking about a lot of things. If you haven't read this book I would 100% recommend it! It really shows the power of having a strong mindset and being consistent. 

In the book the term 'bookending your day' is spoke about in regards to having a morning and evening routine. This is something that I have thought about for years, but never actually acted on. 

After reading the book I decided to change this. I am definitely no expert and I am still working on different things to implement into the routine, but I thought I would share a blog post on what I have started doing and hopefully it might inspire some of you to create a morning routine too. 

1. Getting up at 5.30. This was a big one for me, as before this on work days I wold get up at around 7.30, and on non work days 8.30 or later! So many successful people get up early, so it is something I am now determined to do each morning. For the first few days I got up at 6.30, and then went to 6, and I am now at 5.30 each morning. I am determined to start getting up at 5 soon though, but I have found doing it gradually has worked best. 

2. Having a healthy breakfast. I am trying to eat more healthy in general and snacking less, so I am making sure I start my day right and have a good breakfast. There are some days where I am not so healthy, but I am really trying to implement this on all week days. I am also trying to drink more water and have also been having lemon water too. 

3. Morning Meditation. Another thing I hear so many successful people do. This has been what I have found hardest out of everything. My mind is always thinking of so many different things which is why I think I need to continue with meditation, even though I find it difficult. I am using the app insight timer, it has so many free meditations on and I am trying to do one every day. Some days I have also tried a visualisation and I actually really enjoyed this. 

4. Doing a workout every morning. I have loved doing this! Far more than I thought I would. The first few days I wasn't too sure, but after about a week I really started to enjoy it and I have managed to continue doing this for about 7 weeks now. I know that being in lockdown has given me more time to workout, but I now love it so much I am definitely going to continue even when everything goes back to normal. 

5. Journalling. I currently do a mix of journalling but a lot of it I do in the evening, such as writing down what I am grateful for. I have decided though I want to introduce this into my morning routine too. So instead of just planning my day I want to start to journal how I am feeling too, I keep seeing more on morning pages, so I am going to take a look into this and implement it into my routine. I will share how I get on on my socials so make sure to be following on there! 

Let me know if you have a morning routine and if so what does it involve? I would love to hear your thoughts on whether you think having a routine is important, or do you just prefer to get up when you feel like it. Let me know in the comments!