Morning Routine Simplified

For the past year or so, I've been researching morning routines as a way to improve productivity. I'm always looking for ways to improve my productivity, so I started studying this idea of a morning routine.

As I watched videos and listened to talks, I thought about my own morning routine. We all have a morning routine even if we don't think we do. The morning routine consists of the things we do each morning as we prepare for our day. Some are the usual - brush our teeth, shower, etc. Some are more personalized - our chosen workout if we have on, meditating, a cup of coffee or tea, etc.

As I looked at my morning routine, I started to question if adding some of the things I was learning would improve my overall productivity. I already made my bed, practiced yoga, and meditated every morning. That seemed like a good start. But... there were all these other things I could do. I found several different recommendations for writing in a morning journal or writing morning pages, recommendations about what to eat and drink, recommendations about exercising, recommendations about reading inspiring things, recommendations about watching inspiring videos, and and and... There are so many things you can do to boost your productivity! So... I decided maybe I could be more productive if I incorporated some of those things into my life.

I looked again at my morning routine. I was pretty happy with it though it felt a little haphazard. Not so much like a routine as a group of things I did each day that might or might not aid my productivity. So I decided to make a few changes. I didn't delete anything. I added to an already full morning... Hhmmm! Not sure that's the most productive way to do things.

I started by adding in watching some inspiring videos to aid me on my morning routine path to increased productivity. The next thing I knew I had added in a third morning journaling activity - so I was essentially writing in four journals daily... There was my meditation journal, my guided journal (This year's is called This Time Next Year - not my favorite but might work for others.), my nightly gratitude journal, and now I'd added a 5 second journal that I printed the pages for because it was recommended in an online class I took at the beginning of the year... Sighs! All this writing, and yet none of it directly created progress on my writing projects.

Writing in the The 5-Second Journal didn't last long. I gave it a good attempt. I tried it for a month or two, but I hated it. I'm sure it works great for some people, but for me it had the opposite effect on my productivity than what was intended. It made me feel stressed, overwhelmed, and annoyed. Maybe it didn't work for me because I tried to force it into a routine that was already full.

I took a few classes/workshops designed to help me increase my productivity only to feel like those classes made me less productive and at times to even feel bad about myself. Yet, I often kept attending or watching the videos because I wanted to support the person conducting them... Sighs! That's not productive! That's sacrificing my productivity to support someone else.

I started scaling back activities that I knew worked for me, like yoga and meditation, to try these recommendations from other people. I had clearly forgotten that I wasn't broken and didn't need fixed.

I started to resent much of my morning routine. I was trying to fit other people's idea of what created a successful morning routine into my day. So I took a step back and revisited my morning routine, really paying attention to what I was doing each morning.

As I paid close attention to my morning routine, I began to see what made me feel energized about my day and what didn't. Instead of adding things to my morning routine, I decided to go the opposite direction. I started cutting things from my morning routine. These cuts might not be permanent, but anything that made me feel resentful and/or listless went. Anything that left me dreading getting up went. Anything that felt the wasteful or stressful or not joyful went.

It's been amazing to see how letting go of things that were supposed to help my productivity has actually helped my productivity. Once again it was a reminder that just because something works for someone else doesn't mean it will work for me. It was also a reminder that while I can learn from other people's experiences, my way isn't necessarily wrong, it's just not their way. It's my way. My way is just as good as their way because it works for me.

Sometimes simpler truly is better.

So whatever your morning routine is, if it works for you, keep doing it. If it doesn't, go ahead and research other options. Add, delete, or keep whatever you feel is best for you. It's okay, you're not broken. You're human as am I.