Mornings, I cherish them just as much as I adore my Huskies (so that’s like an unmeasurable amount of love). The more I’ve gotten hooked to the sensation of blissful mornings, the happier, productive, and mentally at ease I’ve been. The next step to even more euphoric early hours is to have a consistent flow of inspiring and energizing activities in the morning. Time to present the BEST Morning Routine Self-Care Checklist that you can do within 15 minutes!
Oh, and if you continue to read this epic guide to creating YOUR best morning routine, I’ll have a small free gift for you to make this easier!
But first…
Like anything in life, I believe it’s essential to start with intention. If you’ve read any other articles on this blog, I’m sure you’ve gotten the impression of how we gently urge the necessity of mindfulness in everyday situations.
”Intention” is a mental state that represents a commitment to carrying out an action or actions in the future. This purpose involves mental activities, such as planning and forethought.
Engaging blindly (and therefore without intention) into a morning routine is not going to be beneficial, and you won’t enjoy as much as you potentially could. And as we all like to make the most out of life, approaching your morning filled with intention is an excellent way to start!
The process of defining, identifying, setting, and transmitting your intention doesn’t need to be woo-woo and a time-consuming process. Simply put, it’s all about tuning in and allowing yourself to give yourself direction. Switching on your personal GPS to the destination you want to go to instead of just ”free-roaming”.
I find that it helps to write down my intention for it to manifest more substantially in my routine and everyday life. Reminding yourself of your intention before you go to bed, and the moment you wake up is like being your own coach, mentor, and guide in one. Sounds good, right?!
An example of an intention (or affirmation) before sleeping is:
”This night, my body and mind will rest deeply, and my spirit will be at peace. I will wake up refreshed, energized, and motivated the next morning, ready for another inspiring day filled with purpose, confidence, and clarity. I am grateful to be here now.”
Before we dive deep into the routine checklist part, here a little quote I read that struck me, I had to share it with you. It helps a lot when setting your intention:
”Make your intentions clear, the universe does not respond well to uncertainty…” ~ Joe Duncan
How to wake up early and the benefits
I just figured that you might be a lot like me. This means when you set your mind to something, you commit 1000%, and maybe, just maybe skip a few steps because you want […] so badly. You set the bar very high for yourself. If so, a quick reminder: all good things take time (on repeat).
Your motivation is rocking, but the pinch of impatience is a little destructive (and you know it). So, maybe, in the name of self-love, you’ll want to focus on how to wake up early or perhaps even first dive into the badass benefits of waking up early before getting head over heels on a morning routine.
The Best Morning Routine
Why is this going to be the best morning routine? Because it will be catered to exactly YOUR needs! Say you only have 15 minutes in the morning, it would only be logical that your self-care morning routine is different than that of someone who has 2 hours to spend.
Besides that, we’re all built differently. We all respond in other ways to triggers (hello, alarm), and creating a morning routine is something personal, so better make it personal. For some, morning meditation works, for others a morning jog, who am I to say which one is better?
So what will this checklist be?
Thoughtful suggestions for a base routine.
Suggestions for activities you can do for your best morning routine. The key is to find what feels right for you! What makes you excited to jump out of bed and do a morning boogie (and are healthy choices)…? Add those to the routine! If that means walking backward half a mile while clapping your hands, yay to you!
We encourage you to experiment!
You won’t have your perfect, most personal morning routine in a day, week, or even a month. Experimenting, reflecting, and evaluating what works and doesn’t will get you there, though. Having a flexible and consistent approach is having a mindset that is ready to grow. Adjust and play around (by following your intention) and see where it brings you.
It’s ok just to try. It’s ok to not know, and it’s ok to feel uncertain of what or how to do it. The only perfect is the one in imperfection.
All good things take time.
The 15-minute morning routine
Remember, I said that you should find what feels right? Good news, there are some, what I like to call ‘essentials’ that really can’t go wrong in any morning routine. They should be do-able time-wise and are proven to be a fantastic fundament of a morning routine.
- Prepare the morning the night before (clothes, food, medicine, tidy up, etc.)
- Set an alarm clock
- Don’t snooze
- Make your bed
- Open the curtains to get in some natural light and make up your bed.
- Set intention for the day
- Drink a glass of water
- Splash of cold water in your face
- (Cold) shower & basic hygiene/ skincare routine (brush your teeth, brush your hair, deodorant, moisturizer, etc.)
- Dress confidently (reflects how you feel inside)
- Do 3 minutes of stretching
- Take 3 deep breaths while firmly and confidently standing. Feet firmly planted, spine straight, shoulder broad, chin lifted.
- Speak out at least 1/2 thing you are grateful for at that very moment
All of the above can be done within 15 minutes. Definitely, if you prepared well the evening before.
I promise you if you can do all the above, your day will start with a bang of positivity!
THE GIFT!
I promised it the introduction of this post a gift, and I keep my word, so here is it: a printable checklist & sweet monthly tracker for my tribe! Consistency is key to a healthy and accountable self-care routine, having a tracker is a fun and smart way to keep a record of how it’s going.
Notice that you skip one thing more often than others? Or find some things to work better for you than others? That’s the kind of data you want so you can keep on improving and tweaking your sacred regime. Sign up in the form below to receive your gift asap. Don’t wait any longer!
Oh, and in case you were wondering, it’s available in both A4 and US LETTER size!
Wondering why making your bed is so important? Check out what this US Navy Admiral has to say about it. (0:00 – 0:45)
