The Best Morning Routine for You [work from home vlog]

Time Management

Feb 14

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

So I have this whole thing with morning routines where I've been asked to do a morning routine vlog. A couple years ago, I was asked to do a podcast.

It took me a really long time to do it.

I think the reason for that is I think we have these crazy expectations for morning routines where we want to have them, and we should have them, but we watch people and we see their morning routine and then we attempt it and it doesn't work with our lifestyle. And then we feel really defeated. And we're like, "Ooh, F the morning routine."

I felt like that for a really, really long time. So I've always been a little hesitant to do a morning routine video because I don't want anyone to be like, "Oh my gosh, if I don't do it that way, it's not even worth it." That's totally not what it's about.

Last year I recorded a podcast episode all about my morning routine. Now I thought I would show you a little behind the scenes.

I've been working on my mindset around a morning routine for a really long time. When I first started as an entrepreneur, I used to think that I had to wake up at 5:00 AM, meditate for an hour, make sure that I was journaling, and I also always wanted to move my body, but also felt like I had to exercise, and then needed to make breakfast and take care of a kid. It was like a whole thing.

So I really struggled with what that looked like for me. And it's changed so much over the years. I was thinking in the shower, I feel like I've just taken really small movements to find my perfect morning routine, which is what I feel like I have today.

So, I want to show you what that looks like, but I was constantly just making changes and adjusting what I was doing and fitting things in as I felt like my body and my mind was craving more. And then eventually, because I have grown my own business, my husband is now home and I have more time in the morning.

We've eventually gotten to this point where it was like, "Okay, well now I can have an hour and a half to two hours every morning to focus on taking care of myself." So, there's my disclaimer.

The Best Morning Routine

I typically get up around seven and my family's not up yet. Yes, I know, I'm blessed.

I get up around seven and I put my workout clothes on right away. I literally pee and my workout clothes go on. I don't give myself time to talk myself out of it. This is something I really struggled with for a really long time. I would try and talk myself out of working out.

Like, you don't need it. But for me, movement, it's just such a mindset practice. And my body is just so important to me. And I've tested this time and time again. If I don't move my body, first thing in the morning, it's not going to happen. And if I don't move my body first thing in the morning, then I also feel pretty crappy the rest of the day. So this is like a top priority for me.

I'd say the one thing that I've tried to consistently do, even when I only had 20 minutes in the morning or whatever, I would always try to do some sort of movement.

So I move my body first thing in the morning. Cal typically wakes up during that process, as you saw, and hangs out with me. Again, we've been doing this for a while. And, when I started my business, he was a baby, so he was always there with the morning routine.

So we've definitely set, and it's not perfect by any means, but we've definitely set it up where if I'm working out, this is all part of mommy's morning routine, try not to interrupt her. Again, not perfect.

Today went okay, but it’s give and take when you have kids. I usually get him breakfast. Ben's getting up around that time. Today was Friday so it's plant watering day. So I take care of my other babies. I love them so much. They bring me so much joy. And, then I hop in the shower.

Now my dog is in my closet, snoring, because she likes to hang out with me because I walk her in the morning and now I'm going to get ready. I typically just fluff off my hair and put on clothes.

You can't see them right now. I'll show you later, but I have pants on that button. It's a whole mindset thing for me. My clients know about it. I feel like everyone who follows me knows about it. I am a firm believer in putting on actual pants with a button because it makes you feel like you're ready for the day and it's a productivity thing.

And then I will typically put a little bit of makeup on. I'm usually filming or doing a video or I have meetings. I very, very rarely wear makeup on the weekends and I don't wear a lot. I don't do the whole thing, as you will see. It takes me like five minutes to do, but yeah, I'll put just a little bit of makeup on and do that whole thing.

What I have noticed in doing my morning routine consistently is obviously habit building, which I love to talk about at Brandmerry. I really started focusing on my habits in 2019 into 2020. I had noticed, like I already mentioned, I constantly wanted to talk myself out of taking care of myself in the morning and then I'd feel really crummy. And then I would be mad at myself for not taking care of myself in the morning. It was just this cycle.

And I found Atomic Habits, which is one of my favorite books of all time, highly recommended for any human being in the entire world. And that really changed the way that I looked at habit building in that I had always been really into goal setting, but I wasn't taking the daily actions to get there. I'd cram it all in at the last minute.

And the way that James Clear positioned atomic habits in the book and how it was a 1% every single day and the consistency really just was what I needed to hear.

I started implementing much more consistency in my life. One of them being my morning routine because I just am such a firm believer in how you start your day is how you're going to carry your energy throughout the day and how you're ultimately going to end your day.

And when you're running your business from home or you're working from home, there's a lot that can come up. There's a lot of distractions, it's all very unexpected. You can have a plan and sometimes it can go out the window. When you add children into the mix, it's completely different. My son is home, which of course has its amazing pros, but then there's also that opportunity for more distraction, as I think so many parents saw in 2020 and are still seeing today.

I have just found that when I kick off my morning, focusing on myself and taking the time to start my day and get in alignment, as I like to say, it makes such a big freaking difference in what I do throughout the day. Not only am I happier, which is so important, but also I'm more productive. And as someone who runs their own business, that's important to me.

I think with productivity, there's all these tips and tricks and all the things that you can do. I love sharing them. I'm one of those people that does that, but I really think at the bare minimum, just having a morning routine will get you started on the right foot. Whatever that looks like for you.

So I just really try to honor this. I even do it on the weekends. It looks a little different on the weekends because I don't want to wake up in the morning that early, but I still move my body and that's a top priority.

Morning Routine Checklist

What I would encourage you to do, if you're open to my encouragement, is identify three things that are a top priority for you every single morning. That's what I did. And that way I was always honoring those even when I only had 30 minutes, when I had an hour, when I now have two hours. What are those top priorities?

You can always add to it and expand as you go. And then you'll just feel really good because you're always honoring those three things that are the most important to you.

So for me, it's always been movement. As I mentioned before, movement is just such a huge part. And then another one for me is getting ready. I need to get ready. If I don't get ready, I don't feel ready. I don't feel like I can take on the day. I don't feel like I can take anything that might come my way. So getting ready, this part of that process, it just makes me feel really, really good.

I know when I first started, I didn't do this and I could just tell the difference. Like I was much more likely to just lay down in my bed in the middle of the day. Not that there's anything wrong with a nap, but it was so much easier when I wasn't just ready for the day. When I'm just in my clothes doing my thing, it just makes such a big difference. So getting dressed is a big one for me.

The other thing that I've noticed for any of my work from home peeps is that if you get ready for work, whatever that looks like for you, then one thing that I've been doing, because I don't have a commute, it's a very, very easy walk from the office to the bedroom, I change my clothes again.

So it's like a mindset thing where I'm like, "Okay, I'm ready to start my day. I'm ready to be in work mode." And then I change my clothes when I'm done, before dinner. And that has just helped a ton with just, it's kind of supporting my mindset switch.

So that's a big one for me, getting dressed, movement obviously, and then nourishing my body. My breakfast is key. I make a smoothie pretty much every morning, except for the weekends. I'll show you that and share a little bit more of that. At this point in the day, all I've had is waters

So we're finishing this up and I'll do what I'd like to call phase three. I know it surprises no one that I think about my morning in phases. Phase one is kind of my quiet movement time. Phase two is this, getting ready. Phase three, take the dog.

As many of you know, I'm obsessed with my smoothie. So that's what we're going to do now. I make my smoothie and Cal's smoothie in the morning. This kid's been drinking smoothies since day one. I do this and then I'll go to the office and get started. And that pretty much wraps up my morning routine.

And now I'm obsessed with espresso. I got this machine for Christmas so now I drink coffee. I didn't for a really long time, but every time we were in Europe, I would drink it and I realized, okay, I kind of like it.

So smoothie first, office, check emails, and then espresso. One thing that I will add, my son is legit crawling under the camera right now, is that at this point in the day, I have not looked at my email. I have not looked at social media.

This is something that I've always wanted to do. And I started doing it at the end of last year and it's made a huge difference in my mindset. It is incredible. This is kind of what I was saying, look for little opportunities where you can just add little things, one at a time into your morning routine that doesn't take any time out of your morning routine schedule.

I check my phone to see if I've got any messages from family or anything because I actually sleep with my phone in the other room. But I don't touch email. I don't check social media. I don't even check my task manager, which is crazy. Not yet anyways.

So that's something that you can do that doesn't take any time. And then we also talked about those three main things.

So there you go. I hope that this video inspired you to just start making really small movements to your ideal morning. It's taken me a long time to get here, but this is my sacred time. No joke. And I know what I do in the morning really sets me up for success, not only in my business, as a mother and as a wife and in life. And it just feels dang good.

So whether you've got 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, pick your three main things and honor those.

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Brandmerry podcast? I release new episodes every Thursday on topics around branding and marketing! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at brandmerry.com/podcast