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Girl, you don’t have to do it all! Discover the best science-backed morning habits for busy working moms that no one talks about for a productive start to the day. This simple step-by-step guide will help you create YOUR ideal, quick, and productive morning routine.
It took me too long to realize that I don’t need 2 hours in the morning to meditate, practice mindfulness, exercise, journal, etc. to find a miracle, stress-free morning routine for busy moms. That’s why I want you to know as soon as possible: All you have to do is prioritize and educate yourself on what really matters in your morning routine.
This post focuses on the rarely shared, science-backed knowledge about an effective morning routine.
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ToggleDoes the best morning routine for working moms really exist? Yes and No. Let me put this post in perspective so that everyone has the right expectations of what I am about to share with you. This is not a post about what you should do during your morning routine, like you need to meditate for 10 minutes or exercise for 20 minutes or whatever others out there tell you. And then you’ll have the best morning routine for working moms. I feel like there are already plenty of blog posts and articles on this topic.
This is more of a post about the knowledge you need to create a highly productive morning routine for moms. This knowledge is rarely shared. But it’s essential to understand what you need to pay attention to in the first moments of your day. Before we dive in, I want to point out one of the most important morning habits for busy moms who work and everyone else.
You need to be consistent with every aspect of your morning routine. No matter what it looks like. No matter what you think are the best morning habits for busy moms who work. Because if you are consistent, you switch to autopilot. Let’s explore why that is so important.
Nothing is more important than preparing your mornings in the evening. Essentially, you want to create a daily routine that you can stick to, one that consistently ends the same way each evening. That’s how you can go on autopilot in the morning and enjoy a smooth, stress-free morning routine. And you want that for two reasons.
First, when you’re on autopilot you’re not forcing your brain to make a decision first thing in the morning. You just automatically fit into your routine. In the following steps I will tell you more about the reasons for this problem. And second, no matter what the night was like, and we moms all know it’s all about our kids, you’ll still be able to function in the morning as you’re on autopilot.
I’ve gotten better at preparing my morning in the evening over the years. But there are still areas where I need to improve. For example, emptying the dishwasher in the evening ensures that my kitchen and sink are clean and tidy in the morning. This is especially important because your autopilot will immediately become confused if something doesn’t meet your expectations. So if the room you are in in the morning is cluttered, it becomes restless. This causes your brain to use the mental energy that you actually want to reserve for more important tasks.
In the next blog post, I share my mom’s morning routine checklist, which relies heavily on a solid evening routine for working moms (and I share that soon too).
It takes 15 minutes for your brain to fully wake up. 15 minutes! Did you know that? I didn’t. So try to wake up at least 15 minutes before your children wake up. That’s how you can enjoy a stress-free morning routine for working moms, even if you only have 15 minutes. You’re just not at your best when you let your kids wake you up. Use this time better for automatic tasks like brushing your teeth or making coffee.
What if you have a newborn at home? There’s a good chance you’re suffering from sleep deprivation. However, try to get up before the kids (especially if you have more small children at home). Even if it’s only 15 minutes. As a mother of two (soon to be three), I’ve learned just how important this is. Not in the first few days or weeks of the newborn phase. But if your newborn is sleeping better (for me that started at 3-4 hours in a row), take back those 15 minutes for yourself. It will change the world. I promise it.
I just wrote about The 10 Surprising Benefits Of Waking Up EARLY (As A Mom) so you can see what exactly changes for you when you get up before the kids.
To rehydrate your body after sleeping and wake up faster, drink at least 200-250 ml of water immediately after waking up. This will quickly rehydrate your body and refresh your mind. Did you know that your brain is made up of over 70% water? Drinking water first thing in the morning can help reduce fatigue immediately. Now you can truly kick-start your morning routine.
What is your circadian rhythm? That is your 24-hour internal body clock that allows you to respond to natural light changes that make you awake or sleepy. Your internal clock is determined by the rotation of the earth around its axis. This is how your body and mind are shaped by the earth’s natural rhythms, which in turn are expressed by external factors such as light.
The circadian rhythm teaches us that we heavily rely on so-called biological “Zeitgebers” – a German term for time-givers. The German biologist Jürgen Aschoff significantly coined the term “Zeitgeber” (as a co-founder of chronobiology). He found that light is one such biological timer. It is an external factor that influences our internal clock and regulates our sleep and wake phases.
Let’s see how you can take advantage of those time givers such as light to rearrange your internal clock so you can improve your morning routine. Because light (and dark) have the biggest influence on your circadian rhythm.
Today you can use light to mimic sundown and sunset so you can regulate sleep and wake phases. Turning on the light immediately after waking up signals to your body that it’s time to start the day. The same goes for preparing your body for sleep. Again, you need to dim all lights and stop exposing yourself to blue light (from any screen) at least an hour before bed. This way you can maximize your sleep quality.
But, there’s a challenge with the circadian rhythm: it requires consistency. Having a consistent wake up time and bed time, every single day (even on the weekends), is crucial to synchronize your circadian rhythm.
If you don’t do this (on weekends), you experience something called “Social Jetlag.” Then your sleep rhythm and schedule varies significantly between weekdays and the weekend. That leads to bad sleep. We find it harder to fall asleep on Sunday evening (so we get less hours of sleep) and have a hard time waking up on Monday morning. This is because our body does not release melatonin (the sleep hormone) or cortisol (the waking hormone) in a timely manner.
In The Power of When: Learn the Best Time to do Everything, Dr. Michael Breus presents how you can get back in sync with your body’s natural rhythm and internal body clock that differs from one person to another to achieve maximum health and productivity.
Your body needs about 20-30 minutes of activation time before it is ready for a physical training, a work session or anything else. This is because your body normally releases cortisol after 30-45 minutes.
Cortisol is the waking hormone. But most of us know that it is a stress hormone that has a bad reputation.
Cortisol floods your body between 30 and 45 minutes after waking up. This is the best time to complete tasks that require mental or physical energy. At this point, your mind will experience a peak that you can use to kick off your work session. I like to either take care of my mental health, my physical health or work on tasks that require maximum concentration or brain power during this time.
When you reach the end of your morning routine, your concentration begins to wane. Use this drop in productivity for less demanding tasks like household chores. I bet your list of chores is endless too.
For a quick morning routine for busy moms take 2 minutes for chores at the end. I’ve found that it’s much easier to keep up with household chores if everyone – your husband, your kids, and you – spends 2 to 10 minutes on them during each routine. Like the evening routine, the morning routine, the kids’ pick-up routine, the lunch time routine and so on. You’d be surprised what you can get done in 2 minutes.
Here’s what my husband and I personally try to accomplish every morning at the end or during our morning routine before we start our work day (what is not done will be done in the next routine time):
Ring. I pressed the button on my pink alarm clock. But somehow I did it wrong. Ring. Ring. I hear it again and jump to that clock. I hoped that this time I could finally turn it off. A quick glance over at my little girls, still sleeping in their cozy blankets. Hopefully I didn’t wake them up, I think to myself. I put on my warm hoodie and scarf and I’m out.
Just minutes later I hold a warm, white cup of coffee in my hands. I close the windows. A cold breeze touches my cheek. Suddenly I see someone turning the yellow lights on in the hall. I hear a quiet “Mommy”? Oh no, I forgot to close the stair gate. Now, how do I get out of the house on time in less than an hour? Hey my little worm, I hear my husband say. Fortunately. He was able to intercept our little one. I take a deep breath and continue with my morning routine before the commute.
When I commute to work (which takes more than an hour), I apply the time-saving morning routine for moms. That means I skip some of the steps above. My No. 1 goal is to enjoy a productive morning routine for moms because that’s what I need for a long day at work. Here’s how I approach it.
I skip most of the household chores and only do the bare minimum. I skip my morning work session entirely. And I only have 10-15 minutes to take care of my mental health and physical health instead of at least 30 minutes. Because my personal goal is to have a one-hour morning routine from the time the alarm goes off until I leave the door.
Do you know the saying “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”? A healthy morning schedule for busy moms working from home is about setting aside some time for your well-being before tackling the day’s demands.
How does a healthy morning routine look like? If you work from home with small children, you’ll want to maximize your short, uninterrupted work hours. You simply have no other choice.
Now there is something that I found is the ultimate booster to any work from home session when it comes to productivity and efficiency. As a nice side effect, it also adds that healthy component to your morning routine.
Take the time to exercise outside in the cold, fresh air for about 20 to 30 minutes and then take a cold shower (at least at the last minute). If you do this, your productivity will rise to levels you may never have experienced before. For hours. I promise. It feels like your brain is flooded with alertness.
That’s how I used to complete 4 hours of highly focused work by lunchtime that would normally have taken me twice as much time. This is exactly what I needed as a work-from-home mom with a baby at home as my working hours during the day were very limited.
The problem is that we rarely bother to do this because it’s inconvenient. Especially in winter when it is cold and still dark outside in the early morning. However, try it if possible, especially on the days you work from home. You won’t regret it. Who knows, maybe you’ll repeat this at least once a week.
If you want to learn more about how to get into an intense work session, I can recommend reading the book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. It is full of hacks and sometimes strange but eye-opening real life examples how anyone can experience highly focused work.
Now I’d love to hear from you which of the 7 steps or tips above do you find most helpful and consider trying out tomorrow? Do you have any additional hack to share? Let me know in the comments below.
When you walk away today with at least one new idea to improve your financial journey, I’d love to show you some more in the next post. If you haven’t already, you can apply to become a part of the community to not miss any new release. For that you can subscribe to our newsletter below in the green footer.
Title image source: Thought Catalog on Unsplash
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