Simple Morning Routine for Working Moms: 7 Steps That Actually Work

Girl, you don’t have to do it all!

This simple morning routine for working moms helped me feel calmer, less rushed, and far less overwhelmed, even with 2 kids and baby #3 on the way.

It took me way too long to realize that I didn’t need a perfect two-hour morning routine with meditation, journaling, exercise, and all the other things social media tells moms to do before 7 a.m. — what actually changed our mornings were small, realistic habits that made life feel easier, not more productive.

What Makes A Simple Morning Routine For Working Moms Actually Work?

Does the best morning routine for working moms really exist? Yes and no.

Let me put this post into perspective so you know exactly what to expect. This is not another post telling you that you must meditate for 10 minutes, journal for 20 minutes, wake up at 5 a.m., or follow some perfect Pinterest-worthy routine. I honestly feel like there are already enough posts like that online.

Instead, this is a post about the knowledge behind creating a simple morning routine for working moms that feels sustainable and realistic.

Because most mornings with children are not peaceful.

They’re loud.
Messy.
Unpredictable.

And if you have multiple kids, mornings can feel chaotic before the day has even started.

That’s why understanding how your brain and body function in the first moments of the day matters so much more than copying someone else’s ideal routine.

Before we dive in, I want to mention one of the most important morning habits for busy moms who work:

Consistency matters more than perfection.

No matter what your morning routine looks like. Because when you repeat the same actions consistently, your brain switches to autopilot — and that’s where mornings start feeling easier.

A Simple Morning Routine For Working Moms Step By Step

Step 1: Prepare Your Morning The Evening Before

Nothing has improved the simple morning routine for working moms—the one I longed for—more than preparing the evening before.

You want to create a routine that ends similarly every night so your mornings can run on autopilot as much as possible.

And honestly, this matters even more once you have kids. Because no matter what kind of night you had — teething, nightmares, breastfeeding, sick kids, toddlers waking up at 3 a.m. — your brain is exhausted in the morning.

The fewer decisions you need to make, the calmer your morning will feel.

Over the years, I’ve become much better at preparing things in advance. But I’m still far from perfect. For example, when I empty the dishwasher in the evening, my kitchen feels calm and tidy the next morning. And surprisingly, that changes my mental state immediately. Because clutter creates noise in your brain too.

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).

Step 2: Wake Up Before The Kids — Even If It’s Only 15 Minutes

This single habit completely changed my simple morning routine for working moms with multiple kids.

It takes your brain about 15 minutes to fully wake up. 15 minutes! Did you know that? I didn’t.

So, when your children wake you up and immediately need something from you—which is always the case, isn’t it?—your brain is essentially forced into stress mode before it is even fully functioning.

That’s why waking up just 15 minutes earlier can make such a huge difference. And honestly? As a mom of two soon-to-be three children, I know how unrealistic this advice can sound during certain seasons of motherhood.

If you have a newborn, survival comes first.

But as soon as your sleep improves—even slightly (for me, this started at 3 to 4 hours at a stretch)—try to get reclaim those 15 quiet minutes for yourself.

For me, they changed everything.

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.

Step 3: Rehydrate Immediately To Feel Awake Faster

One of the easiest improvements to a simple morning routine for working moms is drinking water immediately after waking up.

Your body becomes dehydrated overnight, and even mild dehydration can increase fatigue and brain fog. So, before my coffee, I always drink a full glass of water first. It sounds incredibly small, but it helps me wake up faster and feel more alert. Like, a lot.

Step 4: Learn How Your Circadian Rhythm Works

Your circadian rhythm is basically your internal 24-hour body clock.

It controls when you feel awake, sleepy, productive, or tired. And once I started understanding this better, I realized that a simple morning routine for working moms is not really about “motivation.”

It’s about working with your body instead of against it.

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.

Step 5: Use Light To Help Your Body Wake Up Naturally

Light has a huge, huge influence on your circadian rhythm.

Turning lights on right after getting up in the morning signals to your body that it’s time to wake up. Now. And in the evening, dimming lights and stop screen time helps your body prepare for sleep.

The difficult part?

Consistency.

Especially as parents.

I get this. First-hand. However, try to wake-up and go to sleep around the same time (even on the weekends). It will improve your energy dramatically. Also, it’s crucial to synchronize your circadian rhythm.

If you don’t do this (on weekends), you will 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 (and 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.

Step 6: Understand Your Body’s Natural Activation Time

Your body needs about 20–30 minutes before it’s fully ready for any kind of task.

That’s because cortisol — your body’s natural waking hormone — rises about 30–45 minutes after waking. Then, it floods your body. At this point, your mind will experience a peak that you can use to kick off your work session, physical workout or meditation and mindfulness practice.

This was such an eye-opening discovery for me.

Because it explained why I often felt mentally “slow” first thing in the morning.

Now I try to use that first activation window intentionally inside my simple morning routine for working moms instead of fighting against it, with more coffee.

Step 7: End Your Morning Routine With Small Household Chores

At the end of your simple morning routine for working moms, your concentration will begin to wane. Yet that is the perfect time for small household chores.

Just 2–10 minutes.

I do this every day. And honestly, these little “resets” add up quickly when the whole family helps. It is much easier to keep up with the housework when everyone—your husband, your children, and you—devotes 2 to 10 minutes to it during the morning routine. You would be surprised at how much you can get done in just 2 minutes.

This is what my husband, the children, and I personally try to do every morning at the end of our morning routine, before we start our day (and if it doesn’t get done, it’s on our list for the evening routine):

1. Making the beds
2. Airing the rooms
3. Laundry (whatever task needs to be done)
4. Cleaning the kitchen quickly
5. Tidy up the living room
6. Quick vacuuming
7. Cleaning the toilet or the sink

A Quick Simple Morning Routine For Working Moms Before The Commute

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 lights on in the hall. I hear a quiet “Mommy?”… “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 about an hour), I skip some of the steps mentioned above. My sole goal is to get ready on time, leave the house, and enjoy a few quiet moments in the morning in between—that is exactly what I need for a long workday. So, no household chores and at least 10 minutes for my mental and physical health.

A Healthy Simple Morning Routine For Working Moms At Home

Do you know the saying “You can’t pour from an empty cup”?

If you’re a busy mom working from home, try setting aside some time for your well-being before tackling the day’s demands. Because when your uninterrupted work hours are limited, your energy matters even more.

I have discovered something that—when it comes to productivity and efficiency—is the ultimate booster for every work session in your home office. As a nice side effect, it also adds a healthy component to your morning routine.

Exercising outside in the cold morning air and then taking a very, very quick cold shower.

It sounds horrible.

Especially in winter.

But the mental clarity afterward feels unbelievable.

I used to finish 4 hours of deeply focused work before lunchtime. Work that would normally have taken me almost twice as long. And as a work-from-home mom, with a baby on the way and two toddlers, that changed everything for me.

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.

Next: Download the free morning routine checklist, set up your evening routine, or read about the benefits of waking up early.

Now I’d love to hear from you:

Which of these steps feels most realistic for your life right now?

Let me know in the comments — I always love hearing how other moms make real life work.

Title image source: Thought Catalog on Unsplash